Fender Custom Shop Pickups

Other than the Texas Tele, Nocaster, and the "Twisted" Tele (which is neck only), what other pickups did the Fender Custom Shop make for the telecaster? And, other than the Texas Tele, which ones are/were considered "hot?"

Anyone?

The Broadcaster shares the same specs with the Texas Special for the magnet wire used as well as the same number of turns the only difference being the flat poles.
At 9k plus ohms and using Alnico5 magnets it's a hottie

What was the Twisted Tele pup?

What was the Twisted Tele pup?

Twisted tele's are in the new J5 CS tele and a few of the other ones... Apparently, it's a Hamel Design... but I can't be too positive about that... I've never seen specs... maybe someone knows them?

The ~'twisted tele'~ is a Hamel design actually. I believe that the CS uses them quite a bit. Here's some more info on the subject: http://www.tdpri.com/viewtopic.php?t=26109

The Broadcaster shares the same specs with the Texas Special for the magnet wire used as well as the same number of turns the only difference being the flat poles.
At 9k plus ohms and using Alnico5 magnets it's a hottie

Again, thanks for the info... I've been learning quite a bit since I've been wiping this egg off my face...

I've been using the Twisted Tele neck pup and the matching bridge unit for about 4 years in a CS Tele, and they are my favorite pups. I didn't find out until a couple of years after I had been using them that they were designed by Alan Hamel and built by Abby, but that's neat to know cause that's quite the pedigree.

Tone wise the Twisted Tele is kind of like a Tx Special neck pup, but with alnico 2 instead of alnico 5 magnets, and it's only overwound about half as much as a Tx Special.

The bridge pup that goes with it in the Custom Classic Telecaster is like a Nocaster, but it has a heavier bottom plate.

Does anyone know if Alan Hamel is making anything similar to these now?

There seems to be a little confusion about the specs of this pickup so I'll try to clear things up.
It uses the same Alnico5 magnets as what's used for the Jazz Bass which are the longest magnets Fender has ever used in production which is an important design element of this pickup. The magnet wire used is 42awg heavy formvar which was chosen over plain enamel or the newer solder through synthetic insulations so the final coil size would be as full as the physical size of the bobbin would permit and yeild the desired output with DC resistance in the upper 5's to low 6k ohm range.
The combination of the high gauss strength due to the size and material of the magnets and the relatively large diameter magnet wire used for this size of pickup accounts for its clarity and high end plus good output despite its rather wimpy looking DC resistance specs.
When switching between the neck and bridge positions you get a less dramatic change in tone unlike the night and day difference we've come to expect, it's as if two pickups of the same type or design were installed and the placement of the pickups accounted for the change in tone.
It started out as an option on Master Built Teles for those customers that never cared for or found a Tele neck pickup they liked.
The Custom Shop began using this pickup on the Custom Classic model Tele several years ago as well as a few other limited production models.
My new version uses a different method of potting the coil as well as mounting the cover thereby eliminating any microphonic feedback common with this style of pickup while retaining the high end of its design.

Thank you for the clarification of the design specs for the Twisted Tele!

There seems to be a little confusion about the specs of this pickup so I'll try to clear things up.
It uses the same Alnico5 magnets as what's used for the Jazz Bass which are the longest magnets Fender has ever used in production which is an important design element of this pickup. The magnet wire used is 42awg heavy formvar which was chosen over plain enamel or the newer solder through synthetic insulations so the final coil size would be as full as the physical size of the bobbin would permit and yeild the desired output with DC resistance in the upper 5's to low 6k ohm range.
The combination of the high gauss strength due to the size and material of the magnets and the relatively large diameter magnet wire used for this size of pickup accounts for its clarity and high end plus good output despite its rather wimpy looking DC resistance specs.
When switching between the neck and bridge positions you get a less dramatic change in tone unlike the night and day difference we've come to expect, it's as if two pickups of the same type or design were installed and the placement of the pickups accounted for the change in tone.
It started out as an option on Master Built Teles for those customers that never cared for or found a Tele neck pickup they liked.
The Custom Shop began using this pickup on the Custom Classic model Tele several years ago as well as a few other limited production models.
My new version uses a different method of potting the coil as well as mounting the cover thereby eliminating any microphonic feedback common with this style of pickup while retaining the high end of its design.

I wonder if anything has changed since then with regard to the construction and materials of the Baja twisted Tele pickup.

I apologize if I missed this detail here but the pick-up cover on the Twisted Tele neck is made of nickel silver rather than brass contributing to the clarity of sound.

I have this pickup set (Twisted Tele/flat pole bridge) on my CS Telecaster and the guitar is definitely a keeper. Several friend/Tele players have played my guitar only to rant about it....and ask me to sell it.

Caveat--I have never owned a Twisted Tele but have been winding my own version of the twisted tele, based on its general specs, for a while. I have found three key elements to getting that sound. 1) the 42 AWG wire, rather than the standard 43 AWG, contributes greatly to its stratty sound. 42 AWG wound to 5.8 DC is about as powerful sounding as a 7.2 DC wound with 43AWG. 2) the taller magnet rods make for a taller coil, which contributes to the clearer sound. 3) Nickel silver covers do not roll off the top end like brass and also contribute to the brighter, more stratty sound.