Tele Pickup Advice

J

Joben Magooch

Well-known member
Greetings all and Happy New Year!

Looking for a little pickup advice. My trusty old telecaster currently has a set of Fender "Original Vintage '52" pickups in it that I've had for YEARS now. They're alnico 3 and a bit lower-output and some of my favorite pickups ever. (Second runner-up so far is probably Van Zandt "True Vintage")

BUT... the venue I primarily play at has changed around some of its infrastructure and lighting layouts and etc and it's extremely noisy for pretty much any single-coil now. I've tried a few friends' guitars as well, same case. To compound things...the OV '52 set is wound in such a way that there's no hum-canceling in the middle position.

I have tried a few of the usual solutions:

- proper shielding/grounding with minimal impact (n)
- "Just turn down the volume when you're not playing" kind of works...but the noise interference is substantial enough that it's also pretty apparent (IMO) even when you ARE playing....at least to a degree that's too bothersome for me to ignore :p
- use a noise gate/noise reduction pedal - I've yet to find a gate and/or setting that sounds/feels natural enough to me :cry:
- face a different direction until you find a quiet spot - also kind of works except that the "quiet" window is SO narrow that' I'd just have to awkwardly stand staring at everyone else on stage and my back to the crowd with little-to-no variation :ROFLMAO:

What I haven't tried yet / am considering and looking for some advice on:

- finding a different pickup to swap into one of the two positions to at least get a hum-canceling middle position. Trouble here is that it seems like (from what little I have looked into it) the bridge pickup is the "odd one out" here (and would consequently be "easier" to replace) but I'm particularly fond of this bridge pickup - more so than the neck one - and would rather not make a significant change there. i'd much prefer to replace the neck pickup but it seems like a rw/rp replacement (in relation to bridge) is harder to find, I guess?
- Apparently you can swap the polarity of your pickup's magnets by introducing them to a stronger magnet? I've only read on this a very little bit. Anyone have any experience there? I assume you'd still need to flip the wiring as well
- installing a dummy coil for noise cancelation - I've been interested in trying this route but from what I have heard it seems like the general consensus is that the "homebrew" methods (pulling magnets from an old pickup or something) will dull a lot more high-end than some of the commercial methods (Illitch, Suhr, etc). I'm kind of picky with this particular guitar and feel like its brightness is really kind of essential to its "character" so I'm kinda hesitant there too.
- Just get some sort of tele-sized humbucker? I've tried both "blade" and "stacked" styles and haven't cared for either, but maybe there's something I'm missing...

I have heard a lot of folks suggest that Fender's "Nocaster" bridge is pretty close to the OV'52 bridge and would indeed be RW/RP with the OV'52 neck pickup, so that's kind of intriguing, I guess. I'm not entirely opposed to just getting a new set of pickups, but ideally it'd be something pretty close sonically to my current set. What would you do?
 
I've not played a set but the Hot Chicken set from SD looks interesting. I'm with you though on the usual stacked, humbucker, and blade variants, they're just not the same. And I pretty much never use both pickups at the same time (don't know why, it's just a thing).
 
Joben Magooch said:
Greetings all and Happy New Year!

Looking for a little pickup advice. My trusty old telecaster currently has a set of Fender "Original Vintage '52" pickups in it that I've had for YEARS now. They're alnico 3 and a bit lower-output and some of my favorite pickups ever. (Second runner-up so far is probably Van Zandt "True Vintage")

BUT... the venue I primarily play at has changed around some of its infrastructure and lighting layouts and etc and it's extremely noisy for pretty much any single-coil now. I've tried a few friends' guitars as well, same case. To compound things...the OV '52 set is wound in such a way that there's no hum-canceling in the middle position.

I have tried a few of the usual solutions:

- proper shielding/grounding with minimal impact (n)
- "Just turn down the volume when you're not playing" kind of works...but the noise interference is substantial enough that it's also pretty apparent (IMO) even when you ARE playing....at least to a degree that's too bothersome for me to ignore :p
- use a noise gate/noise reduction pedal - I've yet to find a gate and/or setting that sounds/feels natural enough to me :cry:
- face a different direction until you find a quiet spot - also kind of works except that the "quiet" window is SO narrow that' I'd just have to awkwardly stand staring at everyone else on stage and my back to the crowd with little-to-no variation :ROFLMAO:

What I haven't tried yet / am considering and looking for some advice on:

- finding a different pickup to swap into one of the two positions to at least get a hum-canceling middle position. Trouble here is that it seems like (from what little I have looked into it) the bridge pickup is the "odd one out" here (and would consequently be "easier" to replace) but I'm particularly fond of this bridge pickup - more so than the neck one - and would rather not make a significant change there. i'd much prefer to replace the neck pickup but it seems like a rw/rp replacement (in relation to bridge) is harder to find, I guess?
- Apparently you can swap the polarity of your pickup's magnets by introducing them to a stronger magnet? I've only read on this a very little bit. Anyone have any experience there? I assume you'd still need to flip the wiring as well
- installing a dummy coil for noise cancelation - I've been interested in trying this route but from what I have heard it seems like the general consensus is that the "homebrew" methods (pulling magnets from an old pickup or something) will dull a lot more high-end than some of the commercial methods (Illitch, Suhr, etc). I'm kind of picky with this particular guitar and feel like its brightness is really kind of essential to its "character" so I'm kinda hesitant there too.
- Just get some sort of tele-sized humbucker? I've tried both "blade" and "stacked" styles and haven't cared for either, but maybe there's something I'm missing...

