Nocaster pickups vs 52ri pickups?

[sonny wolf]

I've never really had a chance to directly compare the Fender custom shop Nocaster pickups vs the stock 52 reissue Tele's pickups.I own two 52 reissues and I really love the tone of those pickups.They have a true Tele tone with a nice balance of twang and thickness in each pickup.How would the Nocaster pickups compare tonally in terms of complexity,output,color and authenticity?Has anyone had a chance to compare?

[boris bubbanov]

My views on this change everyday, but this is what I see right now:

1) the OVs are a little sweeter, more musical;

2) the No-Casters are a little more sinister, rock oriented.

The No-Caster set is RWRP (the bridge differs from the norm) so you get noise canceling in parallel and series - you miss out on that with the OVs. Mebbe this is coloring my application of the two different pups, so bear that in mind.

So, a No-Caster would make a better Esquire pup, and yet because of RWRP concerns I'm liable to try to use the OV bridge solo instead.

[mellecaster]

I've used plenty of both...and have always preferred the 52 OVs...which means absolutely Nuttin...just what I like to hear in a Tele.

[nvilletele]

I've got a brand new set of each of nocasters and OVs, and as soon as I get a little time to myself (kids and GF are all very demanding of my time), I will be trying them out. However, unless I try them each in the same guitar, it's not a true comparison, and I dont plan on doing that unless I dont like where I put them first.

At this point, I am thinking about putting the Nocaster pups into an American Deluxe Ash . . . The OVs will either go into a 2001 American Series Ash or Classic Vibe Tele.

[Telemarkman]

FredDairy's comparison may be of interest:

Ok Dmace this one's for you. I neglected to include the pickups in the hardware comparison because a) you can find pictures of these all over the internet and b) didn't feel like taking my guitars apart that far.

Acoustic:

I tried both the '52 RI and the '51 Nocaster with aluminum compensated Glendale saddles and with the stock brass saddles. Which ever guitar had the Glendale saddles sounded brighter acoustically. If one was to hold the guitar with one hand on the bottom corner below the tone controls and strum an open chord you would get about the same feel as far as vibration goes through the body. My '52 RI is lighter than the Nocaster and I feel this particular '52 RI is more vibrant than my previous '52 that weighed a bit more. If you sit and strum both guitars you feel the same vibration on your ribs, and if you just hold the headstocks you feel pretty much the same vibrations ringing out through the neck.

I really don't think the '51 Nocaster has an accurate thin finish like a real blackguard would. There is a poly undercoat similar to that of the '52 RI. Now I've seen some heavy finished '52 RIs but the one I currently own has a lighter than average finish. I think I'm going to go as far as saying the finish on a solid body Telecaster makes no difference. After having the finish stripped on my previous '52 RI I noticed little difference in tone.

Electric:

I like the '52 RI's neck pickup better. Both of my '51 Nocasters no matter how I adjusted the pickups I couldn't get the neck to be in a similar volume range as the bridge pickup. Both of my '52 RIs when selecting between the two pickups I notice less of a drop in volume at the neck pickups. I get a more bluesy honk from the '52 RI pickups. Neck - think Mike Bloomfield first Butterfield record and Bridge - think Roy Buchanan. For the '51 Nocaster I get a more clean tinny twangy bakersfield tone. The bridge pickup absolutely nails the James Burton tone. For the Nocasters neck pickup I just get the sound of a weaker '52. For me it is a tie between the two bridge pickups where as the '52 RI gets the nod for the neck pickup.

Overall playability:

I've always said on here that the '52 RI from the factory beats out the MIM Classics due to quality control and more time spent on setups and dressing the frets. It's similar to that comparison. My '52 RI could use a slight fret dress to play as smoothly as both Nocasters I've owned. The frets are as smooth as glass on the Nocasters and the nuts are cut as low as possible. When strung up with my super light gauge the Nocaster is effortless to play.