DiMarzio Area Hot T bridge a good match for a WRHB (NOT reissue) in the neck?

Output-wise, any opinions on this pickup matched with a humbucker in the neck? For my case specifically with a vintage WRHB, but to anyone that's tried this DiMarzio with any moderate to high output humbuckers, I welcome your feedback...

I should add that I'm not particularly concerned about traditional tele bridge tone on this guitar, I have other teles for that; I just want something that can keep up volume wise with the humbucker (or at least get closer than the vintage style tele single coil in the guitar now), and sounds relatively good in and of itself.

My personal experience is that you don't need a super hot bridge pickup to match fine with a neck humbucker or mini -- unless you're going with a higher output neck pickup.

I haven't tried the Hot DiMarzio, but I have owned the regular Area T bridge and found it louder and punchier than a vintage wind. I wouldn't hesitate to pair it with a neck humbucker. The only reason mine is for sale in the classifieds is that I prefer a more vintage tone that to me is slightly lacking in a noiseless. There is a demo of my Esquire with the Area T on my YouTube page (link below).

Thanks for the response Hoodster.
By most accounts the WRHB is on the higher output side of the fence; also my own experience has been that the volume discrepancy is simply too large between the lower output vintage style tele bridge pup and the WRHB for me to be happy. I don't mind some discrepancy, and in fact fully expected it - it is just more than I can cope with long term.
Like I said above, I'm not concerned about getting vintage tele bridge pup tone out of this guitar - I mean, ideally I'd like to retain some tele-ish character, but it isn't the most crucial thing for me in this application.

Because the WRHB is a pole magnet pickup, it's louder than most bar magnet pickups wound in the 14k to 16k range.

The beauty of the Tele Custom comes from the disparity between the bridge and the neck pickups.

The neck alone sounds stellar, and the neck/bridge combo is unlike anything else in the world as long as you have a vintage output single coil in the bridge spot.

If you try to make up for the volume difference by using a hot bridge pickup, you're going to seriously sacrifice that incredible middle position sound. It will still sound good, but it won't be the same.

In my opinion, too many people see the Tele Custom as a flawed, imbalanced guitar. I see it as a "Two Trick Pony."

To those who complain about their Tele only having two useable sounds I say, go talk to a guy who plays an Esquire.

A Tele Custom isn't for everybody. It takes a comittment.

Telenator, I figured you'd chime in on this given that there's a WRHB involved!
I hear what you're saying and I'd already been aware of this opinion; I had in fact previously seen you post this type of statement before.
I'm not disagreeing that the middle position can be very nice, but rolling back on the volume for the bridge pickup when using a pup like the Area Hot seems to me will get the guitar back into that territory, or close enough at least that it's a compromise/sacrifice I'm willing to make in order to have a usable-by-itself bridge pickup in this particular guitar without having such an extreme volume discrepancy. Plus, it may be it's own interesting sound with the output being more closely matched to the neck.
I'm not looking for the bridge to overpower the neck, and I don't think the Area Hot could do that anyway. It does seem like a better compromise to me than say a Duncan lil 59 would be though.
I'm really just fishing for opinions from folks here that may have paired up a Area Hot bridge with a higher output neck humbucker before. It'd be especially cool to hear from anyone who's got a tele custom with original WRHB that has also changed out the bridge pup in an effort to close the volume output gap and what they went with as a replacement. But again, my main concern is reaching a better volume balance between neck and bridge.
And, if I do change the bridge pup out, I can always put it back the way it was right? :wink:

You might want to consider the Area T 615. It's a little hotter and brighter than the regular Area T 418, and would be a better output match with a bucker. I just switched out from a 418 to the 615 and I find the new has a little more snap and attitude, where the original was almost a little too polite.

Thanks for the advice Durango; if the humbucker in question was your average bar magnet PAF style humbucker then I'd say the 615 was an option to consider.
I'm not hung up on DiMarzio, but these pups look interesting in that they are hum canceling, but still use magnet pole pieces and don't seem to be ridiculously high in output but definitely higher than your typical tele bridge.
I'm not seeking perfect balance here, just a significant output bump over the 6k AlNiCo 3 vintage wind that's in the bridge now.
There are other bridge pups out there that will fit this bill too, I was just curious about this model DiMarzio in particular at the moment and wanted some opinions on it from other TDPRI members that may have paired it with a hot humbucker.

