Telecaster pickup help!

[modula]

Hi there - I have a much cherished left handed US Telecaster, and am looking to beef up it's sound a bit. As so many Tele owners are, I'm a massive fan of Johnny Greenwood's sound, and from looking through this forum I see that he basically has a Tele modified to be a Tele Plus - with dual lace sensor red pickups in the bridge and a lace sensor blue in the neck. Thing is that I possibly can't stretch my finances for the dual red and the new bridge that would be required to house double pickups...So, I was wondering if anyone has any experience of a single lace sensor red in the bridge and the sensor blue in the neck please? Would this be futile? Do I need to get the extra cash required to have double reds in the bridge to make it worthwhile?! My main aim is to have a higher gain sound than the stock pickups, and to get rid of some of the trebly harsh resonance on the bridge pickup....
All help massively appreciated!

[KevinB]

It's not going to be easy. Even the blue, which is a Strat pickup and wider than a stock Tele pickup, won't fit the neck cavity without extra body routing and pickguard cutting.

Have you considered a stacked humbucker for the bridge - something like a Duncan Hot Rails or a Little '59?

[modula]

I had looked into both of those actually. Really, any opinions on getting a hotter, slightly thicker output from a tele would be most welcome...do you have either of these pickups fitted?

[newmachine]

CMIIW, but Lace has a Tele set (TN-100 & T-150) which is actually based on Blue (neck) and Silver (bridge)... you can email them for details

[ZZB3]

A Blue Strat neck pup will fit without modifications if that is a American series/standard tele. I had a Lace Blue Strat pup in the neck mated with a Duncan Lil'59 in the bridge that worked very well together in my 2003 American Tele for awhile. Warmoth will make a pickguard cut for a strat pup for a reasonable fee. I would try that combo before I would rout out your tele. I am playing twangy and jazzy stuff now so I went back to a traditional pup setup but the Blue Lace with Lil'59 worked very well and I had a lot of compliments with that combo of pups. Have fun, Wayne

[chabby]

Sounds to me like P90 is in order. I was in the same boat as you for a while (a phase I went through) and the P90 did it for me. Another thing you might try is getting some G7L ASAT type pickups. The ASAT comes stock like what you're looking for to a degree.

The Humbucker will get you part way there as I did that too before the P90, but to me the P90 was better, more gain, hotter and clearer all at once.

[modula]

It is a US Series tele...
The TN-100 & T-150 idea sounds great - looking about there seems to be some mixed opinion on them. Do any of you have these fitted please? Don't want to swap pickups if they're only going to be a slight improvement

[modula]

Originally Posted by chabby

Sounds to me like P90 is in order.

Having a P90 put in the neck of a hollowbody at the moment....in a tele would you recommend one in the neck or bridge? Love P90s.....

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by modula

Hi there - I have a much cherished left handed US Telecaster

Just want to verify which model USA lefty Tele you have.

If it is an American Vintage or Highway One, Kevin is right;

But if it is an American Series or Standard, ZZB3 is right. Your description of the trebly pickup makes me think it is the latter. Just adding a base plate to that pickup will buy you some quality for the moment, until you get this all charted out.

Jonny is using a bridge assembly you need to get closer to, before you even get to the pickup itself. Don't be afraid to call the Lace brothers in California and see which vintage Tele shaped pickup they have, that they feel is closest to the bridge pickup Jonny is using.

Another choice is getting a second Tele that has the right routing to start with. To be blunt, a lot of Jonny's sound is in his signal chain.