I wanna noiseless tele.

[bagman67]

The amp & setting has a lot to do with the tele sound as well. Play it through a clean Fender with the treble all the way up & it'll sound way diffrent that if you play it through a Marshall.

Check out Harry Jacobson for awsome versatile tele tones...& incredible playing.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMgLqHTP_AM[/youtube]

Double humbuckers is kinda cheating, innit?  I mean, the classic tele tone is based on the fat single-coil in the bridge and the thick, tall single-coil in the neck position.  Harry J, while indeed an awesome player, ain't playing a tele in the sense I think many of us consider it.

Bagman

 

[JaySwear]

...ain't playing a tele in the sense I think many of us consider it.

i agree. i wouldn't go so far as to say he's not playing a telecaster (like i've seen a few times before [*cough* TDPRI *cough*]), but i wouldn't call it a tele tone. i know when somebody talks about a "telecaster tone" they are definitely not talking about my tele deluxe with the super distortion in it.

EDIT: i think "tele" is all in the body shape. but "tele tone" is all about the pickups (at least one, traditional bridge or traditional neck)

 

[jay4321]

Yeah humbucker equipped teles are a whole other animal. But a garden variety Tele is an option for almost any job

 

[jalane]

Noiseless single coils are for sissy girls.  They are also for people who prefer noiseless pickups.  I fall into neither of these categories, so i prefer noise-full pickups.  Seriously, though, Jazzmasters are the noisiest guitars on the planet, and it's not like you can ever hear any hum when you're actually playing.  I've just gotten into the habit of dropping my volume pedal in between songs, and it has never been an issue. 

If you decide against the noiseless route and are looking for some splendid vintage tele tone, get yourself a set of Lollar Vintage T's.  A buddy i play with has a set and after hearing his tele i scrapped my plans for my next build and decided it would have to be a telecaster.

The fact of the matter is that here in the 21st Century, there's simply NO reason to have noisy pickups. Today's noiseless single-coils sound excellent and authentic. Why would noise ever be a preference?...

Well, here in the 21st century, we also have the Gibson Dusk Tiger:

Advancements in technology do not necessarily equate to better ideas, just more complicated ones.  Just because noiseless pickups are out there doesn't mean that sound better, just that they're less noisy.  Personally, i do not like the way any noiseless p'ups that i've tried sound (and yes, i HAVE tried several diferent makes/models).  Noise is not a preference of mine, tone is. But noise is a trade off i will never think twice about making because:
1) Noise is NEVER perceptible when YOU ARE ACTUALLY PLAYING YOUR GUITAR (i don't understand why this concept isn't universally accepted; just get a f@cking volume pedal and kill your signal when you're not playing!!!); and
2) noiseless p'ups do not sound authentic to me, otherwise i'd be more into them.

It's the 21st century, and yet the quality of guitars and guitar parts continues to reach new levels of cheap crap-i-ness, vintage guitars continue to be coveted and revered for their superior tone & vibe, so i'm pretty sure your '21st century' argument doesn't get very far before breaking down.

 

[jay4321]

While I agree with some of that, the reverse of that whole argument can be just as true. A lot of those now-cherished instruments were built side-by-side with duds and had a lot of inconsistencies.

As far as noise, I've fought the single-coil noise battle off and on for a lot of years. It can be reasonably managed, but it's still a drawback and despite the Decimator and shielding I still have issues in some places - I can live with it, but if others notice then it's a problem. And while we're on the subject of SCs, some of these manufacturers need to figure out that most of us aren't playing 7.25" radius fretboards and rethink their staggers. 

 

[nexrex]

OK, these are not cheap, but I always hear a lot of good things about lace pickups
http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/tele_model/tele_specs.php

 

[Jusatele]

Stop laying around flouresents and other stuff that make 60 c hum

 

[rockskate4x]

that's not always up to me...

 

[Jusatele]

OK, these are not cheap, but I always hear a lot of good things about lace pickups
http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/tele_model/tele_specs.php

he has been trying to sell those things for years, BFU is the main reason they do not sell, notice he is about the only company that will print out the henries a pickup has, he is telling you more that those who give resistance, I think he is up to something, just I do not see much of a way to tune those things. He gets a nice tonal range, but I bought one to experiment with and found it was lacking in warmth, kinda like that processed sound from the hair metal days when everyone was running huge racks with multi processors and it had that sound of, hummmmmmmmmmmmm whats that. Well that is what I thought of it after a few hours, just did not have the vibe a coil wound pickup had. Plus I was constantly adjusting the tone knob to keep it on tone as any slight turn and it changes after you get it to start dropping, and it take a 1/3 of a turn to start doing that. I think before those will get popular you will have to see a bit of electronics developed to tune them besides just a tone knob, they are not developed to where they need to be yet.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I had a Strat with Lace Sensors and they sounded like cardboard.

 

[AGWAN]

I' only like his deathbuckers because they sound like a Casio Keyboard...

And honestly.... who besides me wants a guitar that sounds like a 1989 Casio Keyboard?

 

[Cagey]

For what it's worth... I've never been impressed with the Lace Sensors, either. To my ear, they sound sterile. No real character to them. They work, and they're noiseless, but that's as far as it goes.

 

[ramonet]

If you are looking for a noiseless Tele, go for a EMG pack. I have them in my Roundcaster and they sound amazing and abolutely noise free.

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=13712.0

 

[jay4321]

Noiseless or not I like traditional looking pickups in teles & strats. Laces, rails, EMGs... all just look really out of place to me on those.

 

[JaySwear]

Noiseless or not I like traditional looking pickups in teles & strats. Laces, rails, EMGs... all just look really out of place to me on those.

+1. i know i shouldn't judge a pickup by it's looks, but in a traditional tele i'd want traditional looking pickups. rail singlecoils aren't all that pretty in a traditional guitar. and EMGs look awesome in modern looking guitars but not so much on a classic looking guitar.

 

[swarfrat]

Any of you 'there has never been and never will be a decent active or hum cancelling single coil' types try and like using something like the Decimator? (Not noise gates)

 

[tfarny]

I put some area Ts in my tele and love them so far but have been too busy to play it much. Reviews are all over the net anyhow.