Make my Am Series Tele sound like an SG

[Walker]

I'm getting a Baja so I've got the Tele sound covered. I like the Am Series, but after reading about broken Gibson headstocks I don't feel like getting a SG. Also, last year I played a show (Grease), but wasn't able to use the Tele because of the hum; it was just too much. I'd like some pickups where I wouldn't have to do any routing. Any suggestions?

[iansmitchell]

Get the SG. It takes a drop of glue, 2-3 clamps, and one night on a workbench undisturbed to fix a broken headstock.
Buy a pair of straplocks and don't play the imitation game.
You can buy a faded SG for under $500, often.

[Chrismo]

For the price you'll invest in that mod, you could grab an Epiphone G400. (or Faded SG as mentioned)

You won't get the exact tone of an SG with your Tele, even after all the routing and electronics.

[Chet Johnson]

Poppycock! I would try a set of some sort of Hum cancelling Tele pickups. There must be fifty different options.

[tazzboy]

A telecaster isn't going to sound like an SG. If you want and SG Buy one and be done with it.

[ghostwolf]

Originally Posted by tazzboy

A telecaster isn't going to sound like an SG. If you want and SG Buy one and be done with it.

this is true. the longer scale length of a tele, and the placement of the pickups within that scale length will never give you the sound you seek. go for the epi g400, upgrade the pups if you must. only an sg will sound like an sg.

[MulliganChebichev]

Mahogany body and neck is also a factor.
But if you're still adament in modding your Tele, drop in a full sized humbucker in the neck, and a Lil 59 in the bridge.

[elelpe]

Seymour Duncan PATB3 will give you Gibsony sound, more SG-ish than LP-ish to my ear. But routing is a must on your tele...Or make a custom SG with 3ply mahogany neck. I avoid one piece mahogany neck too.

[dconeill]

[quote=Walker;1919680]I'm getting a Baja so I've got the Tele sound covered. I like the Am Series, but after reading about broken Gibson headstocks I don't feel like getting a SG. Also, last year I played a show (Grease), but wasn't able to use the Tele because of the hum; it was just too much. I'd like some pickups where I wouldn't have to do any routing. Any suggestions?[/QUOTE

There are many options here. First of all, if you're talking about the current Fender offering, it's called the American Standard series. If you pull the pickguard you'll notice that the neck position is already routed to accept a Gibson-size humbucker, and also for a middle single-coil sized pup. As far as single-size pickups, there are several available:

Stacked humbuckers - one coil on top of the other
Seymour Duncan STK-T1N and STK-T3B, which are meant to mimic the traditional Telecaster sound
SD STK-T2B, a hotter bridge pickup
DiMarzio Area T bridge and neck pickups
Kinman pickups (expensive)
Lawrence Wilde single-pole pickups

Dual-Blade and side-by-side humbuckers in a single-coil size case
Seymour Duncan - several options
DiMarzio - several options
Lawrence Wilde dual-blade, particularly the L-48T

Many people will no doubt ream you a new one over the tone difference between single-coil pickups and single-size humbuckers. To my way of thinking, some people value the slightly different (or to some, very different) tone of the single-coil pups so much they're willing to bear the noise. I'm not one of them. I can accept the slight tone difference in exchange for the lack of noise. The audience can't tell and doesn't care.

Two of the most versatile configurations of the Tele are the Fat Tele and the Nashville Tele. The former has a Gibson-style humbucker at the neck and a standard Tele-style bridge pickup, while the latter has standard Tele-style pickups with the addition of a Strat pickup in the middle position.

If you're looking for a smooth uptown kind of sound, a Fat Tele might be just the ticket. Listen to Ed Bickert on the album "Pure Desmond" - he used a Fat Tele. The Nashville Tele setup is typically somewhat brighter.

So you've got lots of choices available to you. Poke around the web to see what's available. Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio have decent sites. Many boutique makers have websites as well, but I haven't paid much attention to those. Lawrence's website (http://wildepickups.com) is nearly incoherent, but look under "NF Singles" and "Twin Blades" and you'll find some info on his offerings. Kinman has a website. Greg Koch's website is now offering some single-size dual-blade pups.

[Steinar G]

As mentioned in several posts above, the chances of making your Tele sound like an SG are very very small. However, you might end up with something "different" - not a Tele, not an SG, not a Les Paul, but something with a strong personality of its own.

This one is equipped with a GFS Dream90 at the neck and a GFS Classic II at the bridge (on the pic it's a Duncan Antiquity but after three gigs with the Ant I went back to the GFS I originally put in it ).
The Classic II is a very low output humbucker, and if I absolutely have to compare this guitar with a model from the Gibson family, I guess the closest would be a Firebird. But most importantly it's a totally unique guitar with a strong identity, and it's become my favorite. It has the Tele "snap", lots of clarity, yet warmer and fuller sounding than my 'plain' Tele.

[Ricky D.]

You could drop in a set of EMG T's. Dead silent, nice tele sound. If you want tone from the humburcker family, add the SPC module. You can add it on a concentric pot.