Single pickup Tele for rhythm

[jballjr]

Hello all,
First build, first visit.
I am planning a chambered body Tele with a Warmoth superwide neck and a single neck or center mounted pickup strictly for rhythm  strumming to replace my Godin Le Patrie. Looking for a relatively mellow sound with a simple volume and a tone control set up.
Thanks in advance.
Jim

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Look at the Guitar Fetish NeoVin Tele Pickups.
Excellent stuff in its own right, but on a friendly budget.

Check out the sound clips.

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Neovin-Noise-Free-Pickups-for-Telecaster-Guitars_c_121.html

 

[Day-mun]

That sounds like a very cool build you're planning! I've been ever-more curious about the super-wides, so this will be a fun one to follow. Simple is better, in most cases, in my opinion, so this appeals to me a lot! Curious what some of the other appointments are going to be, namely the bridge.  -Gluing on an acoustic/classical bridge, or going with an electric guitar top-mount or trem bridge?

As for a pickup to suggest, I have always enjoyed the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro rhythm pickup; lower output and very warm and mellow.

 

[jballjr]

Thanks for the replies/suggestions.

I have some homework to do regarding the pickup choice. I may end up with both bridge and neck, I'll see where the suggestions and research lead me. Once this decision is made...It's go time.

As for the build itself:

Neck
Warmoth design "Superwide", standard thin - Roasted Maple w/ Rosewood (I want to laminate the head to match the Korina body, but it doesn't look like this option is available on this particular neck, at least on their website.)
Tusq nut (black)
6150 stainless frets
Planet waves locking tuners

Body
Tele chambered - Alder w/ Black Korina (possibly I'll stain it darker depending on the wood pattern I receive)
Rear rout
"F" hole
Strat neck pocket
Tru-Oil finish, gloss polished
Schaller 475 bridge (for the multiple adjustment)
Strat volume and tone layout, round top knobs
7/8" Electrosocket
Schaller strap locs

All hardware in black.

I think these are all the pertinent details...

Again, thanks to all.

Jim

 

[rgand]

Looking forward to seeing your build. As a possible option, maybe the DiMarzio Area T pickup(s) will give you that mellow sound you're looking for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP3boydSFfQ

 

[cyclecamper]

How did this build go?

I had some issues with mine.

It really would fit better if I made the body with some wood on either side of the neck pocket, not quite a standard Tele body.

I had some really nice bridges, but this really called for the wider "vintage" tele saddle & string spacing.

Can't find pickups with pole pieces spaced that wide.  I'm using Graph Tech piezo saddles, and a tele bridge pickup mounted straight across instead of angled, and a Lace Alumintone neck pickup which doesn't really have any pole pieces and avoids the whole issue.

 

[jackthehack]

Seymour Duncan '52 rhythm pickup would be a good choice...

 

[cyclecamper]

What's the pole piece spacing on that (low "E" center to high "E" center).  This is REALLY wide for a neck pickup.
For the bridge pickup I have a Fender Stacked N3 Noiseless Tele Bridge and was hoping that would work, but even if I mount it straight across instead of at an angle the pole pieces still are not far enough apart to be correctly positioned beneath either "E" string.

I'm also having a bad time mounting the Warmoth Extra-wide neck.  Looking at the Warmoth site their diagram of the TELE and STRAT neck pockets is identical, so I thought picking up their already-available Strat neck for my Tele build should be fine.  Well, it fits, but there's this huge mess of a gap at the heel.  The superwide heel is indeed superwide, then suddenly it narrows to the width of the socket.  It looks like crap.  How is this supposed to fit?  I wish I hadn't done the superwide, I got it just because I was too lazy to wait for a wide-nut neck to be built for me.  I should have waited, this thing is REALLY wide!!!

 

[Cagey]

Strat and Tele neck heels and pockets are dimensionally identical, but the Strat pocket has a radiused end while the Tele neck pocket has a square end.

The neck heels are cut to suit.

What that means is a Strat neck will fit in a Tele pocket (but not vice-versa), but you'll have some gaps where the radius of the Strat neck heel can't approach the square corners of the Tele pocket. Usually, the fretboard overhang keeps that from being seen unless you really look for it.

The extra-wide necks get their heel geometry milled to fit the standard pockets so you only have one unusual/non-standard part rather than the two you'd have if the pocket were cut out-of-spec.

 

[Maisietone Custom Pickups]

Hi jim,
I think a vintage Telecaster pickup would work well. Check me out at maisietone.com
Thanks,
Mark