Duncan antiquity bridge/Nocaster bridge compared

[maxvintage]

I have a parts tele I've been swapping pickups in--warmoth alder body, fat maple neck, minibucker in neck slot. i had a barden in there, and it just wasn't right for this guitar--always sounded too bright, except with the tone way back, which kept it from being interesting. It's scheduled for a different tele. This guitar is well on the light side though not a featherweight, has a very loud acoustic sound, and tends to be bright. Amp is a SFDR. My sonic goal is a steel guitar from 1950, or Jimmy Bryant from the same era

So I went to the local store and got a duncan antiquity--the one with the raised D and G string, which i think he calls a "54 tele" pickup. Great pickup! Lively, very bright but the bright doesn't hurt the ears. Solid bottom, little or no midrange, but a big sound--or not big but "cutting." I really liked this pickup a lot. It's kind of the perfect stereotype of what a tele should sound like--twangy and very bright, but again it didnt give me the icepick. A fantastic pickup for country playing

I also tried a fender custom shop nocaster pickup, a new one. This is also a great pickup--much fatter sound, more midrange, less bright, but still twangs. A more compressed sound. Fits my pickig style better. Still sounds tele, just older tele. This is the sound I wanted, and it's staying in the guitar.

So now I have two extra pickups, and only one extra tele....