choosing a tele bridge pickup

[nathan a]

Hey y'all, long time no post

So as some of you know, I'm putting together a telecaster. The neck will be 1-piece maple, and the body is swamp ash, being done in sonic blue by our own incredible Tonar (I know, it was too pretty a piece of ash to cover up. Get over it  :laughing7: )

Everything is decided on except the bridge pickup. The neck will hold a Lollar firebird, but I want the bridge position to be all tele. Problem is, I've never owned a tele before. I need your help! I play roots rock, blues, and folk music. Usually I prefer vintage-wound pickups, BUT since I have very little tele experience, I'm not so sure. I'm a little concerned about the ice-pick, and I don't think I really need too much "twang".

I want to go Lollar for the bridge pup too, and I'm torn between the '52 series, the Vintage T Series, and the Special T series. Here's Lollar's tele page with descriptions: http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=telecaster-pickups

I'm leaning towards the '52 or the Special T. Whaddaya think?

 

[tfarny]

All I can say is the special T is an awesome pickup, never tried the 52. The special is not too hot, it really has a ton of vintage character but in the guitar I have it in, it does tend to be a bit less treble heavy than some tele pickups. It overdrives well but has a lot of clarity played clean. I would call up Jason and ask him about volume balance w/ the firebird, and just go with his suggestion.

 

[-CB-]

To me....

The old Fender '52ri pickup (not the new one) was the best thing out there.

Having said that, and since they're not available any more (for a long time now), the Fralin overwound pickups are king to me (so far).  Lindy likes a BRIGHT pickup.  So when he says this is a darker pickup - think of it like more full toned than dark.  I dont think he makes a dull pickup, they're all very chimey.  Think in terms of 10 percent or 15 percent over his "stock" and get the magnet stagger of your choice.

Try for a winding of about 8.0k to 8.4k and that should get you to Tele-heaven.    The old 52 Fender picku was 8.2k  The new ones wimped out at like 7.6k or so, and lack the true "warmth" (yes warmth) of the old ones.  They had a nice bottom end that was warm and full.  They almost... almost sounded like a jazzmaster early 60's era pickup.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Not the Hot version, but the lower output version of the Dimarzio Area T is very sweet & authentic sounding.

 

[mayfly]

All I can say is the special T is an awesome pickup, never tried the 52. The special is not too hot, it really has a ton of vintage character but in the guitar I have it in, it does tend to be a bit less treble heavy than some tele pickups. It overdrives well but has a lot of clarity played clean. I would call up Jason and ask him about volume balance w/ the firebird, and just go with his suggestion.

+1 on the special T. I have it in 3 teles and really like it for it's clarity, non-icepickyness, and good overdrive.

if you want an even hotter wind, there is a "secret" Lollar tele bridge pickup called the "J Street".  It's hotter still, but still with the clarity.  I have it in a guitar that has a Lollar P90 in the neck position and it balances fairly well.