Fat vintage tone?

[B.J.TELE]

Has the telecaster become an enigma, or unsolved mystery? How is a 51'-52' tele truly supposed to sound? Is the bridge pup to be punchy, mid dominant with warm low end, or steeley(ice picky)to compliment the popularity of the pedal steel cowboy bands of that era? I think we can safely conclude that the pup windings of that era were inconsitent, but still fell in the range of approx. 4.7 to 6.5 DC resistance, which does not make for a warm, punchy, middy pup but definitely a twangy shrill one. Are these after market pup makers lying when they claim almost pristine 52' duplicate pickups they manufacture, which actually do sound pretty good with a lot of low end warmth and mid punch with twang intact is what a vintage tele indeed sounded like?! I myself have become quite disallusioned with all the controversy. My tele is vintage designed, including alnico 3 low output pickups. Is my manufacturer wrong, or the after market pup manufacturers? Is there such a thing as "fat vintage tone" when we're talking vintage? Somehow, I think Don Rich had vintage tele sound, and Paisley and Mason are playing(though I actually prefer and like their tone, but want to be true to what's closest to true vintage)something entirely different than a telecaster! Let there be truth or we suffer the consequences of confusion and dissatisfaction and disallusionment! Opinions please!!!

[Ben Bishop]

Don't forget the influence of the amp; is it a cranked lower power unit, or one of the more powerful units that came later? These were all non-master volume units so the edginess, the quality and style of break-up, the total tonality was determined by the guitar/amp interaction. Warm, punchy, twangy, Sure! Compare your tone to Rich, Paisley, Mason? Have you got their fingers? I sure don't!

[Colt W. Knight]

I think we can safely conclude that the pup windings of that era were inconsitent, but still fell in the range of approx. 4.7 to 6.5 DC resistance, which does not make for a warm, punchy, middy pup but definitely a twangy shrill one.

I do not agree with your conclusions except for the inconsistent statement.

[Ricky D.]

Don Mare is probably the most accessible authority on this subject. He's made vintage Tele pickups his life's work. If you check out his web site, he has four or five models you could call vintage with DC resistance from 6.0 to 11.5. Here's the link:

http://donmarepickups.com/home.html

Don posts here, maybe he'll join this thread.

[zeke54]

Ahh , the quest for the elusive perfect tone ... how many of us have traveled that road ... ? I agree with Ben , the guitar alone does not create the tone . It's a marriage of the guitar and the amp that makes that sound so special . There are so many variables that come into play , you have to try out diferent combinations of amp with your guitar to find what you are happy with . As you pointed out , the '51-'52 windings were not consistant , thus the outputs and tone were not consistant either . You will find examples of all the years of teles that some sounded fantastic , some not so great . As you also pointed out , there is a lot of controversy on this , but there are a lot of tele pickups on the market , such a variety of tones . I guess to each his own ... Z54

[Davo17]

I was able to play a nocaster this week. It did not blow me away, but it was nice, ad undeniably cool.

[Telepi]

Originally Posted by B.J.TELE

I think we can safely conclude that the pup windings of that era were inconsitent, but still fell in the range of approx. 4.7 to 6.5 DC resistance

I believe this. Gibson states a similar thing about
the PAF's of the 50's along the lines of: "each
p/u was hand wound until full". (Paraphrasing).

Some might be a little fuller than others. And this
could account for variations in tone from one
guitar to another with the same p/u's. This comes
from stuff I read on the Gibson site and forums.
Since it's on the internet, it must be true. Of
course, amp settings and the person playing
will have an impact too.

As for me, I have this unique ability to make any
guitar sound like the one next to it regardless of
pickups or amp settings.