VV Charlie Christian in mini-humbucker size

Just dropped one of Pete's mini-hum szed Charlie Christian style pickups into my Fernandes Tele. WOW, it is just so thick. It's still honeymoon thought so we'll see. It certainly does mate well with his bridge pickup though. Seems like it just drips character. Very jazzy take on a blues tone or a bluesy take on a jazz tone - I'm not sure which.

Just dropped one of Pete's mini-hum szed Charlie Christian style pickups into my Fernandes Tele. WOW, it is just so thick. It's still honeymoon thought so we'll see. It certainly does mate well with his bridge pickup though. Seems like it just drips character. Very jazzy take on a blues tone or a bluesy take on a jazz tone - I'm not sure which.

Glad to hear that.I'm about to put one in my partscaster.....PJ.....

It certainly does mate well with his bridge pickup though.

Do you have the blade polepiece bridge pickup that Pete shows on his website?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz8LhSGeO88

I've never heard a better CC style player - hard to believe thats a Tele -
dunno who made his pup?

Do you have the blade polepiece bridge pickup that Pete shows on his website?

Nope the trad. I'm running it quite a bit higher than the neck. That neck is powerful. I'll tell you - this neck pickup has ne looking at my underplayed 335 (clone) and thinking - heck, maybe if I mortgage the cat ...



nice playing in that clip.

Howdy,

Always been intrigued with the Charlie Christian P/U. For that matter, I'm interested in just about any vintage-voiced P/U with a P-90-ish footprint.

Eggman

Nope the trad. I'm running it quite a bit higher than the neck. That neck is powerful. I'll tell you - this neck pickup has ne looking at my underplayed 335 (clone) and thinking - heck, maybe if I mortgage the cat ...


Thanks!
The matching blade bridge pup really has me curious, but I'm not sure I want to route out the guitar for the CC neck pup. Decisions, decisions... :smile:

Don, thanks for posting that clip, yes that's some good playing. I think his secret is that cap he's wearing. :lol:

I have a VV CC-Rider and matching VV blade-polepiece bridge pickup in a Tele. I had tried a Fender American Series bridge pickup and a Duncan Antiquity II bridge pickup before this bridge pickup, the output levels with either barely matched with the bridge pickup very high and the CC-Rider just below the pickguard, and they didn't match tonally. The blade-polepiece bridge is a good match output wise but is just a bit middier than my ideal for a Tele bridge pickup by itself.

This guitar body was originally routed for a full size humbucker. I had to widen the rout for the CC Rider. And since I wanted to mount it to the body instead of to the pickguard, I had to fill in the two [HB mounting tab clearance] oval recesses that were in the rout. I used a pickguard that was originally made for a body mounted standard Tele single coil neck pickup; I made the new larger opening using a Dremel with a fine cutting disk and various files.

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/552/Vintage_Vibe_CC_Rider_neck_and_blade_polepiece_bri dge.JPG

http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/549/2000_CII_Squier_Standard_Fat-CC_Telecaster_bridge_side.JPG

If I was to set up another Tele with a similar pickup arrangement, I'd get the bridge pickup with the flatter 12" radiused blade (1st and 6th string are more sensitive to height adjustment with the stock radius), slightly underwound (less mid emphasis) and I'd have the pair wound to not have the hum canceling in the middle position. I'd rather have equal hum in all three positions.

I've see the VV pickups that adapt the Charlie Christian type design to a standard sized humbucker format, but this is the first I've heard of Pete making them in a mini humbucker size. Anyone have pics of them?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz8LhSGeO88

I've never heard a better CC style player - hard to believe thats a Tele -
dunno who made his pup?

In the "more info" section of that clip it says it's a Lollar p/u.

Vintage Vibe CC in mini hum form factor.
http://w3.gorge.net/mfbrown/Ferdie1.jpg
http://w3.gorge.net/mfbrown/Ferdie2.jpg
http://w3.gorge.net/mfbrown/Ferdie3.jpg

I just played for an hour and I'm just amazed. ...one of those 'where have you been all my life' moments... I liked the Duncan mini-hum that came out, but it wasn't the match I was looking for. It was very SRV (caps intended) - if I were after that road house thing - I could have lived with it easily. The Christian just does the rich, round jazz thing so well... I've been working on my Django rhythm's and this pickup just fit's. Man does this thing have tone... talk about thick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz8LhSGeO88

I've never heard a better CC style player - hard to believe thats a Tele -
dunno who made his pup?


