Which set of pickups should I go for?

I like the Duncan Donahue in the bridge and the twang king neck. I recommend that to everyone

 

"Should" or "Will"? You should go for Lindy Fralin Tele, hybrid stagger.

 

I'm a huge fan of GFS PUs. I have a set of the Hot Lead overwound PUs that I like a bunch. I've swapped some other PUs into that Tele, but I think I'm going back to the GFS.

That said, I have another Tele with the Jimmy Page PUs in it, and I love them. They do cost more than 5x as much as the GFS pickups, though.

 

I've got a Black Mule set from Fatpups in my cart right now. Getting ready to pull the trigger as soon as I see some Paypal funds show up from something I sold online.

Why Black Mules? Just because I like the name. And I like supporting the smaller makers vs the Duncans, Fenders, and Dimarzios of the world.

 

Has your guitar got cloth wire pickups, or plastic wire plastic bobbin pickups?

If it's got yellow/black and white black cloth-covered wire with forbon (paper) formers and flat pole bridge you have Original Vintage Telecaster pickups which are already amongst the most versatile. Fit a four-way switch. Jobs good.

 

I'm interested to hear what they sound like

 

Get the Porter 9Ts. I have them in with a Emerson 4 way switch and holy hell they sound incredible!!! They can do all of it and then some.

 

What you said you are looking for is exactly why I got the Porter 9Ts. I was looking for the same thing.

 

Good all around passive, I like the Duncan 5-2 set.

 

Good to hear about GFS...they don't get the respect they deserve...I have had very good luck with their PU's...The lipstick Tele bridge PU is one of my favorites....the gold foil tele set has pretty nice tone also

 

I haven't tried either of those yet, but now I'm thinking I need to!

 

Anything in particular you don't like about the stock pickups? That might help focus the recommendations coming at you. The list you mention covers a pretty broad range - aren't Twang Kings low wound and Quarter Pounders very overwound?

It's been too long since I played a Highway One from around then, but I read that 2007 and on they are the "Hot Single Coils" which are A3 magnets and overwound to something like 11k-12k.

 

Twang Kings are great. I have them in my 1977 Tele. I also like the Donahue Bridge pickup. I have it in a home built Esquire.

 

I have two sets of Fatpups blackguard pickups, they are probably my favorite. I have a set of DiMarzio Twang Kings that I really like. My next pickup is going to be a big T neck pickup.

 

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Start by adding a 4-way switch to your Tele. Once you have a stealth humbucker Les Paul ... you maybe are not so curious about other pickups.

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I have the Duncan 5-2s in my parts caster with the four way switch.Has a sweet HB tone in the series position.

 

Bootstrap pickups, imho, cheaper and a huge upgrade from gfs. These guy rock! Made in USA too.

 

^^^This. Bootstrap comes up constantly on this forum, and for reason proportionate. The pickups are incredible, and the price makes them dangerous. I've only tried one set, the vintage clean humbuckers in my SG. I hope to try the AlNiCo III tele pickups soon (Original Recipe?).