5-2 or 2-5 pickup?

Gd points

Since the B & G can be dominant I can definitely see having a 2 on those,

but not the high E, although that supposedly would impart more treble tone on that string from the 5.

 

I've never found overbearing bass to be nearly as bad on Teles as on Gibson-types with humbuckers or P90s. I'm more bothered by a weak high E, a thing that seems to afflict several of my guitars.

 

I dont think it's a "strong " thing. It's that the A2 produces less bright/smoother sound and the A5 is cleaner than the A2. ...........Right?

 

It's not really that A2 magnets are more bassy and A5 are brighter - it's more about softer and harder attack. And I have never heard anyone say that tele neck pickups are too bassy. The complaint is that the highs are too attenuated so it's mostly midrange, not bass.

 

A2 and A5 produce about the same output, because even though the A2 is a weaker magnet, the alloy has a higher permeability, which is also a factor in the overall voltage output that is generated.

I bought a "5-2" from China, but they made it wrong, compared to the Seymour Duncan it was probably meant to mimic. They put the A5 under the plain strings and the A2's under the wound strings, but I actually liked the result none the less. The original stated intention from Seymour Duncan was to help balance things out, but often times imbalance has a good musical effect. Having the bass strings sound softer and the treble strings sound a little more forward creates a wider separation between them sonically. If you try to make the treble strings mellow, and the base strings "clear and crisp", you make them sound more alike rather than less alike, and they wash together more. I'd sell the Chinese' pickups mix as "making the bass strings more bass-like and the treble strings more lead-like".

 

Yet the Duncan Pearly Gates is bright, even twangy, with A2s...

No generality is wholly true, including this one.

 

It is funny, some Tele's seem punchy, bass emphasis, warm on the neck pickup to me for sure. But yes, some add a bright top to that. Go figure.

 

The weak high E bugs me on guitars in general. I always wanted to try this using one of the 3 pole pickups available...:

 

I'm normally used 9 or 9.5 string sets


But on my telly I use a 10,
and a 12 on the B string

 

polepiece-adjustable pickups might be a more elegant solution!

 

They dont get there usually! When the pole is too close it hits or sounds different.

 

I have some pickups with A5 magnets and some with A2 magnets.

The pickups with A5's are all set at low height adjustment for the best sound.
The pickups with A2's are set higher for the sweetspot.

Which ever magnet number you get will have it's best sound height adjustment according to how the guitar sounds and what the player's likes are. So what the magnet number is will not matter as much as how the pickup is setup.

 

I say 3 > 5-2 or 2-5.

B

 

I thought 3 = 5-2


Personally I don't see a need for a 5 2 pickup you do different things with the high and low strings so why should they sound the same.

 

Ez as

π

 

You just watch - Guitar Fetish will be out with one within a year.
"YOU ASKED FOR IT!! Anouncing another GFS exclusive, the Tripoli (Triple E) Crunchy-Puncher. Modeled after my own vintage 1932 Philco 5-Band Electro-Coil..." etc...

 

Part way there, now just need the 5 pole banjo version! Separate Volume control for the High E string!