Bridge humbucker / neck single coil

[Antonuzzo]

As the title says! I'm curious as to why I have never seen a Tele with this layout. I've seen plenty HH Teles and ones with a neck humbucker, but never the other way around.

This would be my ideal setup, especially with a coil tap. I wouldn't want to lose that neck single coil tone.

 

[BuckNekkid]

Spotted at Seymour Duncan's website.

 

[Festofish]

250k and 500k? Maybe it’s been done but wasn’t popular?

 

[Bruxist]

I think I have seen more with 2 SCs, Nashville-style but with a HB in the Bridge.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Welcome!

I've played Telecasters and T types with all kinds of bridges and saddles, I think the "secret sauce" to the T type is found in the use of a bridgeplate that surrounds the slanted bridge pickup and is preferably a steel plate, thin, and best with 3 barrel saddles.

Some guys here don't agree, but I would respectfully suggest that they use their ability and their experience to compensate for the failure to use the "Vintage Correct" bridge assembly.

I had one guy tell me "You guys using the old bridge, are like kids with bikes who never took off their training wheels". Maybe so. I can't see where these "training wheels" are holding me back any!

 

[boris bubbanov]

As the title says! I'm curious as to why I have never seen a Tele with this layout. I've seen plenty HH Teles and ones with a neck humbucker, but never the other way around.

This would be my ideal setup, especially with a coil tap. I wouldn't want to lose that neck single coil tone.

You can install a Seymour Duncan STK-T3b in a Telecaster with a traditional style bridge, and provided you get the version with lots of leads, you can use this pickup and get multiple choices - series, parallel, split. I have an Esquire with this pickup, even with no neck pickup at all it is hard to even still call it an "Esquire".

 

[Marc Morfei]

Yea that’s my ideal config too. I once had a Reverend guitar with a HB in the bridge and P90 in the neck, and it was great. My current tele has 2 HBs that split, and I usually split the neck but hardly ever the bridge. That config is nice in the middle position too.

 

[black_doug]

I went with a Lil’ ‘59 in the middle. The neck and bridge are stock.

This Parallel Universe Tele has two humbuckers.

 

[Blues Twanger]

It's a great combination but surprising rare to see in use. I don't have a Tele set up as such but one of my HSS strats was modded to be a HS.

Perhaps it comes a across as a bit 80s and shreddy? A lot of superstars did (still do) come that way.

 

[Antonuzzo]

Hah, you may have something there! Although it's hard to think of a Telecaster as a go-to guitar for shred....

I'll look at the Seymour Duncan option - keeping my ashtray bridge is a hill I'm prepared to die on

 

[dsiew]

There’s also the Tele Plus (v1):

 

[radiocaster]

There was this Squier:

but also a bunch of 80s superteles.

 

[littlebadboy]

Kotzen's Telecaster has a coil sized rail bucker on the bridge and a single coil neck.

(image removed)

I kinda borrowed the idea on my Squier CV...

(link removed)

And, it sounded like this...



I loved how that guitar sounded but was too heavy.

 

[John C]

There’s also the Tele Plus (v1):

I was just coming to post about the Tele Deluxe v1.

Fender also did an FSR for Guitar Center/Musician's Friend circa 2013/2014 that was called the "U.S. Professional Telecaster HS" that had a bridge humbucker and neck single coil. These were spec'ed and priced at the American Special level. It turned out to be an unfortunate name because Fender in their infinite wisdom used the name American Professional for the series that replaced the American Standards in December 2016 - so now people with these FSR (there was an HSS Strat as well) confuse them with being part of the more expensive American Professional series.

At any rate they had the bridge humbucker with an S-1 switch for coil splitting:

Here's a link to the archived page on Guitar Center's website:

Fender USA Professional Telecaster HS Electric Guitar Black Rosewood

Shop for the Fender USA Professional Telecaster HS Electric Guitar Black Rosewood and receive free shipping on your order and the guaranteed lowest price.

www.guitarcenter.com

 

[boris bubbanov]

There was this Squier:

but also a ton of 80s superteles.

Back 15 years or so ago, I picked up a half dozen of these Indonesian Squier T types for $ 119 or $129 each in this configuration (the rosewood boards are so nice) and did various remakes on all of them. Replacing the nut with Graphtech was the single best upgrade. But I tried all kinds of bridges and pickups, and the ones I liked best were where I ripped out the stock HH bridge pickup and bridge, installed a sort of GE Smith style half bridge and did some routing and installed a "T" type single coil with a metal plate surround mount. Images might be somewhere in the Archives here - I haven't looked lately.

 

[JeffBlue]

I built a partscaster with a Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90 neck and a JB bridge pickups, Mahogany Edenhaus body, Fender Bullet tele neck and a custom homemade copper pickguard.

 

[bender66]

I see this layout more on budget line stuff. Heres the first one that came to mind.

 

[Matthias]

Now, a bridge humbucker paired with a slanted neck single coil would be quite a thing on a Tele…

 

[blujosh]

could also buy a Telecaster Deluxe (HH) and replace the neck with one of Fralin's "single coil sounding" humbuckers. i did that exact thing that on a Hagstrom Super Swede (25.5" scale Les Paul style) - first with a "Twangmaster", and then finally with a "Big Single" - and have been really happy with the combo. going with a Tele deluxe also gives you two Vol and two tone, so you could optimize each pair for each pickup (and put that coil split on just the bridge).

 

[timbgtr]

My < 2 cents: The unique contribution of the Tele to the guitar tone universe is the single coil bridge pickup. Give that up and every other guitar becomes an option (and I have more than my share).