Thanks for the input so far.

Well, if you wanna get real crazy, you could try our MOD1 which is only 8k and a great match for many bridge single coils. Cheap too!

Some have had a good experience with a BG400. It's HOT but it balances well.

Ha! That would be too crazy since the crown jewel of this guitar is the original WRHB :wink:

I may eventually try your mod1 though since I have several MIM WRHB's collecting dust at the moment...maybe when I put together a tele deluxe next year...who knows?

As far as this guitar though, I just want something with a little more muscle in the bridge. I've looked into the Duncan BG-1400 before (that's what you meant, right?), and I don't think it's what I'm after here.
I still want the neck WRHB to overpower the bridge, just not nearly as much as it does now...simple, right? :mrgreen:

Sounds like you know what you want and you're on the right track!

Sounds like you know what you want and you're on the right track!

Sort of...I know vaguely what I want to accomplish with whatever I end up putting in the bridge at least!

There are just so many options out there :confused:

Sort of...I know vaguely what I want to accomplish with whatever I end up putting in the bridge at least!

There are just so many options out there :confused:

I'll be very interested in what you do and what you think of what you did. :shock:

I'm waiting on my Desperadoville Tele Custom. Tony and I decided to go with a Texas Special in the bridge (~10.5K) to match the Lollar Regal I picked for the WRHB-sub. Telenator commented on my thread on that similar to what he said here -- go with a more 'vintage' strength bridge; and I'm pondering his view above (two Teles in one, right?). By that I mean ... now I'm having second thoughts! :confused::wink:

So what you find out will be interesting. Plus, hell ... it's a quick job to swap that bridge out for something else ... like my fav '62 Custom (which I happen to have two now sitting around).

TeleKato, I've seen your threads regarding your white tele custom build - it looks like it's coming along great. Can't wait for your impressions of it once you get it up and running - I'm especially interested in how you think the pickup combo sounds. The CS Texas Special bridge was also among those that I'm pondering; I'm already familiar with it since I have one in another tele, only paired up with the TS neck.

The Regal probably sounds really, really close to a real WRHB so I would consider your experience with it and whatever you pair up with it informative.
I have Creamery Classic 71's in a reissue 72 thinline and comparing those to the real wide range I have in the neck of the reissue tele custom yields startlingly similar results in tone and dynamics - I imagine the Regal, being of similar design, would do much the same.

Either way, as I'm not getting much feedback to this thread, I have a few different tele bridge pickups laying around (a couple of vintage style Fenders, and a couple of Duncan tele bridge sized buckers), and I may go ahead and see if I can find a good deal on one of these DiMarzios and just see how it fares - I can always sell it or put it in another guitar if it doesn't work with this guitar.
I'll definitely share the results.

Thank you to those who did reply - it has been helpful.

Well, I ended up having to answer my own question through the tried and true method of...actually trying it out myself :mrgreen:

Long story short - the answer is yes, it is indeed a good match as far as I'm concerned.

I was a little worried the DiMarzio wouldn't sound single coil enough, but I'm glad to report that whilst not quite as readily "twangable" as more vintage output style traditional tele bridge pups (though it will definitely do that too if your technique is there), the Area Hot T is a fantastic pickup. It has definitely helped the volume balance with the vintage WRHB. The WRHB is still louder, as it should be, but not so much that I can't use the bridge pup by itself for various applications without having to deal with extreme volume discrepancy. The separate volume controls now seem much more interactive as well; I have them wired independently as opposed to the stock wiring Fender used, but this is ideal now with the higher output of the Area Hot T. It's almost like a noiseless CS Texas Special, but with a softer, fatter P90ish kind of attack, and it can drive an amp that's starting to break up already into some really, really nice crunch.

The Area Hot T is a great pickup and I am kind of kicking myself for never in my life having tried DiMarzio pups before. I'm not going to rush out and get a bunch of DiMarzios for all my guitars or anything, but I have a better opinion of them now and will no longer discount them as a company that makes just pickups for shredders (although they do seem to have a lot of offerings in that department).

Anyway, that's my assessment. YMMV.