The description says it's a Lollar. Sounds sweet.

I briefly owned this Tele that had a Vintage Vibe version and I was very impressed with the tone....warm, full, round, and still articulate:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v238/barthur99/cctele.jpg

Someday, I'll go that route again when I can afford a stable of Teles.

Pretty! I'm a sucker for Tobacco burst ...

Man, that mini-hum sized CC is too cool...

Guess I need to rethink routing out my guitar. :smile:

I have to get some samples of this recorded. It just sounds amazing. I can picure that not everybody would be high on it. It's very smooth, it's very rich - almost takes my Tele into Archtop territory. For the jazzier stuff I do - it's just the thing. It's just not going to do the faux-SRV thing. I'm totally OK with that but it would not work for some folks I'm sure. It's just a completely different animal.

In the "more info" section of that clip it says it's a Lollar p/u.

Yep, that's a Lollar CC for Tele pickup. I've got one in my Thinline:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3148/2861661392_c7b5637c29_b.jpg (http://flickr.com/photos/mediawench/2861661392/in/set-72157594485374924)

personally as a musician - i was too much of a hendrix-esk neck player to get along with a CC - If I knew some Jazz I bet I'd had been in love - but I don't know any Jazz and the CC
went thru several mods - magnets and winds - and I finally sold it -

If your like me.. the CC may not be what you need..

the reason I'm mentioning this is - thats a big route and allot of work/expense to just be able to try a pickup --

they are as cool as they come - but if your not Jazzy my best advise is aim for a pup that suits your style --
I'm sure most will agree a CC is not the be all end all of neck pickups...

I watched Danny Gatton and Redd Volkeart eventually loose their love for the CC's and return to a more stock type Tele neck...

I just think its something thats so cool looking that most can't resist trying - ( plus he history of the CC ) I for one could not resist the urge - but after a while you know if its really for you or not..

Not against the CC's at all - just seen too many friends and big names pull them out after a while.
DON MARE

Right on. As a bassist first, writer second, engineer third and live guitarist - maybe a distant 4th - I want a lot of tonal flexibility in my stable. The broader tonal pallette is kind of inspiring - I'm really not a good enough guitarist to impose my will on an instrument and always sound like me. So I adapt my playing more to what the instrument inspires if that makes any sense...

Put a bass in my hands and I sound like me. 5 string, 4 string frets or no, J or P - it's me in there ...

Having a decent Strat let's me forego the traditional Tele neck PU and it would be meaningless to go to the intermediate step of dropping a Strat pickup in there as I already have that covered... that and my Tele is an 80's Fernandes - I love it as a player but harbor no illusions as to it's value. It was a $225 buy 10 years or so ago and if I sold it today it wouldn't be worth a lot more than that ... So getting Mr Happy Router engaged was not a huge risk ...

What the CC may be able to do for me is allow me to take my D'Agostino 335 clone in a different direction. There are Lawrence XL-500's in there at the moment and I keep thinking P-90's in a humbucker format ...

Here's my Vintage Vibe CC in a 62RI. I have it mated with a BArden set real high. The VV is a VERY hot pickup.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Rumbletweed/Esquires/MilesGood3.jpg

And the rest of the Chucks....
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y165/Rumbletweed/Gear/Chucks1.jpg

I sent this mess up to Rob D so he could work his magic -- I can't wait to get it back!

http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk316/Brains0029/IMG_2386.jpg

Vintage Vibe CC and matched Tele set



Don, I hear what you are saying about the lure of the CC and I also had to try it. Not to sidetrack but the 4709 (Joel Foy /Rosie Wrap) pickups I got from you back in July 07 are my favorite all time Tele pickups! Thanks for taking the time to discuss everything with me.