Recommend a tele bridge 'bucker please.

I want my standard Tele bridge to be more of a humbuckng PAF and less twang. I play in a rock cover band. Usually clean on the middle and neck and distorted at the bridge posiition. I've been looking at the Duncan little '59 and some Dimarzio options. Primarily, the Chopper T, and Hot Area T. Can anyone share there experiences with these pickups?

I have the SD Little '59. Outstanding pickup for classic rock, funk, you name it.

I called Dimarzio and their recommendation for me was the Chopper T. So, it's down to the Dimarzio Chopper T and the Duncan Little '59.

I think the Little '59 will suit you. I have one in my American Standard's bridge, and love it. I play Neil Youngish rock, and it gives me nice thick lead tones. My guitar still sounds like a Telecaster, though, whether because of the bridge, the scale, or something else.

You may also want to research various wiring options that allow you to get different sounds out of a '59, such as parallel and coil splitting. Different tone caps can make a big difference too so I've heard.

I "esquiered" a yamaha tele I have with an SD Lil 59. I did a 3way toggle for series, split, and parrell. It is rocking little guitar. I alos like the Dimarzio Tone Zone. I had a mini strat version for a while and a full hum in other guitars. The Tone Zone is a VERY versatile pickup. I would reccomend that as well.

I recently installed a lil 59 in my Tele's bridge position and I love it. Pup height can be dialed in to get almost any tone you want. I was also able to include a 5 way switch which gave me even more possibilities.

Thanks for your comments on the '59. No one has tried the Dimarzio Chopper?

Hector, I haven't tried the DiMarzio but I wanted to mention to the Seymour Duncan STK-T3b. I like the extra leads, so you can go series, parallel or split.

I'm a fan of the SD Seth Lover bridge PU for PAF tones, never heard it in a Tele though.

Edit - Think I had a brain fart there, wasn't thinking about the size, obviously you'd have to route for the Seth, and that's not something I would do to a Tele.

I recently installed a lil 59 in my Tele's bridge position and I love it. Pup height can be dialed in to get almost any tone you want. I was also able to include a 5 way switch which gave me even more possibilities.

oh yeah and unlike your standard fender pup, it has adjustable pole piece screws for further tone tweakability- nice!

Never.

Little 59er here...No complaints works very well...

Personally, I've had a few single-coil sized humbuckers, and found them to be a little disappointing as a humbucker, or a single. You can really sense the drop-off, in power and percussion from that of a full sized humbucker. I've had the Duncan Hot Rails, Duckbucker, Vintage-Rails, and Little '59, as well as Dimarzio's Cruiser, and I ended up replacing them all.

I, personally, would go with a beefy, tele single-coil, designed for gain, like a Bareknuckle Piledriver or something. Vintage vibe guitars probably has something (or could work up something). That way you get to keep that tele character when clean.

I, personally, would go with a beefy, tele single-coil, designed for gain, like a Bareknuckle Piledriver or something. Vintage vibe guitars probably has something (or could work up something). That way you get to keep that tele character when clean.

This.

A hot Tele bridge pup will deliver great, fat rock tones, cut through the mix like a blade and grind out as much sheer power as a bucker. I've found a really interesting one in a GFS Fat Tele pickup that is only wound to 7k, but uses over-sized pole pieces. The thing sounds great - very articulate at moderate volume levels, with oodles of power in reserve to slam the front end of your tube amp when you need it. It doesn't quite have the shimmer of a vintage style pup, but it comes pretty close. It has pretty amazing range. Best part? $35. Gotta love it when cheap stuff is really good.

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I have a GFS lil puncher lead 15 in my Tele bridge, sounds a lot like a super d. And I play punk.

I bought a tele with the 3 pickup set up and it had a DiMarzio Super Distortion and a strat style fast track 2. Both are mini humbuckers and found had way too much mids. Pulled both and installed a Carvin S60AR reverse wound strat pickup in the middle and a set if pickups from a Fender American Standard. Much happier now. I like the neck pickup the best though.

To those of you who put the little 59 in the bridge, what did you do about the Fender single coil neck? That one seems weak and thin to me, and I'd bet the little 59 would overpower it.

I had a lil59er...great..but, now I heard Gibbons is using a PearlyGates JR in teles?
sounds interesting.

To those of you who put the little 59 in the bridge, what did you do about the Fender single coil neck? That one seems weak and thin to me, and I'd bet the little 59 would overpower it.


