Seymour Duncan Five Two Tele PUs?

What's your experience w. Seymour Duncan Five Two Tele PUs? I ask myself how the sound? Are they different from traditional 48 - 52 Tele Tone? Does the 5 / 2 idea work fine in your Tele?

2 years ago I bought a partcaster loaded with a set of SD Five-Two. The guitar sounded great acoustically but the pickups didn't translate very well. They sounded a bit generic or bland for my taste. I ended up changing them for Don Mare pickups. It was like revealing the real nature of the guitar. That said the Five Two have a good reputation and are an interesting attempt of creating balanced pickups for a Tele.

What kind of a sound are you looking for? I had a 5-2 bridge pup in my tele for about 3 years. It is a fine sounding pickup but definitely lacks the "brilliance" that some other pups have. The thing with aftermarket pups is, the world is your oyster. Whatever sound you want, you can buy that.

I've had really great experiences with Fralin and Lollar, both makers are great at nailing that "classic" tone. Others I'm sure will suggest more.

TL;DR: the Duncan 5-2 is a decent pickup, but there are thousands of other options in that price range.

I have a 5/2 in one of my teles, and I agree with Tele-Monster. They are very generic. I love my keystones and I have a SD broadcaster in a tele which is very expressive.
I love the pick-ups in the CV BSB, but they can be a little microphonic.
I guess that before I went with the 5/2 I would look around a little more.
I bought mine because I wanted to reproduce the tone that Brent gets on his guitar, but I was never able to hit it on the nose. I got close, but no cigar.

Well, I use various PUs. The Tele I'm looking forward to experiment with is a 67 Telecaster w. maple cap neck. It's currently loaded w. Jason Lollar 52 PUs. Also have Nocaster PUs in an other Tele out of 4 that I own. Great PU indeed. Only thing with the Fender Nocaster PUs is that I miss a little of the SD Broadcaster's sizzle on top of the 3 wound strings. Otherwise it almost duplicates the original Broadcaster and Nocaster sounds that I frequently have the chance to play. From feel, the bridge PU in need would be a SD Broadcaster with staggered poles and with two Almico 3 magnets in the high positions. I currently play:

Fender Nocaster set on my Haar Tele,
SD Broacaster bridge and Jim Weider neck on my Fender 52 RI Tele
SD Broadcaster set on my Custom SB tele and
Jason Lollar 52 (Alnico 2) on my main Fender Tele, a 67 w. maple cap.

The Jason Lollar are very sweet sounding PUs w. round bell tones in heaven. Very touch sensitive w/o the ice pick and with a very usable bridge PU that gives just enough character w a small tad of nasal. Perfect for modern Jazz, Steve Cropper or Duke Levine tones.
However, as I'm also in great favor of a somewhat steelish Marty Steward country twang, I feel that with the Lollar 52 PUs (Alnico 2 magnets) , the wound strings are a tad too mushy.
Anyway I had the chance to successfully bid on a set of SD 5/2 just this evening. Thought that I should give them a whirl. I'm not enthusiastic about this set's neck PU being a 5/2. Too me this only makes sense in the bridge position (if it works out fine to my ears). So I'm probably only going to try the bridge PU and see how it compares to the PU that I have. I'll let you know about the result in about 3 weeks since I have to travel to Italy. Let them opinions keep coming uin. Thanx

I finally installed the SD 5/2 yesterday. It's a bit difficult to tell how much the new strings help to bring up my enthusiasme about the Tele's new voice.
Compared to the previously installed 52 jason Lollar Aln 2, I can definitely hear the difference in volume level. The 5/2 is louder. It also seems to have the tad more twang and sizzle that I was looking for in the wound strings. The high strings are not as sharp as with the SD Broadcaster. With the remaining Jason Lollar 52 in the neck position, the middle position almost jields that bell like tone that I used to have before the install.
All 9in all I'm currently very pleased w. the results. I'll see how it works in a loud gig situation tonight and let you know.

