neck humbucker

after years of playing jazz on my ash tele with a standard setup, i think i'm ready to go humbucker in the neck slot-- but i'd like to do it without routing--

anybody got a stacked coil in the neck they like?

Stacked humbuckers don't sound like regular humbuckers. Are you sure you don't have a humbucker-sized rout already in that guitar? Peek under the pickguard to make sure.

Stacked humbuckers don't sound like regular humbuckers. Are you sure you don't have a humbucker-sized rout already in that guitar? Peek under the pickguard to make sure.

I agree. It's a different animal. Don't waste your time with a stacked PU if you want a humbucker sound.

If you don't want to mess up a body by routing it, look into buying a replacement body.

Pete

i've peeked...not gonna fit a 'bucker in there.

i was actually hoping the sound would be similar to my single coil-- i'm just ready for silence...

i've peeked...not gonna fit a 'bucker in there.

i was actually hoping the sound would be similar to my single coil-- i'm just ready for silence...

If you have a look at:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-tech/55376-minibucker-neck.html

you will see some twin blade neck pickups (despite the title of the thread). Is something like this an option?

Not sure if you will have silence unless both pickups are buckers.

Also have a look at:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/57622-ideas-noiseless-tele.html

Or there is something like this:

http://www.lacemusic.com/electric_pickups/tele_model/tele_specs.php

I've played jazz on Teles for years. Nothing beats a full sized neck humbucker in a Tele for this. Just check out Ed Bickert if you have any doubts. The problem with full sized neck buckers is that they become hard to tonally balance with anything other than an overwound bridge unit (which is crummy, in my book). I agree with the folks that pan the idea of a single coil sized humbucker. In my experience, it'll sound a lot thinner, and harder. I've never heard one that had a "musical tone". Yeah, you can lose the noise but it's at a significant tonal cost, IMHO.

For Jazz, check out Bartolini` I use a floating bucker and absolutely love it. Otherwise, Manlius can wind up anything you ask him to, for a decent price.

I am thinking about getting a humbucker for the neck in my ash tele also!!! A combo i was thinking about would be the Seth Lover bucker in the neck with the seymour duncan vintage stack in the bridge. Or has anybody tried Fralins unbucker for a tele neck pickup and maybe his bluespecial in the bridge?? Any comments about those combos i have mentioned??

You might find that the Seth is too muddy to match well with a tele bridge. I sure did.

The Duncan '59 is a much better match. Very open and airy sounding without humbucker muddiness. The Gibson '57 is similar.

I run a Seth humbucker in the neck of my #1, and it smokes. I has Scott at Harmonic Design build a custom STP pickup for the bridge, and it's fantastic. You need to watch your pot/cap values to match them, but boy do they work together great! Chris put in a 5 way switch that allows me to use traditional tele settings in three spots, then splits the Seth in the last two positions. I think it goes
1) bridge only
2) bridge and neck in parallel
3) neck in parallel
4) neck in single coil mode
5) neck in series (really fat)

This was the fourth set of pickups on this guitar, and it's there to stay!