How about neck quarter pound vs. hot rhythm in the neck?

I want my standard Tele bridge to be more of a humbuckng PAF and less twang. I play in a rock cover band. Usually clean on the middle and neck and distorted at the bridge posiition. I've been looking at the Duncan little '59 and some Dimarzio options. Primarily, the Chopper T, and Hot Area T. Can anyone share there experiences with these pickups?


Lil59er does a great classic rock kind of PAF sound. Doesnt clean up very well, but rocks good. For higher gain, try any of the Hotrails variety.

To those of you who put the little 59 in the bridge, what did you do about the Fender single coil neck? That one seems weak and thin to me, and I'd bet the little 59 would overpower it.

Just split/tap the hot bridge pickup of your choice. It would balance with Fender single coil neck and you'd get cleaner middle position too. Distorted bridge position? Well, it's there in full mode.

To those of you who put the little 59 in the bridge, what did you do about the Fender single coil neck? That one seems weak and thin to me, and I'd bet the little 59 would overpower it.

I put a full size bucker in the neck at the same time. Just one I had laying around, its an ACH-1 from one of my Artcores, but I pulled the cover off it and wiped off some of the wax. Eventually I'll probably put something else in there, maybe a Jazz.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92244869@N00/7029739239/in/photostream

Thanks for your comments on the '59. No one has tried the Dimarzio Chopper?

The Chopper is a good pickup as is the Fast Track. Personally, I like Dimarzio pups....especially their humbucker tele pups. The Hot area is a great pickup, but a different animal than these..

I use a Tone Zone T and have been very pleased with it. After years of trying a different bridge pup every few months, the Tone Zone has stayed put for several years now and I have no jonz to swap it out for something 'new'.

We all recommend what we know and what works for us. What works for me (and for others) though, may sound like dog doo to you, so keep that in mind. Enjoy the ride and I hope you find the right one!

Love the Lollar El Rayo. Brighter and less middy than most buckers, but roll down the tone and your into LP territory. With the tone all the way up it has a P90 quality. I have it connected to a 500k pot. Thats important since most buckers will sound muddy throught the typical tele 250k pot.

Oops, I was thinking about a neck bucker in my previous post. the OP question is about a bridge bucker... Nevermind.

I had both the '59 and original neck PU and they played very nice with each other.

peace

I'm currently having a Little '59 and STR-1 installed in my Tele.

I just made this recommendation in another thread... I'd suggest Bill Lawrence's L298TL - inductance above a vintage Gibson PAF, strong voltage output, rich lows, astounding clarity without any harshness but plenty of bite. You can also use it in combination with Bill's Q-filter for sweet tones without losing the lows. I wouldn't claim it sounds like a humbucker - I wouldn't with any single-sized pickup - but it does capture a lot of the desirable performance of high inductance pickups without sacrificing clarity.

I just went with a Reilander Mudbucker in my pine Tele and I could not be happier with the sound.
The bridge is a Klein and with the Reilander in there the sound is balanced nicely.
I am for the most part a single coil player but I love the sound of this bucker.

Hi Hector, I've got a Chopper T in a homemade 'tele.' It is very PAF-like, with similar harmonics, slightly rolled-off high end, and all. Play around with the string height.

barf

I had a chopper T and currently play two lil '59s. I much prefer the duncans. The chopper T was too bright for me. Tried everything to darken it up. It's really voiced more like a high powered tele pickup rather than trying to mimic a PAF which the duncan does quite well. Currently a lil '59 in a tele that has a real PAF in the neck so I have a pretty good yard stick to measure it by.

Dunno if you got one yet, but i would consider this depending on how you play. If you are one of those who likes to turn the guitar down to get cleaner sounds when using distortion, the lil 59 is one of the worse i've tried when it comes to that a lot either. As a HB tone with the knob on 10 they aren't bad, tho i didn't care for that. You might. I don't think you'll like it turned down tho. Like has been said, the mini buckers seem to be the proverbial jack of all trades, master of none. Haven't met one i liked yet. The best noiseless scenario i have found to date after years and years of trying a lot of things is a real full size HB that splits well. But then you are sacrificing the SC tone. None split and sound as good as a true SC, tho some are acceptably. I have yet to find anything that truly gives you the SC sound and FEEL (thats as important as the sound if not more) and is quiet regardless of size and design. But some do, so it all depends on how sensitive you are to tone and dynamics/feel.