Picking new pickups for Squire Std tele

[Duffy]

Any advice on what whould be outstanding pups to put in a nice Squire Std. Tele? Or should I leave well enough alone.

This thing is twangy and quite nice but I think the pups are cheap even though they sound good. Any advise as to what route to take?

I have seen some nice replacement pickups from some of the big companies, and then there is GFS. Even nice Fender ones are available.

I would like to get te adjustable height neck pup instead of the fixed height one on my Std.

However, it sounds great the way it is. Both pups seem to be doing a great job and it feels, plays, sounds great. Why mess with a good thing; if not only to make it better, which is always a gamble. Those Seymour Duncans and others seem to be nice though.

Advice appreciated,

Duffy

I have two other tele's: Peavey Generation EX's that sound really sweet and have two open coil pups, one in the bridge and the other in the neck where the chrome covered one usually resides. The bridge is especially nice sounding.

[Telemarkman]

A set of Original Vintage Pickups ('52 RI) would be an improvement I guess.

[musicalmartin]

Bill n Becky Keystones are fantastic and also reasonable cost USA build I had a set installed in my Tele . At present I have a set of Tonerider Vintage Plus,Chinese made but ultra high quality , which give ,to me ,a fine authentic vintage Fender tone .They are much lower output than the Keystones . I prefer the Bridge on the Tonerider,it not too sharp but still twangy but maybe the neck on the Keystones.Its a bit hotter for blues playing so I may well end up mixing the two when I get time .I use 4 way switching .I want to try the Toneriders at full blast at a jam session before I decide .both are fine pickups .

[6942]

GFS

[pchilson]

I'd say unless you can clearly ID what sound you are trying to achieve that the current pup won't attain then just leave it be. I had a Std that I had changed out the alnicos for some ceramics (no names). The Std sounded great with the stock pups and it sounded great again with the ceramics. The guitar just sounded great no matter. The one thing I did that greatly improved that Std was to have a bone nut cut and fitted and a fret level and crown, new strings and it was golden.

[Cassady]

If you like it the way it is, you should strongly consider leaving it alone.

I replaced the pickups in my Squier Standard with the 50's repro GFS pickups and played it for a while. After much mulling it over, I put the stock Squier pickup back in the guitar--the GFS was nice, but I like the stock pickup just a bit more.

You can often make considerable tone changes in a guitar by adjusting the pickup height and trying different capacitor and pot values--all of which are much cheaper than new pickups.

Good luck in your tone quest.

Cassady

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by Duffy

I would like to get te adjustable height neck pup instead of the fixed height one on my Std.

You can adjust the height of the neck pickup. If it's screwed into the body, you'll need to remove the pickguard to do it. Fortunately, if it's screwed into the body, you should be able to remove it without unstringing the guitar (you may run into problems if your neck has the 22nd fret overhang).

I like the classic, clean look of the body-mounted pickup, but in the end I always go for convenience and switch to pickguard mounting.

You can get lots of different tones by adjusting the pickup height (of both pickups). Good luck!!

[BroadMaster]

Fender Custom Shop Nocasters.

[BB]

Originally Posted by Duffy

This thing is twangy and quite nice.... .
However, it sounds great the way it is. Both pups seem to be doing a great job and it feels, plays, sounds great. Why mess with a good thing.

Bro.....I believe you answered your own questions! If you are set on a pup swap, there are some great recommendations here. I would consider writing down what you like and dislike about your current pups and what tones you would like to hear.

Go through the many threads on the pickup forum and narrow it down to a few choices. What is your budget? There are some outstanding winders who can pretty much nail the tone you hear in your head for around the same price of an off the shelf pickup......and, there are some wondeful off the shelf pups.

After you've narrowed it down, scan the classified here for a used set. Some great bargains are to be found there. If the ones you pick don't do the trick, sell em and move on to another set. After a few swaps, you may find what you're after, or it may give you a new appreciation for the stock pickups. Whatever way you go....best of luck finding your tone!

[Telenator]

Seriously, you could sell your guitar and add that to the amount of money you would spend on a new set of pickups and just buy a better guitar that would come with better pickups to boot! You'd get your pickup upgrade and a guitar upgrade at the same time for about the same price.

Putting new p'ups ina Squier is kinda like putting low profile wheels and tire on Geo Metro. I suppose you could do it, but why?

[maiga]

Originally Posted by Telenator

Seriously, you could sell your guitar and add that to the amount of money you would spend on a new set of pickups and just buy a better guitar that would come with better pickups to boot! You'd get your pickup upgrade and a guitar upgrade at the same time for about the same price.

Putting new p'ups in a Squier is kinda like putting low profile wheels and tire on Geo Metro. I suppose you could do it, but why?

I see your point, but would beg to differ: the workmanship on a (good) Squier is very good and as a result they play very well. Squiers vary wildly in all aspects of quality- the pups, pots and switches are however very cheap in these instruments. Though that doesn't mean SOME people don't like SOME of the pickups...

Rewiring mine with nice smooth Fender USA pots and switch made it quieter and 'feel' a whole lot better.

I also changed the pups to Texas Specials, which are fairly unsubtle, but I like the sound they make.

Guitar/car comparisons are always going to be a bit silly, but I'd say it would be more like pulling the carb off a Geo Metro and filing smooth all the crappy swarfy bits that came like that from the factory so it gasses better.

[odiemann]

I like the Nocasters, the Keystones, and have a Tonerider ready to go in the neck of a 78 tele. I really have a problem not recommending the Keystones these days. The construction is so clean and the sound very nice. They are also more noiseless than any true single I have ever heard.

[yegbert]

Originally Posted by Telenator

Seriously, you could sell your guitar and add that to the amount of money you would spend on a new set of pickups and just buy a better guitar that would come with better pickups to boot! You'd get your pickup upgrade and a guitar upgrade at the same time for about the same price.

Putting new p'ups ina Squier is kinda like putting low profile wheels and tire on Geo Metro. I suppose you could do it, but why?

What guitar and pickups do you think would be better and could be bought for the price of those pickups plus the money you could get from selling the Squier Standard Tele?

IMHO, that car analogy doesn't work well.

[PJ]

Well...couple of things. If you want to keep the $ down, there are lots of Fender "take-outs" on eBay all the time. The Classic Series
stock pickup set is very good and you can find them there all the time, for not a big outlay - maybe $35/set. Two others I like, that aren't crazy expensive are the Fender Texas Specials and Duncan
Alnico Pros. I have (or have had) all three of these in various guitars and have been pleased with them. What I like about the Duncans, is that they have all the tone, but take a little of the brittleness out of the bridge pickup, which, unless you play real hard-core country-twang, is probably a good thing.