Fred Stuart Bakersfield set for tele + Glendale & RedPlate

[the-tone]

I finally got my Stuarts custom '60 pups installed in my Tele, and replaced my Callaham bridge for a Glendale Blackguard bridge with the screamin' '59 saddles. Here is a small review, and a video of me noodling in my PJ's early in the morning.

Fred Stuart '60 Bakersfield pickups.
I been dying to get these puppies installed in my Tele, and it was no disappointment. I wanted a Tele that was versatile. One I could do Country, Blues and Rock with, without any real compromise. All there really is to say here is that the dynamics, harmonics and touch sensitivity of these pickups are simply incredible. I like to always have the clean & natural tone of my guitar shine through no matter what pedal or how much drive I use. I always use the guitars volume and tone to shape my sound and I use a pick and finger picking combined. To me it is a must to have a guitar where I can shape my sound as I need to with the way that I attack & pick the notes. These pickups allowed me to do all that. The tone is simply gorgeous. It can be sparkling clean, with piano like bass notes and crisp highs. If I hit it with a little drive and boosts the mids a little on my amp, it transforms into the lowdown and nasty blues. For an alder Tele with a rosewood board maple neck, I believe that it could not be any better. Thanks again to Fred for winding me this Bakersfield Tele set. It's everything I need out of my '60 Telecaster. I ordered the bakersfield set, cause I wanted to be sure it was not wound to hot for my taste. I really wanted that low-wound tone. It has the perfect blend of wood & steel, and I think you can hear it in every note.

The Glendale Bridge;
I did like the callaham, but found it to be borderline brittle in the highs, with my setup and how I like to run my amps. It was also hard for me to get the in-between position to sound right. It was to bassy. I wanted a more '60 sounding Tele, with a useful in-between and neck position. The Glendale hit the spot. I did loose a little bit of bass, but gained a lot more of my guitars natural tone and character. To me, this was a no-brainer. With the Stuarts & this bridge, my Tele sounds just like I hear it in my head. As soon as I hit a simple G chord on my Tele, I felt my guitar vibrate in a way it had not done before. I literately felt every note I played sustaining through the guitar into the side of my body. It really surprised me, cause I did not think I could get anything more out of my Tele acoustically. The tone was more musical & nuanced. It pretty much opened up my guitar and the in-between position finally sounded right. Now, my pickups make a 100% sense. They are perfectly balanced, and I could NOT have achieved that with good pickups alone. It took the right bridge to balance it all out. Thanks to Dale for such a killer product. I should have bought this bridge long ago. It was a really important missing piece in the puzzle. I could easily have missed it, cause I already had a great quality bridge to begin with. I got this bridge cause I knew something was not quite right, and I had to be sure. That's why I gambled and ordered the Glendale. Thank again Dale, you have that S*** down!!!

The video takes of clean, going to more gritty and then with some drive. It's recorded with my IMac, so sorry for the not so Hi-Fi sound quality. I really wish the audio quality would be better, there's so much lost!!! kinda frustrating. I figured that some might still prefer a decent clip versus no clip at all.

Here's the video link: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoid=59457709
Thanks for reading guys. Again, I appreciate it very much.

[cmeyer]

Killer! I'm looking to do a low-wound Tele in the future and that clip is a good example....awesome. Are you running 250K pots? And did you look at the Glendale non-magnetic bridge and decide against it? Or does the Blackguard plate suit this guitar better? Thanks.

[the-tone]

I'm using a 250K volume pot and a no-load 250K tone pot, w/ a .022 vintage SoZo tone cap. I'm pretty sure my plate is non-magnetic, and I did not decide against it either. Dale recommended this bridge for me from the info I gave him about my Tele and playing style. I chose the screamin' '59 saddles, cause I really dig Robben Ford's tone. It was really important I could use this tele for both Blues as well as country.

[cmeyer]

If you have the Glendale Blackguard plate it is magnetic...I have the same plate on my blackguard style tele and it is very sweet sounding. I just got in the non-magnetic stainless steel Glendale plate for my 60's tele project that I'm working on. I'm curious to hear the difference between the two. I really like the sound of Cold Rolled Steel saddles too. Of course it is all in the sum of the parts....but your sum sounds good!! I would like to explore the no load tone pot thing.

