HS Tele, makes sense ?

[brk303]

Hi guys,

Planning my first build. I would like a carved top Tele with Humbucker in Bridge and Single coil in neck.
I was thinking of using Mahogany body and neck for fuller sound. I might go with Hollow body for weight and that airiness in sound.
I would go with TOM bridge like a Gibson.

The idea is to roughly get a Gibson bridge sound, and Fender Neck sound.

Now, I know it won't be the same, but what do you think, does this direction make sense ?
Has anyone tried this, any experiences ?

 

[Logrinn]

I think it makes perfect sense.

I am planning a new guitar - obviously - and one of the probable pickup configurations I've had in mind were the one you mention, humbucker plus singlecoil.
The build I recently (semi-) completed have three pickguards with different pickup routings for just this purpose: to try out different pickup configurations and see what sounds the best. I've only completed the first pickguard, but when I have some more money I'll be getting me some P90's to try out that pickguard (#2) in the guitar and see what that sounds like. The third option, the minihumbuckers I do have, but the pickguard didn't quite match them so that will need some more tweaking before I can try that.

 

[Kostas]

...Now, I know it won't be the same, but what do you think, does this direction make sense ?
Has anyone tried this, any experiences ?

Not only it makes sense but my H-S Tele is the most versatile guitar I have. I have used different pickups (I'm guessing you'll use PAF style humbucker and Strat single coil) but it's an H-S combination that works great from clean to scream. Make sure to find pickups that work good together and pay attention to the pot values.

 

[Logrinn]

Wow! That's an awesome Tele, Kostas

 

[Cagey]

I put together something very similar to what you describe a couple years ago. Hollow, carved top Mahogany H-S Tele...

Burnished Aframosia modern construction neck w/ SS 6100 frets and Schaller mini-lockers. Scartozi bridge. Custom wound humbucker from Roadhouse Pickups, and I don't remember what the neck pickup is.

Acoustically, it's loud for an electric. Surprisingly so. Electrically, it sounds good as a humbucker or a single player, but mixing those two doesn't make me as happy as it could. The pickups are just too different.

I have another H-S tele...

Same deal with that one. The humbucker and the single each sound great on their own, but together they leave me wanting.

But, we're talking tonal character here, which is highly subjective. Plus, there's no accounting for taste. For all I know, the H/S combo sounds great - just not to me.

 

[Kostas]

Wow! That's an awesome Tele, Kostas

Thanks! It sounds as good as it looks. To anyone who hasn't use Filtetrons I highly recommend them. Although a HB they sound differently from a PAF style HB.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I prefer an H/S setup on just about everything.

 

[Great Ape]

Single neck + Hmbkr bridge + Mahogany body & neck=Most Excellent!! Do it, Enjoy it!!

 

[fdesalvo]

Done it with a maple neck.  Ms Nesbit tells no lies.  She's fat, sassy, twangy, clean, and nasty all in one.  Some pre-setup pics..Push/pull volume pot splits the HB for classic Tele tones.

 

[pabloman]

You better keep an eye on Ms Nesbit. She's a fine lady. If Al Green has his way with her the world might not be ready for their love child.

 

[fdesalvo]

I keep them facing away from each other on their stand. No hanky panky!

 

[musicispeace]

I like your build idea a lot. And at the risk of sounding like a heretic, whenever I entertain the idea of doing a tele like that I keep thinking I could be happy with just a two position pickup selector and have either just the bridge or just the neck. But then I use neck pickups A LOT on their own and as much of a strat person as I am I have to confess I am not a huge middle pickup user. (There are moments but a lot of the time no) Depends on what you like to play as well. I am mostly interested in blues and for that going back and forth between the neck and bridge works just fine. I totally get that for a lot of players having that middle/both pickups sound has a lot of uses. Just a thought if you felt unhappy with the middle position on that tele.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Done it with a maple neck.  Ms Nesbit tells no lies.  She's fat, sassy, twangy, clean, and nasty all in one.  Some pre-setup pics..Push/pull volume pot splits the HB for classic Tele tones.

Even though I have messed with a multitude of wire diagrams as experiments, I always seem to end up right back here with this exact config.
It just "works" for me, especially live, simplicity.

 

[DustyCat]

Done it with a maple neck.  Ms Nesbit tells no lies.  She's fat, sassy, twangy, clean, and nasty all in one.  Some pre-setup pics..Push/pull volume pot splits the HB for classic Tele tones.

Even though I have messed with a multitude of wire diagrams as experiments, I always seem to end up right back here with this exact config.
It just "works" for me, especially live, simplicity.

Ive been thinking about something similar, except my VIP semi hollow has two SD Phat Cats.
Your suggestion welcome  :rock-on: