Lolar Pups For a Tele Thinline?

[Freakoftheweek75]

Well,

As I patiently await the arrival of my tele thinline from Warmoth, and then have it shipped off to Kuro Uma to work his badass paint magic, I have some time to consider pickups.

The config will be:

-Tele single coil neck

-Bridge Humbucking.

My musical styles range with cover projects that require everything from  really bright, chimey, strat-esque funk tones for the neck to dirty hard rock, punk, and occasional tight low end metal stuff.

I need your opinions if Lolars would be good for these ranges? I'm a little frustrated that Lollar's Youtube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/LollarGuitars is peppered up with cutesy edited vidoes, and Jason Lollar "talking" a lot about his pickups....but not much in the way of sound samples. HOWEVER, when I asked my guitar playing buds on Facebook the almost overwhelming reply was to get Lollar's, which i'd never heard of.

These kudos came from names I REALLY respect - one being a major booking agent and respected local guitarist, one being an ex hair-metal guy who's a phenomenal player and really well respected still locally, and a friend who has spent the last 3 years as Rich Fortus' guitar tech on the Guns tours. I mean....they can't suck, right?!

So as I finish rambling, do any of you have experience with these pickups or at least links to some decent sound samples or vids?



Also - to help know where I'm coming from a bit better, here are some lnks to some tones I REALLY respect...

CLEAN:

http://youtu.be/vIw0ewEsNHs?t=1m1s

http://youtu.be/hs8y3kneqrs?t=4s

DIRTY:

http://youtu.be/xd1MiLADbog

http://youtu.be/VIuTXk7m5o8

 

[AprioriMark]

Jason Lollar is an artist, and has written books on the subject of pickups.  His p90s are amazing.

-Mark

 

[mayfly]

Get the Lollars.  Just get them.

 

[Kostas]

I have a Lollar (used to have two) in my Thinline. Back in 2008 when I got them I emailed Jason and he answered all my questions. Inform him what sound you want, the amp(s) you have and about your guitar, he will suggest pickups for you. I would be careful with the wiring. I replaced the tele bridge pickup because I had wired it with a 500k pot and there was too much treble.

 

[Cagey]

You never know what pickups are going to sound like until you install them. Sometimes you win, other times not so much. But, Mayfly says do it, so... y'know. There are laws. You don't have any choice, now.

 

[Jusatele]

I have lollars in 2 of my axes
they are the best pickups I think I have ever owned
My tele I built here has Lollar P90s
My 335 has Lollar imperial PAFs

 

[Freakoftheweek75]

Things like this humble me as a player, lol. Just when I think I know what's what - I ask a question about a product I've never heard of and the masses tell me "DO IT!!!!!!11"

Looks like I need to check out some Lollar's.

Thanks gang!

 

[DustyCat]

Does anyone else have any experience with Fender's reissue Wide Range Pickups?

I have a pair in a Thinline Tele of my own.
They sound great clean when there is plenty of headroom.
However, when pushed...not so much. I feel like they are like shattered glass if I run out of headroom amd strike too hard. Unpotting can also pick up unwanted buzzing.
They have a bit of an unpleasant sting to them when the "Tone Bubble" is popped.
Not like my SD BlackBacks that can't be struck hard enough!

Anybody else share sentiments? Any reccomendations? What are some favorites? And Why aren't they ALL "Wide Range" ???
hmmmm

(EDIT: I like the fact that someone said that one pickup manufacturer "is an artist" I think that can go a long way)

 

[Patrick from Davis]

The WRHB is a weird one.  The originals had CuNiFe magnets as the pole pieces.  They could be threaded, unlike AlNiCo magnets.  Telenator makes a reproduction of them, along with others.  The real difficulty with the pickups is comparing them to the real things, it is difficult to fine them.  They have a different set of parts on the insides, so you can't really replace them with regular parts, and the Fender Repro's are really quite cheap.  Here is what the insides look like.

So getting a handmade pickup from someone that really wants to make a good pickup will probably always give you a better pickup than something that is mass produced.  I have yet to have mine let me down, and I like to play loud.  Not necessarily volume loud, but a loud style.
Patrick

 

[DustyCat]

Yeah true, handwound versus mass-produced...that goes a long way too.

Anyone have any experience with Lollar's "Regal" model?

 

[Freakoftheweek75]

Thanks for the suggestions all.

I spoke with Matthew from Lollar yesterday and he recommended the "Vintage Tele" for the neck and the "Classic Imperial for the bridge. Anyone with experience using either of those?

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=203&Category_Code=telecaster-pickups

http://www.lollarguitars.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LGP&Product_Code=230&Category_Code=humbucker-pickups