standard tele neck pickup or neck humbucker?

[FraKo]

I play jazz, and I've recently mounted a Classic 60's traditional single-coil pup on my Tele, and I couldn't be happier. I use my bucker Yamaha Tele only to avoid buzzes when I practise thru the headphones.

[Sarge]

When given a choice between a single coil or humbucker at the neck position...I'd take the HB. Alot is dependant on the type of music you play. But for me a HB is just more capable of overdriven types of music which I prefer. Singles are great for tele tones that many players like but I use my tele's for heavily overdriven tone...Hb's do that nicely.

[Rich Rice]

Another vote for the AllParts minibucker. I went on a binge a few years back, and wound up with 6 Gibson mini buckers. I liked most of them, but the best one in the neck position was a '72 mini from a Firebird. Holy cow!

Anyway, I started to sell off a couple of my lesser used guitars, and didn't think I wanted to lose the Gibson minis. I put the AllParts in there, and ended up liking them even more than the Gibsons. Lots of bang for the $$$. Now I'm replacing more Gibsons with AllParts in the guitars I play regularly- go figure.

[Drak]

Have you tried the Allparts mini? I tried them on a tip from KBR, and have to say, they are fantastic. The old Gibsons are hit-or-miss (I have a mid-70's in my guitar that I love, and a few others that vary from OK to excellent), but the Allparts is consistently very good. Lollar is the top of the heap, but the Allparts holds it's own.

Nope, just tried the Lollars so far for Minis.

Another thing I've found is the Bardens sound really good for overdriven tones, and obviously keep a traditional SC sound when clean. They do both really well.

[jazzonatele]

I've got a SD Seth Lover in the neck, and it's marvelous for jazz, since it's all vintage, it has nothing to do with those extra hot pU : better volume balance, and better clean sound to me. Sounds great for blues also, pretty close to SC to me, open, airy, woody.

[Fatmanstratman]

FWIW, my Partscaster version of the 62 RI is fitted with a GFS 'Vintage Split' bucker, and is probably one of the best sounding and most versatile Teles in my collection.

[CrimsonTele]

What do the Allparts mini's look like? I cant any pictures on there web site

[Robert H.]

I'm waiting for someone to drop a Wolftone Dr. Vintage PAF style bucker in a Tele neck---I have a set in a Les Paul and there ain't nothing like these to my ears. Absolute clear PAF sound with the clarity and snap of an old P-90.
The Burstbuckers that were in there are good---but they can't match Dr. V's.

[Wild Rice Chris]

Originally Posted by CrimsonTele

What do the Allparts mini's look like? I cant any pictures on there web site

There are more examples on my website, but here is one in a chrome ring:


They come in a cream plastic P-90 size ring like what is in the Les Paul Deluxe. We usually remove the mounting hardware, tap the mounting ears, and mount them in these chrome firebird rings or a pickguard.

[Drak]

My Tele with the Lollar looks identical to Chris' pic, same type of mounting ring and everything, except in GOLD.

I'd show you a pic of it, but the guitar's getting Plek'ed at the moment.

[tele-tubby]

Originally Posted by Jason R.

The Rice crew gave me some tips on wiring...I went with 500K pots with a 270K resitor across the bridge pickup to keep it from sounding too shrill.

Will the 270k resistor "shave" off the highs of the SC Tele bridge PU? Or is it there to compensate for using two 500k pots instead of the usual 250k for teles?

Originally Posted by Jason R.

Check the Fat Tele wiring diagrams at the Fender website if you decide to go with a humbucker in the neck.

Yeah I also noticed that the wiring for the American Hot Rod Fat Tele and the American Fat Tele are the same... I wonder if they wired the vintage ones with buckers at the neck in the same way too... for example, Rich RObinson's 68 tele ... or even the Albert Collins sig model?


This is what I did with my fat tele: 500k volume pot, 250k tone pot; neck pu not wired to the tone knob (for extra high end to "match" with the bridge PU)... I usually just roll off the tone knob for the bridge PU ...

[tele-tubby]

Originally Posted by DavyA

I've got a SD jazz humbucker in the neck with a push pull tone pot so I can split it if I want.

What kind of tele do you have, alder or ash?

Does your SD Jazz have a nickel cover?

I have an SD Jazz that I plan on slapping on my alder body/maple neck tele soon when time permits. I wonder if it will match with the SD Antiquity II at the bridge... well I hope it does.

