What tele pickups have you never tried...but want to??

[GuitarJonz]

I've tried a bunch of tele pickups over the years:
Duncan: Broadcaster/'54 neck, mini HB neck
Fender: '52 RI, and Nocaster bridge, Texas Specials
Rio: Tallboy and Muy Grande
Lawrence: L280s
HD: Vintage +, Super 90
Bardens
Fralin: Stock tele
Gibson HB and mini HB in neck

Right now I have #1 tele with Bardens, #2 with Lawrence L280s, and a set of Fenders ('52RI neck/Nocaster bridge) in the drawer, that have periodically gotten swapped in one of the teles for a change.

The pickups I want to try one day are:
Fralin Blues Specials
Van Zandt flatpole tele bridge
Duncan 5/2 and Jerry Donahue

How about you?

[TeleTubby]

I've been so lucky to get a hold of most all types of Tele pickups and give them a go- really, there's not a bad one out there, just some I like better than others. I'd love to try Jason Lollar's and Pete Florance's Voodoo pickups. But I'm so happy with my current selections, why?*





*Having said that, I just know that someday I'll be getting some of each of these in to try.

[Kingpin]

I've tried:
Fender Orig. Vintage
Fender stock A.S. Deltatones
Fender Texas Specials
Fender Nocaster bridge
SD Broadcaster
Twang Kings
Van Zandt flatpole bridge

I'd like to try:
A & F
Fralin Blues Specials
Lollar Charlie Christian neck

The Van Zandt bridge and Fender OV neck (newer one) are my faves at this point.

[Tom P.]

Van Zandt Flatpole bridge is great/
I'd like to try the Lawrence L 450 Humbuckers as a swap for Gibson 57 Classics.

[Darrell]

Tom Short pickups...

[LarryR]

is Voodoo , SD Antiquities and BL 290TEL
have owned:
current is: HD special neck(orig 73 bridge)
Fralin vintage in my blonde

gone are: JD bridge Duncan
MIM OEM pickups
Barden neck(never got to try it, broke on install and could not be fixed,my fault though)
ASAT special MFD's
52 re-issue '82 original(stupid sale on my part)

[porklash]

Voodoo: TE 60´s BL bridge
Fralin: flatpole vintage 1/2 & 1/2 bridge
Harmonic Design: 54 special neck

Want to but probably won´t try:
Bardens
TV Jones: Filtertron instead of "usual" humbucker in neck position...and the same for Fralin´s Unbucker...

pEr

[John E]

For tele I have tried:

Fralin Blues Specials: my current neck fave
Van Zandt Tru vintage: fave bridge! have to try the neck
Lawrence 280's: good stuff
Barden: love the neck
Duncan Broadcaster: Good stuff
Dimarzio Virtual Vintage: I actually really liked these
Fender 52ri: good stuff
Fender MIM 50's: good stuff
Fender Vintage Noiseless: Not bad, not for me though
Fender TX Special: OK, also not for me

I want to try:
Lollars: Especially the 52 tele and CC
SKGuitar: T-90's
TVJones
Florance Voodoo's
Velvet Hammers
A&F
Duncan Antiquities
Dimarzio Twang Kings
Rio Grande

That's just for tele... add to that HB's, P-90's and mini-HB's... Oopha... I'll be trying out pickups for the rest of me life!

[Jef]

I'd like to try
- SD broadcaster
- Van Zandt flatpole
- P90's

[Bob Mc]

TV Jones that is.

[Thunderbroom]

I initially made the mistake of trying a standard "hotrails" in the bridge position, along with my late 80's American standard single coil at the neck. Big mess, totally wrong. Soon, after some experimentation, I found a combo that really worked. Output from that era of tele's was really weak overall. So a local dealer put me in touch with both Fralin and Rio Grande Pickups. I put the fralin at the neck (with about an 8.5k output) and a Rio Grande standard at the bridge (don't recall the output). Together they are incredibly well-balanced. The Fralin is a little sweeter than the standard tele, a little jazzier if you will. The Rio Grande brings out the classic "honk" a little but overdriven is incredibly punchy.

I'm playing them through an Alessandro Working Dog with 2x10 cabinet - Weber speakers. Even through my old Music Man mid-60's 60 watt head and a 2x10 ported cabinet with eminence speakers, it sounds really good.

The one I am really curious about trying sometime is the SD Broadkaster - a friend of mine put one in his Nashville tele in (I believe) the bridge and it sounds awesome. Anyone else try that one and what other pickups did you use along with them?

By the way, you no longer need to do any routing for most of the Rio Grande replacement pickups, even the humbuckers. They had received so many complaints about them that they completely redesigned them.

[11 Gauge]

...to even bother listing them all.

but there are some that i tried but haven't owned (in a friend's guitar, tried out in a store, built something for someone). these include stuff like Fralins and Bardens. i'd love to own a set of each, but just don't see it happening.

i have yet to try any Lollars, but might pull the trigger soon.

ditto for Van Zandts. was staring at a set a few years ago in a store. price was great - should have gotten them.

i also haven't tried out any of the new Lawrences and would like to get a pair of them -these are within the realm of possibility.

i have tried out almost all of the HD single coil designs, each one put thru it's paces. to me these are relatively affordable booteeker stuff. i never ended up hooked on any of them though. not sure why - most folks who buy them love them. must be a brain disease or something. i even got to put the legendary Z90 thru it's paces. interesting, but wierd. i could not get it to really work with my rig or style. and the blend position (S90 bridge) was super wierd and just unusable for me.

i've considered Kinmans on a few occaisions, actually came close to ordering a set, then got the update on the wait (at the time it was months, don't know if Chris has improved on that) and just moved on to other stuff. if i build a Tele for someone and they want a set then i'll get to try them but probably not otherwise.

i don't care how good they sound, i hate waiting to get them anymore! this is perhaps the biggest governing factor as to what pickups i will never own, or try. i know it takes the little guy a while to hand wind this stuff, but when a project congeals in my head i just want to step on the gas and go!

that said, i will probably wait for a set of Lollars just to check them out. have you seen how little this guy charges for his stuff? unbelievable - you can order Christians and all kinds of other unique stuff!

[Jay Jordan]

Bardens

every guitar i ever played with them sounded great

[Roel from Holland]

I've tried and/or owned:
- 52 RI tele (nice, but unimpressive neck pu)
- Bardens tele (in the drawer)
- Bardens Strat bridge
- Suhr Tele (fantastic !!!!!!)
- Fralin P90 (also great)
- Duncan Broadcaster (A/B'ed it with the Suhrs but I liked the Suhrs so much more...)
- Suhr V60LP Strat (very very nice)
- Am. Std. Strat (not bad at all)
- G&L Asat Special MFD (Great for Blues and high-octace country)
- G&L Z-coils (fantastic when they are NOT close to the strings....and use 011)
- Fender Texas Specials (not my piece of cake)
- Schaller Humbuckers (believe it or not but I like them)

...I bet I've forgotten a lot of them

I wanna try:
- Fralin Steelpole 43 Tele bridge (I actually ordered one)
- Fralin Unbucker
- Voodoo pickups
- Lollar pickups

[Andy B]

I'm curious how one of these would sound as a neck pickup. Has anyone actually tried one?