A Tele neck pickup to balance the bridge pickup?

[davidge1]

Does anyone make a Tele neck pickup that doesn't require any tone adjustment when switching from the bridge pickup?

I have a 50s Classic... I like the sound of the neck pickup, but I have to turn up the treble when I switch to the it in order to get it in the same range as the bridge pickup. What I've been doing is setting the amp to where it sounds good on the neck pickup, then rolling back the tone on the guitar when I switch to the bridge pickup. This sounds fine when the tone is clean, but using an overdrive pedal, the bridge pickup doesnt sound as good as having the guitar's tone control wide open. Plus, I'd just like to be able to flip the switch and not have to adjust anything. Are there any pickups that sound like a traditional Tele bridge pickup, only bright and loud enough to balance the bridge pickup?

 

[tjalla]

The MIM stock pup ain't all bad. What I did with good results is disconnecting the tone pot from the neck PU, so that its loading the bridge and bridge+middle positions only. It costs nothing and takes all of 5 mins.

Option two (here we go again!) is the favourite of many here, myself included - the Dimarzio Twang King.

 

[Amby]

The Dimarzio Twang King.
+1

 

[Tele Fan]

The Tex Mex pups im ny Nasville Tele are fine and so are the stock ones in my American Tele.

 

[davidge1]

So if I had the Twang King neck pickup along with the stock bridge pickup, I wouldn't have to adjust anything when I switched between the two...it would have the same volume and brightness?

 

[Strawfields]

Sorry if this sounds stupid but surely changing to neck is to get blusier tone...matching or increasing volume I could understand

 

[davidge1]

Strawfields...I dont want the same exact sound from both pickups... I just want to be able to switch between the two and get something in the same tone and volume range, as you would with a Strat, Gretsch or Gibson.

With the tone control wide open on my guitar (or most stock Telecasters), if you switch from a good tone on the bridge pickup over to the neck pickup, you get an extremely muddy sound.

 

[Frontier9]

Sorry if this sounds a bit dim, but I always figured that the standard operating procedure is as follows:

Adjust your amp to sound great with the neck pu, and roll the tone down a bit when you switch to the bridge clean and roll the tone back up a bit when using the bridge with some overdrive. That's pretty much what you are doing, I guess, but you just don't want to fiddle with the tone knob (which is understandable). Hmmm... maybe you could put in a 4-way switch and put a resister in series with the tone control on one of those positions to cut some treble while you are playing the bridge clean.

 

[davidge1]

Frontier9... Im really not all that concerned about having to adjust the tone knob... that's the way I've always done it, and it's not a big deal. My main problem is that I want to use a low-gain overdrive pedal that would be on all the time. The pedal sounds great when Im on the neck pickup (with the guitar's tone control all the way open), but when I switch to the bridge pickup and turn down the treble, the pedal doesnt sound quite as good.

 

[RomanS]

Get a set of Fender CS Nocaster pickups - the bridge pickup, while still twangy, is a bit less bright than most vintage-style Tele bridge pickups, and the neck pickup from that set is probably the brightest Tele neck pickup ever - it's at least as bright as the bridge pickup, when you switch from the bridge to the neck position with the Nocasters, the treble frequencies stay pretty much the same, only the bass and mids get slightly fuller.

 

[pbenn]

Does anyone make a Tele neck pickup that doesn't require any tone adjustment when switching from the bridge pickup?

You might solve this problem with careful height adjustment....

 

[woodman]

So if I had the Twang King neck pickup along with the stock bridge pickup, I wouldn't have to adjust anything when I switched between the two...it would have the same volume and brightness?

sadly, there are no guarantees on stuff like this ... it might on one guitar, and might not on another. but at the excellent price on the TK, it's certainly worth a shot.

 

[bradpdx]

I have never found ANY pickups that NEVER required a tone adjustment, unless they were humbuckers, in which case there is so little treble that I just leave it alone and full up.

On my Strat, I must still adjust the PUP tones when switching - always have. The stock arrangement of "no tone knob for the bridge" just doesn't work for me.

On my Tele, I have VanZandts that match as closely as I have ever found. I can play them with the same tone settings and it works fine - but the magic of the Tele is still enhanced by a bit of knob twirling. I just like the range of sounds that a Tele gets when you set the amp up bright and work the tone knob down - great color.

The only "trick" I use is a nickel-silver cover on the neck, and careful height adjustment. After that, it's a matter of taste.

 

[spangler41]

I'm using an AllParts Razor Hot Tele Neck pickup (10.2k) in one of my Teles along with a Lindy Fralin Blues Special in the Bridge and I like the balance. I use 250K pots and a .01 tone capacitor. If I roll the tone back about 50%, I get a decent blues tone on the neck and a less shrill tone on the bridge. On my other Tele, I broke down and routed the neck position for a Lace Sensor Blue (13.2K). That provides the exact tone I'm looking for - a jazzy dark, warm, smoky sound like a jazz guitar. Too bad a Tele-sized version is not available. Has anyone tried the new GFS Neo pickups for Tele? They come in 7K and 9K for the neck.

 

[jefrs]

Strawfields...I dont want the same exact sound from both pickups... I just want to be able to switch between the two and get something in the same tone and volume range, as you would with a Strat, Gretsch or Gibson.

With the tone control wide open on my guitar (or most stock Telecasters), if you switch from a good tone on the bridge pickup over to the neck pickup, you get an extremely muddy sound.

No, I've never found the tele neck to be muddy, it generally cleans up as you lower it. The neck pickup has a definite sweet spot. I find mine need the tone wound down.

I adjust the bridge pickup so it just clears the strings and then down to kill the icepick, by ear, then I adjust the neck pickup to match its output and to find its sweet spot, The neck pickup being more powerful (greater string movement) is a little lower than the bridge one. Pickups vary, fyi mine are level and 3mm under the open strings on the bridge and 6mm under on the neck.

 

[Curly]

I have never found ANY pickups that NEVER required a tone adjustment...

I agree ... nature of the beast.

I usually crank the tone knob when it's on the neck position.

sometimes I think it would be worth it to try wiring different caps for the bridge and neck pickups