Who’s a fan of Strat neck pickups on a Tele?

[vgayle]

I made the mod by cutting out the smaller chrome tele pup template on a standard tele pickguard to accommodate the bigger Strat pup and laid a neat looking ring on top to cover the inconsistent xacto razor cuts. The strat neck pickup is an alnico that reads about 7k ohms/dc resistance coupled with a 10k alnico bridge. Been playing it for about half a day now and come to 2 thoughts #1 a strat pup in the neck of a tele sounds like a strat with a single coil pup in the neck and that’s redundant but a good choice if you prefer that legendary big full tone. #2 the middle switch position with both pups active do sound different (full, thicker and less high end) and definitely not traditional which may depend on the bridge pup specs. It’s really no different than a full size or mini humbucker in the neck seen over the years by famous players. The mod was definitely a success and very usable. I have other teles that will stay stock and traditional, this setup is just another option I have in my collection: a humbucker, mini bucker and now a standard single coil. I actually have 2 teles with 4 wire humbuckers in the neck on push/pull pots for various opinions such as series to parallel and the HOOP wiring (tried splitting coils but not a fan of ANY split coil hummer). These 2 humbucker neck teles give more tone options in the neck/bridge combo positions. I’m sure my efforts have all been done before just looking for thoughts, suggestions and even criticisms…lol. Burn away!

 

[dlew919]

Looks great. How’s it sound? Is there a marked difference from a Tele neck pickup?

 

[ahiddentableau]

I'm mostly a fan of that mod, the strat neck pickup is one of life's great pleasures. But I think you lose some of the magic of the trad tele middle position when you go that route. The dark tele neck pickup is part of the magic there, I guess.

 

[Bob M]

I think Kenny Vaughn plays a Tele with a Strat neck pickup. I have considered it for sure. I’d have to try it out first.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

Played a Tele with a Strat neck pickup and humbucker for years back in the '80/90s.
Surprise, surprise... it sounded like a Strat on the neck pickup and a Gibson on the bridge pickup... mission accomplished.

 

[OldTelePlayer]

I think that's an interesting mod... sort of a non-traditional Tele sound but still the same familiar feel of playing a Tele. I like it.

 

[Trenchant63]

Of course having a Strat neck pickup sized rout in my Tele would open up like 1000 tonal choices. I never got why Leo made them different sizes.

 

[jackal]

Took a while, but now all my teles have strat pickups in the neck position. Plenty of replacement pickguards out there custom and pre-made to handle the change. Sometimes a little dremel work on the body is necessary, but hidden by the guard. Love the sound!

 

[Mxrk]

#2 the middle switch position with both pups active do sound different (full, thicker and less high end) and definitely not traditional which may depend on the bridge pup specs.

I've been thinking about doing this, and I even bought a tele pickguard with a Strat-sized pickup hole. The only thing holding me back was the suspicion that it wouldn't make a huge difference and I'm generally happy with tele neck pickups, as is. But what you're saying about the middle position has me interested again.

 

[AquariumRock]

I'm mostly a fan of that mod, the strat neck pickup is one of life's great pleasures. But I think you lose some of the magic of the trad tele middle position when you go that route. The dark tele neck pickup is part of the magic there, I guess.

This exact thought process is what keeps me with my 4 way switches.

I want that neck humbucker sound, but the 4 way series mod gets you like, kinda close. And then I don’t lose the middle position magic. I’m nervous about putting in the bucker and losing it.

 

[Sax-son]

I have a Telecaster with a Lindy Frailin vintage hot Strat neck pickup and a Frailin vintage Telecaster bridge pickup. I love that combination.

 

[CB_2005]

I have a Bootstrap in mine and I like it much better. Some of the jazz tone is lost with it IMHO.

 

[Ivorytooth]

I'm a fan. Fender even made them that way.

 

[Jazzy-Will]

I’m not. A Tele neck should dark and woody. Although a Strat neck pickup is great on a Strat.

 

[badinfinities]

I've always wanted to try it out. The catalyst for me is the Clarence White/Marty Stuart Tele.

 

[vgayle]

Looks great. How’s it sound? Is there a marked difference from a Tele neck pickup?

There is a noticeable difference and I’ll try to keep it simple. Most importantly the 3 classic distinct tones are still there: the bridge is still a bridge, the bridge and neck still have the “bloom” quality and the Seymour Duncan neck is full and

Looks great. How’s it sound? Is there a marked difference from a Tele neck pickup?

It sounds great, typically like a sc in the neck without getting into details about a particular model which would probably be a subject for another post. Sounds full and articulate. My concern was the unison of the neck and bridge position together which sounds very satisfying, fuller and bigger than the standard chrome Tele pup and retains the classic “bloom” quality. I may try other pups in the neck as I installed a quick disconnect terminal for the wires before permanently soldering something.

 

[1stpitch]

I love mine. It's a Fender Tex-Mex Strat neck p/u, with a Little 59 in the bridge, and the 4-way parallel/series switch mod.

 

[vgayle]

This exact thought process is what keeps me with my 4 way switches.

I want that neck humbucker sound, but the 4 way series mod gets you like, kinda close. And then I don’t lose the middle position magic. I’m nervous about putting in the bucker and losing it.

I’ve tried the hb in the neck and it’s a big difference. You lose the traditional but gain the positives of an hb neck but it’s gotta balance with the bridge output so as not to overpower and a lot of the bloom sound is lost when played in unison with the bridge (middle switch position 2). I went for a much less bassy hb like the DiMarzio super2 or the Humbucker from Hell, they read about 5/7 dc resistance (very close to the bridge and didn’t overpower) and both are really high on the treble and low on the bass in reguard to inherent pickup eq. I also installed a push/pull pot for series and parallel wiring on the neck hb, the parallel sound lowered the output, brought up more treble and balanced even better in combo with the bridge pickup.

 

[vgayle]

Of course having a Strat neck pickup sized rout in my Tele would open up like 1000 tonal choices. I never got why Leo made them different sizes.

I think it was a good choice, gave the player another sound option and distinguished it from the bigger single coil in the Strat (kind of marketing strategy maybe). Smaller in size and output but pickups in the neck seem to easily overpower a middle and bridge.

 

[Trenchant63]

You make a good point - they must have wanted to ensure the Tele rhythm pickup voice. Currently I’m running a Dimarzio Area T neck in mine and it is a gorgeous sound - noiseless as well. But about .40% of the bridge Chopper pickup. Reassessing if I want to keep that in there actually.