[tele-tubby]

here's my Tokai tele deluxe


bridge pu: DiMarzio Twang King
neck pu: Golden Age humbucker

I was able to wire this pretty much the standard way since the controls are not shared by the two pus. Bridge pu has 250k pots while the neck humbucker only has one 500k volume pot since I don't really use the tone knob on the neck pu... and I could use the extra zing and clarity in this position. That other control knob is a push/pull pot to split the neck pu.

I am very much tempted to try an AlnicoII (b)/ PG (n) combination on this guitar. It's body is made of ash and I wonder how A2 magnets would respond to that. Both PUs on it right now are A5.

[goldenbuff96]

Originally Posted by Robert H.

I'm waiting for someone to drop a Wolftone Dr. Vintage PAF style bucker in a Tele neck---I have a set in a Les Paul and there ain't nothing like these to my ears. Absolute clear PAF sound with the clarity and snap of an old P-90.
The Burstbuckers that were in there are good---but they can't match Dr. V's.

I did this!
I have a 7.5K Dr.V neck and put it in a alder partcaster. The thing with the DrV neck is that it's very "polite" and very smooth and VERY CLEAN. It's now in the neck of my R8 - it gives me that Slash vibe - very flutey!!!

I prefer a more "mid-dy" neck pup for brighter guitars (bolt-on, alder, ash, etc.). The 7.7K Timbucker-neck suites me better - it's a bigger, edgier, more open sounding neck pup due to the mids spike in the EQ.

I'm not a fan of a bustbucker in the neck position (tele or les paul). However, I love the bustbucker2 in the bridge of my R8 - very tight, focused, and aggressive for an A2 pup.

[goldenbuff96]

Originally Posted by tele-tubby

here's my Tokai tele deluxe


bridge pu: DiMarzio Twang King
neck pu: Golden Age humbucker

I was able to wire this pretty much the standard way since the controls are not shared by the two pus. Bridge pu has 250k pots while the neck humbucker only has one 500k volume pot since I don't really use the tone knob on the neck pu... and I could use the extra zing and clarity in this position. That other control knob is a push/pull pot to split the neck pu.

I am very much tempted to try an AlnicoII (b)/ PG (n) combination on this guitar. It's body is made of ash and I wonder how A2 magnets would respond to that. Both PUs on it right now are A5.

I put together something similar to this - 250K pots (.047uf cap) for the tele bridge, 500K pots (.015uf cap) for the neck Timbucker. I wired it the same as a 50's les paul wiring scheme. From what I was able to gather, the 50's LP scheme is brighter than the modern LP scheme. This is my #1.

[KokoTele]

Why not both? I love the sweet smoothness you get out of a standard tele neck pickup, and I love the raunch available with a humbucker, so I kept both.

Duncan Donahue bridge pickup, 68-ish tele neck pickup in the middle, and a Duncan '59 in the neck position.

I finally decided that I did not care about balancing output. I use the bridge pickup only when I want country twang. I use the middle pickup for almost all rhythm playing, and I use the neck bucker for almost all of my leads, slide, and really raunchy rhythm. For all of those applications I want more output, so it helps to have the 'bucker up where it would normally be.

The switch wired so that there are no pickup combinations, the bridge pickup has a .047 uf cap, the others have a .022 uf cap.

[straightface]

I have a Chopper T in my bridge with a Dimarzio Fast Track I in the neck. I think its a great combination.

[shades]

The Fender noiseless bridge p/up combined with a SD '59 model humbucker is a pretty good combination providing wide range and nice meaty tone. Throw in a four way switch, 250 ohm pots & .05 tone cap and life is good. Yah. I love mine....

[jwsamuel]

I went with the GFS split humbucker in one of mine too:



Jim

[jjz28]

Originally Posted by Hafner

A Telecaster with a Humbucker is no more a Telecaster (that's why I do not like all those "Keef"-lovings, he is much overrated).
The sound of the neck-pickup, especially together with the bridge-pickup makes that beloved Telecaster-sound (1 of 3 !!!).
A Gibson in a Fender Telecaster ???
I would wait, till I have the money to buy a 70' Telecaster neck-pickup.

Solution from Fender: MIM '95 Tele Special w/5way splittable HB.
All the classic tones ++.My favorite Tele and I've owned about a dozen different varieties over 40 years,but what do I know? JJ

"...of what validity are opinions,if not supported by fact...."