Does anyone like humbuckers on Telecasters?

[Peegoo]

Another homebrew humbucker Tele with TV Jones Filtertrons:

 

[Patshep]

Since seeing and playing the G&L ASAT Blueboy when it was first released I've always kept a space in my heart for Telecasters utilizing one or more humbuckers. One of my current Melancon T's sports a pair of PAF with a mini switch to choose between multiple humbucker or single coil configurations.

I had a Bluesboy also and regret selling it. Also had a melancon with two noiseless singles. Also regret selling it. Ugh

 

[Patshep]

Fender AVRI 52 Hotrod Tele
SD mini hum at the neck

View attachment 1069962

I’m thinking of doing this to mine. I love that guitar. I want to refret it with medium jumbo too

 

[jfiffik]

My 76 pictured in my profile pic has a humbucker in both the bridge and neck. Chopper T in the bridge and the original Fender in the neck.

 

[Hoodster]

Does a bear poop in the woods?

View attachment 1070301

Gorgeous. Who did the thinline with standard pg and controls?

 

[schmee]

I like minibuckers in the neck position on Teles. I can't bond much with full buckers in most anything.
The Wide Range Tele buckers have a nice sound to me though.

 

[sinecrafter]

I will admit that the humbucker is one of the most significant inventions in the history of guitar electronics. Whereas Gibson's P90 pickups, as well as many Fender guitars, had single coil pickups that caused a lot of hum and increasingly unwanted feedback, in 1957, Seth Lover created the humbucker, which would buck (IE cancel) is hum and buzzing of single coil pickups. The PAF pickup (as it was called) stood for patent applied for, and the patent was finally awarded in the early sixties.

Soon after, several other companies, including DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan, EMG, Fishman and Fender followed Gibson's lead. I don't generally like humbuckers on Strats, however, a lot of great superstrats from the Eighties have a humbucking pickup in the bridge position. I do however, think that the humbucking pickup in the neck of a Telecaster is pretty good, and is the closest thing to making a Telecaster sound realistically like a Gibson. There are lots of good Telecasters that have had humbuckers--Terry Kath's battered 1966 Fender Telecaster he used on all the vintage Chicago recordings had a Gibson SG humbucker in the neck of his Telecaster, which allegedly was the neck pickup of one of many Gibson SGs Terry used.

Andy Summers and Robbie Robertson were also known to play humbucking Telecasters. I don't think the bridge of a Telecaster should be humbucking, but I do like the Telecaster Deluxe and Telecaster thinline, so I guess humbuckers are okay on those Telecaster bridges.

Keith Richards also has a lot of modified Telecasters. His first one, Micawber, has a brass replacement bridge to accomodate 5 strings, with the humbucker in neck position and the nut cut, not evenly over the fingerboard, but with the first string modded to move over a little. Richards uses this Tele to play Brown Sugar and Honky Tonk Woman.

Richards also has another Telecaster, Malcolm, which is also modified with a cut nut and humbucker in neck position, but this one stays capoed at the 4th fret and is tuned in B. Richards uses this Telecaster to play Tumbling Dice and Jumpin Jack Flash.

Nancy Wilson, the lead guitarist and singer in Heart, also has a heavily modified Lake Placid Blue 1963 Fender Telecaster, with a PAF humbucker in the Telecaster neck position, that Nancy has been using since the late Seventies. Whether the Telecaster already had the humbucker in it before Nancy acquired it, however, is unknown.

But if you guys have any humbucking Telecasters plase post it here.

No, nobody like humbuckers on Telecasters.

 

[Dik Ellis]

My ideal Tele set up would have a P90 in the neck, instead of a humbucker.

 

[lancefrei]

I grew up playing a 64 Gretsch Country Gentleman and a 66 Telecaster. Loved the tone of the Country Gent and the playability of the Tele, so this combination was the best of both worlds.

 

[davidchagrin]

You've got to be a hell of a player to bring that up on stage. Stunning!

Thanks!

 

[mojosman]

I’ve got one of the 52 AVRI Hot Rod Teles with the SD mini humbucker in the neck, and the custom shop Broadcaster bridge pickup. This combo is incredibly versatile and covers a wide range of tones. You can play about anything. Killer guitars.

 

[Telesaurus]

Does anyone like humbuckers on Telecasters? . . .

