DiMarzio Fast Track T (DP381)... Opinions?

[Royal Tele]

I have been wanting to change out the bridge pickup in my Tele. I currently have one of the Fender Original Vintage Telecaster pickups in the bridge. It sounds pretty good. But I want more power and fatter/hotter tone, and I want less noise (hum). I'm leaning toward the idea of putting a DiMarzio Fast Track T (DP381) in it. Anyone used it before? Thoughts?

DiMarzio says on their site that it is "hotter than most single-coil Tele bridge pickups, but it has way more twang and snap than a humbucking pickup ought to have". They explain this is done by combining their patented "dual-resonance" coils (each with less DC resistance than the single magnet in a standard Tele bridge pickup) with the twin blade poles for less string pull.

I'm not one to have smoke blown up my butt. Can anyone speak to that explanation? More so--can anyone share their opinion of the pickup after hearing it or using it themselves?

Thanks in advance!
-RT

 

[lupowitz]

While I never had one in a guitar, judgeing from the clips I embedded I think Dimarzio's description is pretty accurate.

 

[theraygun]

Had one in an Esquire wired series/single/parallel. To me, it's the perfect bridge pickup. Sounds like a Tele bridge should, especially in parallel, with no hum. In series, it rocks. Whenever I get another Tele, I'll be putting one of these in the bridge.

 

[Royal Tele]

Had one in an Esquire wired series/single/parallel. To me, it's the perfect bridge pickup. Sounds like a Tele bridge should, especially in parallel, with no hum. In series, it rocks. Whenever I get another Tele, I'll be putting one of these in the bridge.

What value of potentiometers did you use for the volume and tone controls? I saw that DiMarzio recommends a 500k volume pot and a 250k tone pot on their website for the most balanced tone. Your thoughts?

 

[theraygun]

What value of potentiometers did you use for the volume and tone controls? I saw that DiMarzio recommends a 500k volume pot and a 250k tone pot on their website for the most balanced tone. Your thoughts?

Yep, that's what I used.

 

[Royal Tele]

To finish up this post, I received the Fast Track T that I ordered and installed it earlier this week. It sounds great. Definitely sounds like a good Tele bridge pickup, keeping the twang but not sounding shrill. It sounds like a slightly-fattened Tele bridge pickup, with a tad more output than usual, and it's silent. (I wired mine without a tone pot--just one volume straight to the output jack. I'm glad I went with this one!

 

[doktorivorst]

resurrecting this old thread since there are not many discussions about this pickup on the internet. I now have Chopper T in my T-style guitar, and I love it for lead notes, for heavier music, but for cleaner lines, it feels a bit too middy at times. Some time ago I installed Cruisers in my Strat, and absolutely love them. According to Dimarzio, Fast Track 1 (and T) is a bit hotter version of the Cruiser. Sounds like something that I would like to have in that guitar! Interesting, that Dimario seems to changed EQ reference. In older articles EQ of Fast Track T is like this first image, but now on the webpage it is like this second image.

 

[dougstrum]

I have used the fast track 1 in neck position on a tele, I'm sure the T would work nicely in the bridge.

I think the dual resonance thing involves winding the two coils to a different resistance. Not a true single coil sound, not quite full humbucker, kind of it's own thing.

 

[Bruxist]

Not sure why there isn't a Cruiser T.

You might like the Chopper T in parallel if you were up for putting in a switch.