BTW, does anybody know if Brent Mason still plays those SD 5/2? Not that it would matter to me; just curious

Played it this night and remain impressed. Nothing really special but promises what it's advertised for. Very useful working man's tool. Sounds grea5t in my Tele.

Found a cool demo here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP6rF9KghOw

BTW, does anybody know if Brent Mason still plays those SD 5/2? Not that it would matter to me; just curious

He uses the Duncan Vintage Stack in the bridge of his '68 Tele now.

I listened to some sound files at the SD site. After repeatedly listening to sound files the subtle differences my ears could hear became more clear. The Vintage stack is definitely dropping out of my focus. It sounds very muted and lifeless to my ears. It's a big compromise that for the sake of a peaceful coexistence w. stage lights, the pro will handle O.K. with equalizers and so on. I rarely play big stages but the last one I remember was a real hum desaster w. my Tele. I had to hold the guitar into a certain direction for the whole gig. Bad!
A pro like Brent can't afford to fight no single pip. Same goes w. the tuners and the six saddle bridge he's playing.
As for the sound files I liked the Vintage '54 Lead most.

Pushing this one for an update for those who are interested on how this story goes on. I played the SD 5/2 a few times live on stage and it really does a wonderful job for my need. I used to play it w. the Jason Lollar 52 T in the neck position which was as sweet as sweet can be. Only thing: The JL was a too weak for soloing.
I decided to replace it with the SD neck PU which came together with the 5/2 set in the same box. It's a 5/2 design as well. I was skeptical about how it would sound like as I couldn't understand what sense it would make to design a 5/2 PU for the neck position.
Anyway, after the swap I was very disappointed about its' muffled and lifeless character. Soon I missed the chime, bell like sweetness and woody feel of my Jason Lollar 52 so bad.
As I was on it, I decided to try the Fender CS Nocaster neck PU that I had sitting in an other Tele of mine. It sounded pretty good in that other guitar but I wasn't sure if it would do fine in my daily 67 Tele.
What can I say? After installing it and tweaking w. the PU height I was overwhelmed how much musical airiness and sweetness this PU had. It virtually breathes and brings back the chime and bell like sweetness I was used to get from my Jason Lollar 52.
However it sounds different than the JL 52. Not better or worse, just different with that hollow sound that makes it mistakingly sound like a Telecaster PU, not a Strat PU. It also seems to balance nicely w. the bridge PU regarding volume. It is very defined and articulate. Together w. the SD 5/2 in the bridge position it sounds heavenly to my ears. It's all what I couldn't find in the SD 5/2 neck PU. Maybe it's just a problem of that particular SD PU out of my box. Maybe not, I don't know.

I'll see how it works out on stage within the next days.

The Fender CS Nocaster PU might be or not be a permanent solution for my playing but as for now it sounds great to my ears. I think Fender has brought us a remarkable PU set yet reasonably priced IMO.

As mentioned above the Fender Nocaster neck PU sounded great over a clear fender SF at bed room level. I played it life w. a rock band 2 moons ago and remain surprised how nice it sounded and about how well it cut through the mix. This is definitely not the PU for those who are looking for a strat like tone at strat power level. But for those who play a Tele for its' Tele tone, and who can live w. just a little less power than a strat, this Nocaster neck PU, with its' clear definition in note seperation and its' ability to cut through the mix might be worth a close listen.
There are lots of great boutique PU that I only tried very few. So some might be better than this CS Nocaster neck PU or maybe not. However, I remain impressed what a cheapo Nocaster PU can do for me. Maybe it's just the alnico 3 config. that I likes, anyway definitely the PU I currently prefer.
Very expressive with a somewhat hollow sounding tight bass response yet dynamic and cutting through the mix.

Forgot to mention an other good thing. Switching between PUs has lesser volume drop between neck and bridge position than w. some other combinations I tried. Really practical

I also had a set of SD Five Two PU's. I loved the Bridge PU, but disliked the muted, warm, muffling sound of the SD 5/2 neck PU.