Need some advice (pickup shopping...)

[Freya]

Hey guys. I'm putting together a parts tele and I'm having a bit of trouble choosing pickups. There are some companies that, unfortunately, do not post audio samples for many of their products so as you can imagine, this isn't an easy choice to make.

Soundwise I'm wanting something that has lush cleans and can respond to low to moderate overdrive well.

Something worth noting is that I absolutely cannot stand ice-pick.

I've been looking at Seymour Duncan Antiquities (55s and IIs) as well as DiMarzio Area Ts, but I'm really not sure at all (and I'm not limited to these two brands). I have a $200 budget.

Any recommendations would be highly appreciated.

[notdave]

Originally Posted by Freya

There are some companies that, unfortunately, do not post audio samples for many of their products

Bare Knuckle do.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/mai....php?cat=teles

Click on the pickup name. The sound clip's on the bottom right of the loaded page.

[Dan German]

Audio samples (IMO) are entertaining, but not a good way to evaluate a pickup unless you plan to always play it through a tiny amp with computer speakers. The surest way to get what you want is to deal with a maker who will discuss your wants/needs with you before purchasing, or buy something that has the weight of public opinion behind it and keep your fingers crossed. Or you could always keep swapping cheap pickups until you find what you want. That worked for me occasionally (but not usually.)

[jefrs]

Tonerider.

Do not class them as cheap pickups.

[uriah1]

+Sometimes you can find youtubes of some stuff. But caveat emptor...could be
a lot of tweaks you dont see (amp,speakers,recording mikes,equip,room,etc,etc)

[kmac]

I really like the dimarzio true velvet pups. The twisted tele neck/nocaster bridge is a home run in my book. The nocaster is darker than a traditional tele pup. More growl and takes to pedals very well. The TT is awesome, fat, Strat like tone and its 4 way switch ready.

Now, if money wasn't an issue (dare to dream!) I would say check out lollar and florance. I have a lollar firebird in the neck and a florance voodoo te50 in the bridge. KILLER combo! My version of the 52 hotrod.

[WaylonFan76]

Duncan is truly great in my book. My Antiquity I bridge pickup is my all-time favorite pup. You can't go wrong with Seymour, IMO. What type of music do you play ? What type of tone are you attracted to ? What players ?
In my experience, Klein is amazing and OC Duff great, others swear by Don Mare. My advice is: go to their websites and read the descriptions. Audio clips don't do pickups justice. My Klein Broadcaster bridge is sooo much better than the clips on the website, however good sounding they were. You just never know until you install them in your guitar and play through your amp. JMHO YMMV

[TeleKato]

Originally Posted by notdave

Bare Knuckle do.

https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/mai....php?cat=teles

Click on the pickup name. The sound clip's on the bottom right of the loaded page.

So I realize in these threads you get everyone's opinion of their favorite pickups. But hey, you posted it ... so ... here's mine! Same as NotDave ... I got a set of Bare Knuckles this month for my MJT Relic build .. got the '55 Blackguard staggered pole ... LOVE THEM.

I'd advise you do what I did .. which was what I was advised (and it was good advice). Go out to the BN site and send them a message (Tim responded to me) ... and tell them what you're building and what you think you want, and let them (him) what you should get. They're ahead of us across the pond time-wise ... but Tim responded within 'normal UK business hours.

I think you may need to add a little to your budget -- but not much. Worth it for me.

[57Nomad]

Try the Keystones. Just dropped a set in my Standard Tele. Very versatile and relatively inexpensive.

[Freya]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Time to research.

[Freya]

Alright, so I ended up going with some CS Texas Specials. I like what I've heard and they go for a good price.

But I do have another question. I get a little crazy about this whenever I buy something guitar-related like pedals and what not. I like to make sure things haven't been opened yet. How is the packaging supposed to be for these pickups? I got them last week and there was no plastic or tape or anything on the packaging. You could just easily open it and get to the pickups. I don't really trust Guitar Center, but since I had the gift cards, I bought from them. I always have the thought in my mind that they'd try to resell something as new that somebody returned. Is this how pickups are normally packaged?