Seymour Duncan Little '59

Sorry I've got so many questions. I had a big browse of guitar shops yesterday, and I've been thinking a lot!

Probably the first thing I'll do to my tele is put some better pickups in. I'll play it for a few months as is first, and then decide what I'd like to improve about the guitar. But I'm guessing the pickups will probably have the most direct result on the sound.

I was looking at Seymour Duncan pickups, and the guy in the shop pointed out this pickup: it's a single coil/humbucker hybrid, and you switch between them via a new volume knob with a push/pull button.

Cutting Edge - Little '59™ for Tele ST59-1b - Seymour Duncan/Basslines

I know it's not relic at all ... the Seymour Duncan site lists it as 'Cutting Edge', so I don't know if this would be going against the flow...

Sweet. My Relic Tele has a Duncan 58 full sized humbucker in it. I've never liked the sound of the standard soap bar single coils. This lets you revert back to it in a pinch, but still lets you have the "balls" of a humbucker.

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what would you put in the neck spot? I'm keen to keep the chrome pickup look, as to me, that says 'telecaster'.

Well...that's certainly a matter of personal taste. I have two telecasters. One has "standard" Fender pickups with a Texas Special strat style pickup in the middle (and has a 5 way switch like a Strat). The other (a custom made Relic) has a humbucker in the neck position.

I've played quite a few regular teles with standard stock pickups as well as the vintage noiseless and S-1, and for my tastes, the neck pickup seems too dull by itself...its even more dull on vintage custom shop models...so my guess is that some folks like that kind of tone.

The 5 way strat setup is what I like for funkier comping and shimmery chords that don't "twang" or are a bit too bright like the bridge pickup by itself. That Duncun 59 looks like a way to keep the duller neck tone and a brighter fatter humbucker. I won't be surprised if they have a cover for it to make it look like a typical telecaster, if your thing is keeping that standard telecaster look. I think the humbucker in the neck says..."I'm different".

That said. The quintessential telecaster sound is the bridge position bright twang. Just about any tele with a single coil in the bridge can produce it very well, even with the stock standard pickups. Its great for middle and low register country/blue leads and Pete Townsend style semi dirty bright shimmering chords (through a Vox AC-30 or Badcat ).

Since I don't care so much for the typical duller neck position tone....I'd opt for a balls out vintage Les Paul style humbucker like the Duncan 58. It lets me comp fat jazz and do Santana like leads in the upper register when distorted....without the noise of a single coil.

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I also have two Teles. Like Adaptable, one of mine is a MIM "Nashville Tele" with the Texas Special strat pickup in the middle. However, I got rid of the original 5-way switch and replaced it with a 5-way that gives me the Neck + Bridge pickups in position 1. I did that for the same reason that Adaptable talks about -- I don't like the sound of a Tele neck pickup by itself.

My other Tele is a reissue of the 70s Tele Custom with the Fender "WIde Range" humbucker in the neck position. That guitar has its stock 3-way toggle and to my ears sounds awesome in all 3 positions. The neck pickup alone sounds very Les Paul-ish, but a little brighter. The two pickups together sound beautiful - bright, shimmery, chimey, etc. The bridge pickup has more balls than the same pickup on my Nashville tele.

In fact, with my Nashville I most often use positions 2, 3, and 4, which are really more Strat than Tele. Position 4 gives me a very real facsimile of the Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits "Sultans of Swing" tone.

However, none of that answers your question...I would look at options from pickup makers such as Jason Lollar. I've heard nothing but good things about his pickups, and you'll probably get both the look and the tone that you're after. Maybe a little something like this? Lollar Guitars & Pickups: Lollar Special T Series Neck Pickup

thanks for all that help.

I wonder how available Lollars would be in Aus?

MattyJ

Here's your local dealer for Lollar pickups:

AUSTRALIA

Wild Horse Guitars
Wild Horse Guitars :: Home
Brumby St
Surry Hills, Sydney ,NSW 2010
AUSTRALIA
Tel: 02 9310 1377
Email: info@wildhorseguitars.com.au

nice, in the same suburb as Single Origin, which is one of the better cafes in sydney.

but OUCH! those pickups aren't cheap. The Seymour Duncan's I've seen were about $120 max.

I spoke with a guy at my church this morning who works for Wattyl Paints - he's got a can of arctic white NC (nitrocellulose) lacquer at home, and is keen to help me in the future to strip the poly off the tele, and repsray. He reckons it'll be easy as. If I don't like the arctic white, he's got access to just about any colour I want!

On the Lollar web site the Tele neck pickup is going for $90 ($94.50 AUD). Seems OK vs. the $120 you mentioned for SDs?

that's surprising. The pickups on the wild horse site were up around $200-290 mark. We've just gone down to one income (wife's maternity pay has run out) and our rent has gone up, so funds are tight!

I think my plan of attack is going to be:

1) see how the tele sounds through my laney amp. If I'm happy at this point, I'll stay at this point until I am no longer satisfied.
2) If I'm not happy with the sound, compare my tele through the Laney with playing it through either/or an Epiphone Valve Junior or a Fender Super Champ XD. If I like either of those better, sell my Laney and replace with whichever tube amp sounds better. The Epiphone is about AU$300 and the Fender is about AU$650ish.
3) If after playing through the Laney at home, the Epiphone and Fender at the shop and I'm still not happy with any of those, start exploring different pickup options.

Interestingly, I cracked out my old Boss DS-1 tonight, and was pleasantly surprised with it's sound. Who needs a T-Rex Alberta!?!?