Filtertrons (or guitarfetish's retrotrons) in a Tele?

I'm planning on getting a Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster custom, the one with dual humbuckers. I had it for a while before, but got rid of it, now I want it again :razz:

A while ago I bought a set of Liverpool retrotron pickups by guitarfetish (they're copies of filtertron pickups), and I'm dying to try them out in the right guitar. I'm thinking of putting them in the Squier custom.

I'd like to do this, but I'm afraid they'll sound too much like my standard tele which has single coils, since I heard filtertrons are twangy and bright, with single-coil or P90 qualities (and I already have a tele with P90s).

Has anyone put gfs retrotrons, or filtertrons in a tele? Does it sound a lot different than a traditional, twangy telecaster?

I haven't tried but TV Jones did have a video of him playing a tele with a set of his pups on his website a while back. If you check you might find it.

I've had a pair of TV Classics in a tele for a few years now. Answer to your question is "yes and no." The guitar will still have tele qualities - snap, twang etc, but they don't sound like single coils. Don't sound like other buckers either. When I built this guiitar, a friend had built a two P90 tele with nearly identical body woods and necks, and both with thin nitro finishes. The Filtertrons were clearer, more articulate and less splattery. I liked them a lot better than the P90's more my needs and they were original 50's P90s to boot.

The Filtertrons are VERY versatile and musical. I get the best slide tone I've ever had with these pickups, lots of twang in the bridge and a great neck pickup tone. Aside from metal (which I don't have the hair for), can't imagine a gig you couldn't do with these. And no hum!

I dig the idea of those Liverpools in the Tele Custom! I bet that sounds great!

I haven't tried but TV Jones did have a video of him playing a tele with a set of his pups on his website a while back. If you check you might find it.
I can't speak to the Liverpools in a tele, but I may be able to shed a little light as to how they compare to the Filtertrons. A friend put some 'trons in an Ibanez Gretsch copy (AF-75), and I liked the sound enough to try some Liverpools in mine. The Liverpools don't really nail that 'tron sound, but they're pretty close...close enough that I think that T.V. Jones video will give you a real good idea as to how they will sound in your tele. Hope that helps.

This is just my humble opinion of course, so take it with a grain of salt....but to my ears, the GFS retro's sound nothing like Filtertrons. They don't sound bad mind you, just not in the same class as Filtertrons. To my ears, the retrotrons lean more to the big strat, P-90arena. Again, my opinion only, ymmv and probably will.

This is just my humble opinion of course, so take it with a grain of salt....but to my ears, the GFS retro's sound nothing like Filtertrons. They don't sound bad mind you, just not in the same class as Filtertrons. To my ears, the retrotrons lean more to the big strat, P-90arena. Again, my opinion only, ymmv and probably will.

I think that'd be a great pairing with a tele. When I think of a Filtertron I think of a Gretsch hollowbody, but I think in a solidbody something like a p-90/strat pickup would sound awesome.

Not to hi-jack this thread, but I was thinking of adding a HiLo'tron to my neck, since I found that was pretty reasonably priced. Would this give me some good jangle?