What pickup for classic country tones?

[Big Steve]

What pickups are you guys using for the classic 60's and 70's clean country tones. What are the specs for them?

[yegbert]

Seymour Duncan Antiquity '55, Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro and Fender '69 Thinline.

The Antiquity '55 bridge has staggered AlNiCo II polepieces and a raised D and G. Mine measures 6.6K, a little higher than the 6.1K spec. SD is sloppy on the neck pickup listings, only listing the Antiquity neck and not the Antiquity '55 neck. My Antiquity '55 neck measures 7.45K. Duncan most likely made it using AlNiCo II like the bridge.

The Alnico II Pro bridge has flat polepieces. Mine measures 6.5K, a little higher than the 6.2K spec. My Alnico II neck measures 8.6K, higher than the 8.1K spec. These are AlNiCo II.

I'm not sure what type of AlNiCo Fender uses in the pickups they put in the '69 Thinline. My guess is AlNiCo V instead of II or III because of the tonal character. The bridge has staggered and raised polepieces. The bridge pickup in my Thinline measures 6K and the neck measures 7K. These are both lower than others like these I've seen or have in my parts drawer. The bridge averages 6.4K but I've seen one that was 6.8K. The neck averages 8K.

DC resistance specs don't tell the whole story, but all else being equal in a pickup, the effect of it being higher or lower is presumably predictable. The type of AlNiCo presumably affects at a minimum the strength of magnetic charge possible, not sure what else. If you start trying to compare AlNiCo to ceramic or neodymium, and magnetic polepieces to steel polepieces with bar magnets, you complicate the comparisons.

The Antiquity '55 bridge pickup I have seems just about perfect for me for a clean country tone. I think I'd like to have a neck pickup in between the actual characteristics of my Antiquity '55 and my Alnico II Pro neck pickups, so if I was asking SD to wind me one custom I'd ask for one made like an Antiquity '55 but wound to 8k. But the tone I like in a Tele neck pickup may be a little warmer or fatter by itself than what other folks would conside a clean country tone.

[garytelecastor]

Call Becky and Bill Lawrence on Monday. Pickup a pair of keystones. He has totally nailed the vintage 50's-60's tone.
Inexpensive and tone for miles.
One other thing a lot of players neglect when they try to accomplish this tone is that most of the players back then would crank those tube amps. Those babies would start heating up and sucking and breathing, compression would set in.
So I would suggest if you don't have one already look into a Boss or MXR comp.

[Big John]

Keystones, neck and bridge.

[Scotland]

Originally Posted by Big John

Keystones, neck and bridge.

Absolutely !!

[Big John]

Originally Posted by Scotland

Absolutely !!

+ Chrome cover on the neck one !! (you flash sod !!)

[Scotland]

Originally Posted by Big John

+ Chrome cover on the neck one !! (you flash sod !!)

Yes, but I can't get this 4 way thing wired properly (see separate post)
Think I'll give up and fit a 3 way.

[Darrell]

There is a huge discrepancy in your request. A Broadcaster style pup is very different sounding than a mid 50's pup, and a both sound different as compared to a 60's style pup. I think you will have to narrow your scope some to find what you want...or buy several pups.

I am with yegbert...I like the SD pups too. The Broadcaster will get you an ealy 50's sound. The 54 and Antiquities will get you a mid to late 50's sounds. I feel the Alnico II pro is kind of a soft 60's sound.

[e-merlin]

Don't overlook the DiMarzio Twang King just because they are not expensive boutique pickups. They are fantastic.

[surfoverb]

I say any vintage spec Tele pickup: Fender OV, Fralin, Novak, Mare, take your pick. I've only been playing country for about a year but my formula for twang is: ash/alder body tele with 6-7K A5/A3 pickup through a cranked twin reverb/showman amp.

[Big Steve]

Originally Posted by Darrell

There is a huge discrepancy in your request. A Broadcaster style pup is very different sounding than a mid 50's pup, and a both sound different as compared to a 60's style pup. I think you will have to narrow your scope some to find what you want...or buy several pups.

I am with yegbert...I like the SD pups too. The Broadcaster will get you an ealy 50's sound. The 54 and Antiquities will get you a mid to late 50's sounds. I feel the Alnico II pro is kind of a soft 60's sound.

I know that is why I asked the question. I currently have a 4 teles. I have a variety of pickups in them from Broadcaster down to 5K. I understand that they all sound different. I also understand that I could probably play country with any of them.

What I am looking for is what pickup would best suit classic country? I want that clean pushed twang sound you hear so often. I have learned that light guage strings really help. Maybe I should just restring all my guitars with light weight strings and see which one sounds the most country to me. But, I figured that all the country players on this forum could probably help me get there quicker.

Thanks for your help.

[Colt W. Knight]

Oc Duff winds a vintage set of tele pickups that sound great.

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by Big Steve

I know that is why I asked the question. I currently have a 4 teles. I have a variety of pickups in them from Broadcaster down to 5K. I understand that they all sound different. I also understand that I could probably play country with any of them.
What I am looking for is what pickup would best suit classic country? I want that clean pushed twang sound you hear so often. I have learned that light guage strings really help. Maybe I should just restring all my guitars with light weight strings and see which one sounds the most country to me. But, I figured that all the country players on this forum could probably help me get there quicker.
Thanks for your help.

I think you're over thinking this a bit...You have 4 Teles and yet you can't decide which one is best for country maybe you are looking for what somene like James Burton or Waylon Jennings used and I'm pretty sure it was just a stock Tele and they sound pretty classic country to me.

[Big Steve]

Originally Posted by surfoverb

I think you're over thinking this a bit...You have 4 Teles and yet you can't decide which one is best for country maybe you are looking for what somene like James Burton or Waylon Jennings used and I'm pretty sure it was just a stock Tele and they sound pretty classic country to me.

Maybe I am overthinking it. I know I can dial in something that will work. I just thought there might be some more insight from tele players who have been chasing this particular tone for a long time.

Thanks everyone for your help. I am off to experiment.

[Colt W. Knight]

Might I add that tone is in the fingers not necessarily the pups. Your attack on the strings has more to do with that pop and boom/chick sound associated with a lot of country. Plus those pedal steel licks and bends really add to the country flavor.

[Darrell]

A Fender OV bridge unit or SD 54 will get you there.

[zosofan]

There is a video on youtube that shows a guy (from sweetwater I think)
doing a demo of what pedals and amp settings to get a classic chicken pickin tone.
Don't know if this is what you want but it might be of some help.
Sorry I can't remember the actual name of the video, but a search should turn it up.
HTH
Eric

[63dot]

Originally Posted by Big Steve

What pickups are you guys using for the classic 60's and 70's clean country tones. What are the specs for them?

for about 2 years i played country western and folk in a coffee bar and i had two main axes...'65 tele with staggered pups and '78 tele with sd 1/4 pounders

when i wanted to cut through, when the volume went up with more musicians joining the stage, i worked with the tele with the duncans even though i don't like the tone of the 1/4 pounder bridge pup

sometimes the staggered tele pickup, if played through a loud amp, could be a bit ear splitting

but for a more midrange tone, i was not about to get a gibson :)