Better Pup balance on Tele...

This is how I do it: I turn the treble almost all the way up for the neck pup to sound good, then roll the tone knob a little over half way down for the bridge pup to not be brittle on cleans, or make your OD sound thin. Why can't I just set my amp for the room/situation and play. What pickups do you guys know of that balance better together? I want a brighter, woodier, less bassy neck pickup tone, then a thicker bridge pickup tone that's not too brittle on the high end - and leave my tone knob alone!!!! I've tried pickup height, but the results are minute and change the tone for the worse the more I mess with it. Can anyone advise? Thanks a lot...

-Tookermel

I like to run my neck pickup with the tone on 10. But I like to run my tone on about 3-7 on the bridge. You can move one wire and disconnect the neck pickup from the tone control. You occasionally adjust the tone knob but leave it alone most of the time. The middle setting moves with the bridge tone setting ... which works really well. See this thread ... works great!

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pickups/65661-disconnecting-neck-pup-tone-control.html?highlight=neck

Try this before you spend a lot of money or time on anything else. Once you figure out the scematic, it takes a couple of minutes to try it and a couple of minutes to put it back. You are descriing this exact problem. Once you have the tone on 10 for the neck ... you can adjust the height and angle and get what you want. Cheap and effective ... I've been running mine this way for a long time. Put it back once and changed it back the same day.

the default answer to people looking for a brighter neck pickup is to remove the pickup cover, and, if that doesn't work, sticking in a Stratocaster neck pickup (though it might require some routing.) but that's about all i can say definitively without knowing more about your set up: what Telecaster do you have? what pickups are in there now?

Y'all may hate me for complaining, but, it's a '52 Reissue Tele with Stuart Blackguards.........:oops: .........sorry!


-Tookermel

are you making your settings in a living-room/practice room situation, or are you going by what you hear onstage?

you can fuss with it til you're blue in the face by yourself, but the truth comes out in the stage mix.

That's a good point, and you're right - but yes.....I feel the same in both situations, but probably a little different in band situation due to the tone blending more. Still think there's an imbalance goin' on......

The neck tone bypass works for me in both environments. I only have to make small adjustments in the tone knob from pickup to pickup. The tone knob stays between about 3-7 on the bridge only ... when I switch from bridge to middle I generally add just a touch of treble ... when I move to the neck only it's full tone - bright and clean no matter where the tone knob is set.

The change is: The short wire that goes between the two left lugs (tone to volume pots) on the Seymour Duncan drawing ... remove one end of the wire from the volume pot lug ... and take it to the log on the 3-way switch where the white wire from the bridge is connected ... you're done. Tone knob only functions when the bridge pickup is active ... bridge only or middle settings. Don't like it ... easy to put back ... no cost either way.

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/dovemanpix/standard_tele2.jpg

This is how I do it: I turn the treble almost all the way up for the neck pup to sound good, then roll the tone knob a little over half way down for the bridge pup to not be brittle on cleans, or make your OD sound thin. Why can't I just set my amp for the room/situation and play. What pickups do you guys know of that balance better together? I want a brighter, woodier, less bassy neck pickup tone, then a thicker bridge pickup tone that's not too brittle on the high end - and leave my tone knob alone!!!! I've tried pickup height, but the results are minute and change the tone for the worse the more I mess with it. Can anyone advise? Thanks a lot...

-Tookermel

How I solved that same problem is switching to a blend circuit.

With the blend circuit: Set your amp to a neck pickup sound you like (when you switch it in it's on it's own) then for your bridge pickup sound you can blend in just enough brightness from the bridge pickup - can't be beat IMO for a versatile setup for playing live.

Anyone ever try the YoGeorge mod mentioned here?
http://home.cfl.rr.com/amathews/telefaq.htm

In an effort to address the same tone issue, I installed a Nocaster bridge p'up which is a tad darker than a standard Tele p'up. Then to balance things out, I installed a Twisted Tele p'up in the neck position which is known to be brighter than a standard Tele p'up. I can now throw the switch either way and get great tone while using the same amp setting and having no need to adjust the tone knob. Works for me.

How I solved that same problem is switching to a blend circuit.

With the blend circuit: Set your amp to a neck pickup sound you like (when you switch it in it's on it's own) then for your bridge pickup sound you can blend in just enough brightness from the bridge pickup - can't be beat IMO for a versatile setup for playing live.


Do you know where one can get a schematic for a blend circiut?

Do you know where one can get a schematic for a blend circiut?

Thanks to Seymour Duncan:

blend circuit (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=broadcaster_blend)

Is a Chromotone as bright as a Twisted Tele neck pup? Thanks...


-Tookermel