I have heard a lot of folks suggest that Fender's "Nocaster" bridge is pretty close to the OV'52 bridge and would indeed be RW/RP with the OV'52 neck pickup, so that's kind of intriguing, I guess. I'm not entirely opposed to just getting a new set of pickups, but ideally it'd be something pretty close sonically to my current set. What would you do?
Click to expand...
All the pickups from Cavalier Pickups come with 3 wires, so you can wire it up with any other pickup combination for RW in the middle position.

I'd also suggest taking a look at Bootstrap Pickups and just getting a set from them. There simply is no better value for a US made, hand wound pickup. ($50 for the set). His "Original Recipe" set might be exactly what you're looking for. Vintage output, Alnico 3 magnets.
 
Check in on the " Dimarzio Area series.. they are great pickups and work awesome for noisy or interference environments... especially stages with dirty power and a lot of lighting
 
I haven't played Teles in years but I used to LOVE the stock Fender pickups in the RI Teles, so I know why you are attached to them. The best suggestion I can think of is Kinmans. I've tried many humbucking single coils - stacked pickups, Mojotone Quiet coils, Fralins etc and Kinmans are the only ones which sounded any good to me. I posted a while back about putting Kinman Woodstocks in my Strat - They're fantastic. It still sounds like a Strat but is decently quiet.

I can say that the Mojotone Quiet Coils were the worst I have ever tried! Just awful. Dull and one dimensional even with the recommended pots. The Kinmans definitely sound like single coils and pretty good ones at that. I have heard good things about their Tele pickups too. The only downer about Kinmans is that they're really expensive and Chris Kinman doesn't make it easy to buy them. It also costs extra to get them without the cheesy logo. But they really are excellent.

I just remembered: about 30 years ago when Lace Sensors first came out I had a set in my Strat and gigged with it. They sounded pretty good to me at the time - I wonder if I would still like them? They make Tele versions as well.
 
I'll second options from Bootstrap or contact Rob at Cavalier and he'll take care of you. I've sets from both and am happy with them. (I guess this only fixes your problem with the RWRP idea)
 
swelchy said:
Check in on the " Dimarzio Area series.. they are great pickups and work awesome for noisy or interference environments... especially stages with dirty power and a lot of lighting
Click to expand...
I was going to say this too. The Dimarzio noiseless Tele pickups have a pretty good reputation.
 
HamishR said:
I haven't played Teles in years but I used to LOVE the stock Fender pickups in the RI Teles, so I know why you are attached to them. The best suggestion I can think of is Kinmans. I've tried many humbucking single coils - stacked pickups, Mojotone Quiet coils, Fralins etc and Kinmans are the only ones which sounded any good to me. I posted a while back about putting Kinman Woodstocks in my Strat - They're fantastic. It still sounds like a Strat but is decently quiet.

I can say that the Mojotone Quiet Coils were the worst I have ever tried! Just awful. Dull and one dimensional even with the recommended pots. The Kinmans definitely sound like single coils and pretty good ones at that. I have heard good things about their Tele pickups too. The only downer about Kinmans is that they're really expensive and Chris Kinman doesn't make it easy to buy them. It also costs extra to get them without the cheesy logo. But they really are excellent.

I just remembered: about 30 years ago when Lace Sensors first came out I had a set in my Strat and gigged with it. They sounded pretty good to me at the time - I wonder if I would still like them? They make Tele versions as well.
Click to expand...
Seems like across the web as a whole Kimman looks to be the popular consensus....perhaps I'll have to start saving up :P

Lace Sensors are so interesting to me. I've never played them personally but I feel like there was a short period there where they were EVERYWHERE. In my memory, something like the early-mid 2000s. Then just kinda vanished, it feels like...
 
oh, I should mention that I once had Lace sensors in my Tele. The neck pickup was great--one of my favorites. The bridge pickup was fine but didn't really do it for me. I ended up moving on from both pickups because none of the other bridge pickups I tried matched the output of the neck one.

I also had a Bill Lawrence (now called Wilde) set that was great. I'm surprised nobody mentioned them yet (it was the 280 neck/290 bridge set, which is their stacked humbucker PU).
 
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