Stacked humbuckers in a tele

[BigWillyInd]

I have a nice looking parts-caster that I don't feel like I've ever really bonded with. I think one of the problems is its pickups are two cheap, vintage-y single coils. I'd like to try humbuckers with it, but I don't think I'd like to change the ascetic by putting full size buckers in.

Anybody have good or bad experiences with stacked Duncans or Fender pups?

 

[jvin248]

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Did you put in a 4-way switch yet? That will put both pickups in series for a big humbucker. That takes care of a lot of this type of desire These switches are only $11 or so online.

Do you have a steel baseplate under the bridge pickup? Best performance I've gotten is a house electrical octagon box cover cut to fit the guitar and put on the back of the magnets. This reflects the magnetic field and thus output from the strings. I have also used just random steel plates from the junk drawer too for varying performance, thicker around 1/8inch steel seems to work better.

If you are looking for more output, you can get a set of used MIM Standard (dual-ceramic magnet) pickups. Sometimes you can find a bridge version with 10.5kohm windings plus the ceramic and it's a lot of fun. Don't be afraid of ceramic they just give more output.

Getting into the humbuckers may get you into too much muddiness, so there is that risk with any of those pickups (and especially with most SD, in my experience).

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[tlsmack]

For $30, you can drop a GFS Lil puncher.
https://www.guitarfetish.com/KP--Lil-Puncher-XL-Three-Versions-Available--Kwikplug™-Ready_p_21968.html

Pretty good sounding, you can't beat the price. With any humbucker, you may want to to go with 500k pots.

 

[radiocaster]

Seems there are quite a few:
https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/hum-canceling/area-t-615

https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/hum-canceling/area-hot-t-bridge

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/hot-stack-tele-bridge?__uuid_ref=5d1a0975dc9c6

https://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/vintage-stack-tele-set?__uuid_ref=5d1a096a123a2

Any particular reason you don't want those small side-by-side humbuckers?

 

[Strato50]

Of all the ones I’ve tried the Dimarzio area T 418 sounds the best. Has a PAF quality and can still twang. Cool thing is a 250k pot is all it needs.

 

[BigWillyInd]

I don't understand much about pots, why do I need to change them? Sound quality or a power issue?

 

[JL_LI]

I always give the same advice. First see if your problem with your current pickups is height. Drop them down and raise the neck pickup until you like the tone. Then do the same for the bridge pickup. Further small adjustments may be needed to balance the volume.

If that doesn’t work, there are four types of pickups to consider. Texas special single coils will be louder and drive an amp without getting muddy. Stacked single coils are different. They’re comprised of one single coil bobbin over the other. N4 noiseless pickups are representative of the type. They definitely have enough treble and twang. I always turn the tone control down with mine. Rail pickups are true humbuckers with wound magnets side by side. They’re loud and dark. Lower them and they’ll be less muddy. Then come true humbuckers. You’ve seen them in Telecasters, I’m sure. Mini humbuckers are less dark and muddy. FilterTrons are another option for Telecasters. My advice is to take your time and play guitars with any pickups you’d consider. I believe an American Special has Texas Special pickups. An American Elite has N4’s. A new Nashville Tele has Vintage Noiseless pickups. There are plenty of Telecasters around with at least one humbucker. A Cabronita has FilterTrons. Find these guitars and play them. What you may find is that one of them is perfect for you. You can buy it and sell the other or keep both of them. Just remember to have fun. This can be even more fun than shopping for German cars.

 

[DavidP]

Big fan of the Dimarzio Area T 615 bridge (DP424) -- a little more oomph over the DP418 but still twangs.

 

[BigWillyInd]

Oh I can dig the fun of shopping for teles! I don't know if selling a partscaster is going to be much of an option though. They always seem to be undervalued, to me.
And I do think I'll like the guitar with better pups in it. When I was getting all the parts together, I kinda ran out of money and ended up putting in whatever I had layin around.
Another reason I'd like to try humbuckers is the less noise thing, and I have another tele with high output single coils.

 

[Shango66]

The Vintage stack Tele works as described.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

The Vintage stack Tele works as described.

Well, the Seymour Duncan Vintage Lead Stack is one I like a lot!
The Hot Lead Stack I hated!
I had them both in the same Tele, the hot one didn’t work for me at all. Hated it.

Th Areas get lots of love, definitely worth a shot.

 

[BigWillyInd]

The Areas?

 

[DavidP]

The Areas?

Yeah, the Dimarzio Area T's noted in some of the above posts!

 

[rigatele]

I get the impression you think stacked humbuckers ("noiseless") should sound like PAF style humbuckers. They are not designed that way. They are made to sound as much as possible like a single coil pickup.

 

[reactor99]

Wilde Pickups (Bill Lawrence) has a lot of noiseless options for T types. If you want a vintage-y sound, you could try a L-200 or 202-TN and an L-200TL. I'm amazed by my Wildes

 

[BigWillyInd]

I get the impression you think stacked humbuckers ("noiseless") should sound like PAF style humbuckers. They are not designed that way. They are made to sound as much as possible like a single coil pickup.

I see...
I was hoping they would make less noise, deliver more output and sustain like a humbucker would. Should I rather look at blades/rails?

 

[3-Chord-Genius]

I haven't tried them in a telecaster, but I've used stacked humbuckers in a strat and they were awesome. Beautiful strat tone, but no hum. DiMarzio HS-3.

 

[Frank'n'censed]

Got a pair of Tom Anderson’s in my Stephen’s Stringed Instruments tele thinline, (no f-hole)...versatile

 

[EspyHop]

I had a little ‘59. I’d rather have an early ‘50s inspired/copy pickup.

 

[Mincer]

The Custom Shop Gilly is really remarkable, too.