Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post

Buckshot · March 26th, 2003, 11:54 PM

I put a set of Suhr's V60LP 's into my Bacchus Strat about 2.5 mos ago. That guitar sounded pretty magic to begin with, but even my tone-deaf bandmate co-guitarist noticed the sound improvement. A couple weeks later, I put a mixed set of Suhrs into a 20 year old Tokai Strat with great results again. So I decided to go whole hog & order one of his bridge pickups for my main early 70's Tele. It sounds GREAT! It went in as an experiment as I've been real happy w/ the Custom Shop old style NoCaster that I've been using for a couple years. But I'm sure not gonna switch back. The NoCaster will probably go in my 5 string Tele. I've had an A&F Blackguard bridge pickup on order for quite a while with a lot of anticipation, but its gonna have to be REAL special to replace the Suhr.
The Suhr is in the early 50's flatpole camp tone-wise: lots of everything (lows/mids/highs) tone wise and very responsive to attack & picking technique changes- clucks & pops on demand. They take to an overdriven tone like nobody's business. Pretty quiet for a single coil, maybe as quiet as H-Ds even (the 54 Special is another GREAT pickup!). None of the piercing hi-end thing I hear in alot of the 60s-70s vintage Tele pickups- it's ALL good even w/ the tone control wide open. I sound like a Suhr shill, but I've probably spent over a thousand on Tele bridge pickups over the years (Duncans, DiMarzios, Velvet Hammers, Harmonic Designs, Fralins, both "brands" of Lawrences, Armstrongs, old Schecter Monstertones, Schallers, ESPs, Van Zandts, Fernandes...get the point?) and, to my ears, these sound like a Broadcaster oughtta. The only bridge pickup that tickled me more than th Suhr was an old Fender flat-pole rewound for me by W.L. VanZandt himself (God rest his good soul) when he still did it as a hobby for a few of us that hung out at the old Charlie's Guitar Shop on Harry Hines.
I haven't tried his Tele neck pickup yet, as I've always been real happy w/ the Texas Special necks I generally use, but I probably need to check one out, because John Suhr really does great single coils. His P-90s are awesome as well. I've heard mixed reviews of his humbuckers, but I only have a couple of HB guitars & I'm set for pickups in those.

March 26th, 2003, 11:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
Buckshot TDPRI Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Denton, TX. Posts: 59	I put a set of Suhr's V60LP 's into my Bacchus Strat about 2.5 mos ago. That guitar sounded pretty magic to begin with, but even my tone-deaf bandmate co-guitarist noticed the sound improvement. A couple weeks later, I put a mixed set of Suhrs into a 20 year old Tokai Strat with great results again. So I decided to go whole hog & order one of his bridge pickups for my main early 70's Tele. It sounds GREAT! It went in as an experiment as I've been real happy w/ the Custom Shop old style NoCaster that I've been using for a couple years. But I'm sure not gonna switch back. The NoCaster will probably go in my 5 string Tele. I've had an A&F Blackguard bridge pickup on order for quite a while with a lot of anticipation, but its gonna have to be REAL special to replace the Suhr. The Suhr is in the early 50's flatpole camp tone-wise: lots of everything (lows/mids/highs) tone wise and very responsive to attack & picking technique changes- clucks & pops on demand. They take to an overdriven tone like nobody's business. Pretty quiet for a single coil, maybe as quiet as H-Ds even (the 54 Special is another GREAT pickup!). None of the piercing hi-end thing I hear in alot of the 60s-70s vintage Tele pickups- it's ALL good even w/ the tone control wide open. I sound like a Suhr shill, but I've probably spent over a thousand on Tele bridge pickups over the years (Duncans, DiMarzios, Velvet Hammers, Harmonic Designs, Fralins, both "brands" of Lawrences, Armstrongs, old Schecter Monstertones, Schallers, ESPs, Van Zandts, Fernandes...get the point?) and, to my ears, these sound like a Broadcaster oughtta. The only bridge pickup that tickled me more than th Suhr was an old Fender flat-pole rewound for me by W.L. VanZandt himself (God rest his good soul) when he still did it as a hobby for a few of us that hung out at the old Charlie's Guitar Shop on Harry Hines. I haven't tried his Tele neck pickup yet, as I've always been real happy w/ the Texas Special necks I generally use, but I probably need to check one out, because John Suhr really does great single coils. His P-90s are awesome as well. I've heard mixed reviews of his humbuckers, but I only have a couple of HB guitars & I'm set for pickups in those. __________________ Leo Fender got it right the 1st time - its been downhill ever since!