Well there's this guy in England that seems to do pretty well with the configuration... his name is Kieth Richards.. anyone heard of 'im?

r

He sounds familiar.....was he the guitarist for Milli Vanilli?

 

[Tjeppen]

Yes

 

[hooey]

His friend named Pete also enjoyed humbucker-equipped Telecasters (well, parts-casters) in the 1980s:

Mine!

 

[DHart]

Oh boy, howdy, yeah! Just my kind of thread.

For me, it all started with my first Tele (after being a Strat guy for decades). Fender "Blacktop" HH. I wanted something similar to a Les Paul, but with Fender ergonomics. Stock pickups were crappy.

So, I re-vamped with a pair of Gibson Classic '57s, and 870k volume pot, and '50s wiring. Also swapped the magnet in the neck pickup from A2 to A5, for some extra sparkle at the neck. Very clean, clear, sparkly but fat tone from this guitar now. Absolutely love it.

I like the Gibson Classic '57 so much that I popped one in neck position this Mystic Red Fender American Standard. (A2 mag swapped to A5.)

I love exploring different pickup combinations, so not averse to trying some Classic '57s in a Strat, as well.

In time, more Teles acquired and customized. Gibson Classic '57s once again.

SD Antiquity II Mini (awesome sounding pickup!) on the left. Duncan '59 in the middle Tele. Classic '57s on the right.

SD Antiquity II Mini

DiMarzio PAF Masters

SD Antiquity II Mini at the neck. Fender CS Fat 50 Strat pickup at the bridge.

Classic '57s

Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird at the neck

SD Antiquity II Mini

TV Jones Classic "Filter'tron"

Gibson Burstbucker Pros (A5)

American Standard with Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird at the neck

Pair of American Standards, SD Antiquity II Mini on the left. Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird on the right.

So yeah, I sort of do enjoy varieties of humbuckers in some Teles.

 

[SbS]

 

[rob63]

I'll just throw acouple more names into the hat; John5, Steve Howe.

 

[ndcaster]

Oh boy, howdy, yeah! Just my kind of thread.

For me, it all started with my first Tele (after being a Strat guy for decades). Fender "Blacktop" HH. I wanted something similar to a Les Paul, but with Fender ergonomics. Stock pickups were crappy.

So, I re-vamped with a pair of Gibson Classic '57s, and 870k volume pot, and '50s wiring. Also swapped the magnet in the neck pickup from A2 to A5, for some extra sparkle at the neck. Very clean, clear, sparkly but fat tone from this guitar now. Absolutely love it.

I like the Gibson Classic '57 so much that I popped one in neck position this Mystic Red Fender American Standard. (A2 mag swapped to A5.)

I love exploring different pickup combinations, so not averse to trying some Classic '57s in a Strat, as well.

In time, more Teles acquired and customized. Gibson Classic '57s once again.

SD Antiquity II Mini (awesome sounding pickup!) on the left. Duncan '59 in the middle Tele. Classic '57s on the right.

SD Antiquity II Mini

DiMarzio PAF Masters

SD Antiquity II Mini at the neck. Fender CS Fat 50 Strat pickup at the bridge.

Classic '57s

Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird at the neck

SD Antiquity II Mini

TV Jones Classic "Filter'tron"

Gibson Burstbucker Pros (A5)

American Standard with Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird at the neck

Pair of American Standards, SD Antiquity II Mini on the left. Cavalier "Phoenix" Firebird on the right.

So yeah, I sort of do enjoy varieties of humbuckers in some Teles.

damn dude, you should design for Fender

 

[zumajim]

I put the highest output Duncan bridge pickup (STL-2) in mine to compete with the Duncan SH-1 '59 humbucker at the neck. The bucker still overpowers the bridge and I can't get what I think is a balanced sound in the middle position, but both sound good on their own. In sum, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the mods since I also play a Les Paul.

 

[Rich_S]

Schecter PT body, Fended MIM neck, Duncan '59 pickups.

My "normal" Tele sometimes has a humbucker as well (though there's presently a Strat pickup at the neck). If I didn't have the goldtop, I'd probably put a Duncan '59N in this guitar. Great thing about MIM Teles: they have a humbucker route at the neck, so you can put in any kind of pickup you want, just by swapping pickguards.