[the-tone]

Mine is non-magnetic! I did not go for the stainless steel, cause I usually always set my amp up bright. I was afraid it would be to bright.

[cmeyer]

Ok you win...haha. Non-magnetic it is.....video sounds good man.

[the-tone]

UPDATE for cmeyer! I spoke to dale yesterday and it turns out my bridge is magnetic.

Also; I just took the neck pup out of my pickguard and mounted it to the body, and there is a noticeable audio difference. My tone got a little less jangly, which is okay cause it's not a strat. I gained a tighter bass and the mids got a little more present. It also made the pup cut a little more.

I could also just say that the pup became overall stronger sounding. The tone of the two slot also improved. It's tighter and cuts more.

I was looking for a true vintage tone and now when I got the right bridge and saddles, and mounted the neck pup to the body, it is prefect. which is what I was looking for to begin with. For me, this is it.

[the-tone]

If you're interested in a tele body like mine please check my classified add!

[the-tone]

Strat '60 Pickups video update!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvNcJNHTm4I

USACG, with Fred Stuart '60 pups, Raw-Vintage Saddles and springs.

After I switched to the raw-vintage combination, I now use vintage correct tubing for pickup mounting instead of springs.
__________________

Tele UPDATE!

I have changed my bridge to a Glendale Vintage cold-rolled steel with the Bakersfield saddles. I also ordered a 4lb and 14oz ash body from Tommy at USACG. I need the ultimate twang and old-school vintage tone and I just wasn't quite satisfied with the Callaham bridge and my alder body. Awesome quality for Callaham as always, really no complaints. I just found the Glendale to be more musical and have none of the problems Callaham describes on his site regarding the vintage style bridge. I think my alder tele as it is in the video is more of a rocker and I'm looking for more bite, bigger lows and more twang!

The Stuart Bakersfield set measures: 6.13K bridge and 6.8K neck. very balanced and plenty bright in the neck for me. It's a '60 style stagger with alnico 5. I will have a new video demo ready sometime in mid August.

[the-tone]

Finally it's here. Ash Tele Stuart video update!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb6riyTdDYw

Glendale vintage bridge, Screamin' 59 saddles, Aluminum for the low e & A.

[Johnny J]

Those still the same Bakersfield spec.pickups in the ash tele ?

[the-tone]

YEP! same thing...

On the video, you can't really hear the awesome low-end cause of the compression of the mp4 and the build in limiter. But I can tell you that I defiantly prefer ash in a tele.

[Johnny J]

Awesome tone and playing ! I've got two sets of Fred's Blackguard sets, one being a Lap wrap set. I was wondering about those Bakersfield sets and now I know. Like his other p/u's they are killer !!!!!!!

I'm with you I like the Ash tele tone better.

[the-tone]

Yeah, there something about ash! It made those pickups sound way better IMO. I got more harmonics and a more open tone overall. I also got a firmer and stronger low-end.

Ash is it for me.

[Tony Reid]

Great playing!
I agree, ash is the best choice for a Tele.
From the sounds of the clip above, it seems that once you have dialed in a good tone (well, exceptional tone!) for the neck pickup with your amp settings, you may find the bridge pickup way too bright and possibly also too thin, unless you quickly roll back the tone on the guitar. Do you foresee any such problems with this set?
Also, is the neck pickup microphonic to the extent that if you accidentally hit it with your pick, you get an annoying tapping sound coming out of the amp?

[the-tone]

yes, you will get a tapping sound. There is just no way of getting that true vintage microphonic without that drawback. I call it character, I don't mind.

The BF set can get a little thin on lower volumes, but not in a bad way I think. It's never to a point where I find it to be a problem. That's also why I have wired my tone control to the bridge only.

I like this one to be brighter and thinner though. If I wanted fat, I'd got with a all maple neck and some 50' BG pups. A lot of the 60' stuff is just brighter and thinner, i.e Danny Gatton.

If you want less microphonics, just tell fred to wax it more or wind it a little tighter.