Tele Replacement Pickups 2024

[DMace]

I've been out of the pickup loop for at least a decade. My main Tele has a set of Fred Stuart Blackguards which I absolutely Love. My other has TV Jones Filtertrons. I was curious what the current favorites are. Back then it was Don Mare, Fralin, Fred Stuart and some others that I can't recall. I'm toying with the idea of getting another Tele and I know I'll inevitably want to drop in some really good pickups. Thanks for any input

 

[El Tele Lobo]

I've had great pickups by Bootstrap, Cavalier, Sunday Handwound, OC Duff, Porter and Bill Lawrence. My favorite are my Don Mare Hot Bakelites.

 

[Tom Grattan]

Fred Stuart to 58 specs. The Best.

 

[uriah1]

Ya, another tele since they wont fit in that Filtertron slot.
I like the (Cavaliers,Seymour Duncan antiquities, and some Lollar stuff)

 

[gonzo]

absolutely LOVE my Fralin split Blades.

they are quiet, but sound very twangy, even at the BLUES output level.
i'd actually like to try a strat split blade at the HIGHEST output, in place of my current humbucker.

Split Blade Tele Pickups: Noiseless Tele Tone, From Vintage to Modern.

Tele Split Blades: a Lindy Fralin Original. Get true Telecaster tone, with no hum. Choose between 4 outputs to get the tone you are after.

www.fralinpickups.com

 

[tugboat1980]

Despite the fact that I don’t play much country I have Lollar 52’s in my Warmoth Tele. Love them. Does all the Tele stuff I want them to do and then some.

Fralin and Lollar are still popular options, as are SD and SD Antiquities. Some have stopped or only sell to specific entities like Fred Stuart and Don Mare and others. Still others, like Ron Ellis and Throbak, have become popular but carry price tags that make your eyes bleed.

Still others small builders are at it like Cavalier and OC Duff.

My $0.02, they’re all good and most differences can probably be neutralized with a screwdriver and amp EQ.

 

[ChicknPickn]

I don't say any pickup maker out there is best, but I sure have bought a lot of Bill Lawrence pickups. Especially the Micro-Coils and the stacked "Noisefree" series.

 

[_gngroup__]

Don Mare.

 

[Ron R]

Fralin will be my go-to replacement pickup option until proven otherwise.

 

[JSebastianB]

Nick Silver's Don Corleone. bright, clear, sparkling, dynamic, sensitive. love them.

 

[DMace]

Don Mare.

I had a set of Don Mare's in an 80s MIJ sunburst custom Tele years back. They were his 60s model (for the life of me, can't remember the name). Sounded Beautiful. Kicking myself to this day for selling that guitar and those pickups.

 

[BFcaster]

I would love to tone-quest Tele pickups, but as such I stick with my stock 1996 52RI Fender Telecaster pickups. They seem to do what I want.

I do have a Micawbre partscaster with a SD Seth Lover in the neck and a SD Broadcaster bridge.
Love it for sure, so much that I've seriously considered the SD Broadcaster set for my stock Tele, or maybe the CS set of 51 Nocasters, or maybe...
...I'll stick to the stock pickups, thank you.

 

[northernguitar]

Poor man’s choice or cheap upgrade for weak Squire pickups are the Tex-Mex set. They’ve transformed my MIC Squire CV into a very versatile guitar. I particularly love the neck.

 

[UPtele]

I've said it before

SD - Jerry Donahue in the bridge and DiMarzio twang king in the neck

Heaven to my ears

 

[rand z]

I've said it before

SD - Jerry Donahue in the bridge and DiMarzio twang king in the neck

Heaven to my ears

THIS^^^^.

This is a great combination of these two wonderful pickups.

I'm sure there are others as good.

But, better?

Hmmm... apples and oranges.


imo.

 

[Jake909]

I'm a Lollar fan. So, pickups are subjective. Pairs that I have in two Teles and one G&L Bluesboy:
Vintage T neck/Special T bridge; Imperial HB neck/J-Street bridge; Royal T neck/Special T bridge.
I'm pleased every time I plug in.

 

[ScottMosesMurray]

I have a few Don Mare pickups that I really love. Bakersfield, 4709 Joel Foy, and Black Krowe are among my favorites. I just swapped a 10k Don Mare 0038 out for a 7.8k Black Krowe and I guess the BK is just one of my all-time favorite Tele pickups. It has a lot of bite and buzz, feels like it needs a slide. Paired with a Mojo Kleenex which is also beautiful.

 

[skydog6653]

Different pickups will sound different in different guitars (whew!), but I can’t imagine anything better than my Don Mare Hayrides in my Tele.

 

[Dan German]

We are spoiled for choice, and I’m not sure how wrong you’d have to go to get really low quality pickups (Temu or Wish maybe?). That said, with so many options out there, I would only buy from someone I can actually consult. I have Keystones (Bill Lawrence) and Bootstraps, and wouldn’t replace either. There are other makers who would also fit my personal consultation requirement, but I haven’t (yet) sampled their wares: Cavalier, Vineham, etc.

 

[Cableaddict]

So many great ones...

My new partscaster came with the Q-Pickups "David Gilmour" set, and I love them.

They're based on Gilmour's '55 Esquire, which had a strat neck pup installed by Seymour Duncan. (When he worked for Fender.) The Q neck pup is Tele-sized, so no routing needed. It's hands-down the fullest, richest,most intoxicating Tele neck pup I've ever heard or played.

The bridge (6.8K) is great, too, but no better or worse than other top brands. It's on the "bright and twangy" side, which I prefer.

The kicker is that the set only costs about $160, delivered from Europe.