SSH Tele - Firebird Pickup Recommendations

[burritoman]

Long time lurker, first time poster!

My buddy gave me a 920D Brent Mason loaded pickguard and control plate, it has a 3 way switch with a third knob for blending the middle position and push pull for series/parallel. It has a 920D Texas Grit bridge (13k), Texas Grit Strat (5k) in the middle with a Firebird style neck pickup they call "Stadium" (6k). I figured I'd get out my forgotten Tele and bring it back to life. It had a Chopper T and a Fast Track 1 which is a great combo, but I really wanted to try out some hotter single coils with the Firebird pickup.

The Texas Grit's are phenomenal sounding with a good bite, I was very happy with the bridge and blended middle. The neck and middle position sound lifeless when playing any clean tones. It's good for lead tones and a drive pedal, but pretty much useless for anything else. I don't really want to settle and stick with the bridge position every time I pick this thing up.

I've adjusted pickup heights, tried different pot values, capacitors etc. but I like how the middle and bridge are sounding, so I don't want to mess with anything too much other than possibly just replacing this neck pickup.

Sorry for the long ramble but, any Mini-bucker, Firebird pickup suggestions?

 

[richiek65]

Cavalier Phoenix get a LOT of love on here

I have a Squier SSH tele that came with Duncan Designed pickups that weren't floating my boat.

I changed the bridge and middle to a Texas Special and Noiseless Strat respectively, and threw a Gibson Firebird (not sure if Alnico or Ceramic, wouldn't know how to determine this) in the neck. Long story short I ditched the Strat middle pickup to simplify a few things so now I have a faux-HotRod 52 Tele. The FB neck pickup sounds wonderful, the TS bridge suits it nicely. I may add a Chigsby v soon, already have the requisite bridge in place.

FB neck pickups are usually killer tone.

 

[Gris]

 

[Gris]

Lollar makes a great FB