Pickups for My Baja Tele

So I've got a Nocaster set in my Baja Tele now...I loved this set in an Esquire years ago but for some reason, it's just not working in this one. The bridge pickup is strongly overpowering the neck pickup, regardless of height (think I might have a bad set...)

Anyway, I'm thinking of a Duncan Vintage Rhythm in the neck, but as far as the bridge, I think I want something fatter than a Broadcaster/Nocaster, not unlike a P90 or vintage humbucker tone.

I almost pulled the trigger on a Hot Lead Stack, but reconsidered and thought about the Little 59. Which one would you choose? Keep in mind I stay tonally between the Stones and Social Distortion.

Thanks y'all!

I have a set of Bareknuckle Flat 50's (https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=teles&sub=vintage&pickup=flat50&series=blackguard) in my Baja ..... AWESOME.... (right in your tone zone too).

One of things that makes the Baja great is the stock pickups. :mrgreen:

One of things that makes the Baja great is the stock pickups. :mrgreen:

I liked 'em and kept 'em in for a year, but after that year I wanted something different...

I have a set of Bareknuckle Flat 50's (https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=teles&sub=vintage&pickup=flat50&series=blackguard) in my Baja ..... AWESOME.... (right in your tone zone too).

These are pretty neat! I'm a fan of Bareknuckle but have never studied their Tele pickups.

I have a BKP flat 50 in my Baja bridge... killer for rock/hard rock etc... but not for cleans or traditional twang. The BKP site has the best demos for hearing how various tele pickups sound.... click on the 'Clean' demos.

Thanks Webfoot.

For the set, thinking I'd like to pay around $150 or so. These seem to be around $220, so they might be ruled out.

Florance voodoo te50!!!!! Nails keef tones. Best bridge pup I've ever owned.

Its about 95 new. I got mine used on tgp. Longneck tef is supposed to be pretty good, but I've never used one.

Thanks kmac!

Thinking about a True Velvet/Pre B-1 set from Dimarzio.

The neck pickup should always be able to over-power the bridge pickup, greatest string excursion there. Something wrong there?
Have you tried lowering the bridge pickup and raising the neck pickup?
You have already swapped out pickups - do you have a wiring problem to check?
I would fix this (or at least find out what problem is) before throwing money at pickups.
What you are trying to do, you should be able to do with what you have now (apart from the Twisted strat pickup)

Imo the Twisted is not the nicest of beasts, something brittle about it.
Imo the "American Tele" neck pickup (from an older AmSer/Std) matches very nicely with the Broadcaster - which is what I have in my Baja. This is a cool fat sound that blends in well with the Broadcaster to fatten things up, especially in series.

The stock Broadcaster is a pretty powerful bridge pickup, you are not going to get much more from a single-coil. Roll back the tone and volume controls a little to fatten it up. Very Stones.
You might want to look at Barden and DiMarzio narrow tele bridge humbuckers.

The neck pickup should always be able to over-power the bridge pickup, greatest string excursion there. Something wrong there?
Have you tried lowering the bridge pickup and raising the neck pickup?
You have already swapped out pickups - do you have a wiring problem to check?
I would fix this (or at least find out what problem is) before throwing money at pickups.
What you are trying to do, you should be able to do with what you have now (apart from the Twisted strat pickup)

Imo the Twisted is not the nicest of beasts, something brittle about it.
Imo the "American Tele" neck pickup (from an older AmSer/Std) matches very nicely with the Broadcaster - which is what I have in my Baja. This is a cool fat sound that blends in well with the Broadcaster to fatten things up, especially in series.

The stock Broadcaster is a pretty powerful bridge pickup, you are not going to get much more from a single-coil. Roll back the tone and volume controls a little to fatten it up. Very Stones.
You might want to look at Barden and DiMarzio narrow tele bridge humbuckers.

I've got the Nocaster set in now - I think I've got a bad set, as raising/lowering didn't help. I think the neck pickup may be microphonic. Of the original set, the Broadcaster was the best of the two, but still wanted "more". Bardens are okay, and the DiMarzio humbuckers are good too, but from what I've heard/read, I think I'm going to finally try out a Pre B-1 from DiMarzio.

I had that exact dimarzio combo in a classic vibe. Awesome combo. The pre b1 has a thick rock tone. Pretty ballsy. The true velvet has a nice clear neck tone. You will enjoy it!

I've got the Nocaster set in now - I think I've got a bad set, as raising/lowering didn't help. I think the neck pickup may be microphonic. Of the original set, the Broadcaster was the best of the two, but still wanted "more". Bardens are okay, and the DiMarzio humbuckers are good too, but from what I've heard/read, I think I'm going to finally try out a Pre B-1 from DiMarzio.

All pickups are slightly microphonic, they are microphones after all. Do damp the strings off when testing by tapping the body.

You still have the twisted in there? - You say original set, what is the neck pickup now? - I have not noticed that Twisted to be particularly microphonic. And no, not my favourite pickup.

You have changed pickup(s) and presumably re-wired the controls, so if you are experiencing problems with the instrument then I would immediately double check and triple check all the wiring, selector switch and control pots - it is very easy to fry a pot when re-fitting pickups, and then you get loss of volume, strange noises &c.

I do have a Barden T-Style. It has a very clear hi-fi tone. Very powerful. Can go from bell-like clean to easily over driving an amp, light to dark, thin to fat. The main difference between the Barden and the DiMarzio seems to be the Barden wants a 250k vol pot (parallel coils) and matches up better with a tele single-coil neck pickup. I like the DiMarzio types too but you probably need a pair of them. The Barden probably sounds more like a tele bridge pickup. My Barden is matched with a full size vintage wind alnico neck humbucker.

If I wanted to do a Stones number, I would grab my Baja with its Broadcaster and "American Tele" neck pickup (from AmSer07), not the Barden equipped AmSer07.

The Broadcaster/Nocaster should give you exactly the sound you are asking for. You may have a fault or it may be down to your amp.

I had that exact dimarzio combo in a classic vibe. Awesome combo. The pre b1 has a thick rock tone. Pretty ballsy. The true velvet has a nice clear neck tone. You will enjoy it!

That's what I'm after - glad it works!

Hell, I'll twist ya up a set. Shoot me a PM.

I've got the Nocaster set in now - I think I've got a bad set, as raising/lowering didn't help. I think the neck pickup may be microphonic. Of the original set, the Broadcaster was the best of the two, but still wanted "more". Bardens are okay, and the DiMarzio humbuckers are good too, but from what I've heard/read, I think I'm going to finally try out a Pre B-1 from DiMarzio.

That does not sound right.

Press strings down at last fret and raise the bridge pickup up until it almost but not quite touches them, lower it a bit more if you have a clumsy palm mute like I do. That high it should really bite and growl.

If not then you probably have a problem with the control wiring. More likely to have a faulty pot or a strand of wire or a dodgy solder spot than a faulty pickup.