Yet another neck pickup question. Twisted Tele neck but with more oomph?

[Chuck Stoat]

Apologies in advance as I know there are a million posts related to neck pickups but not really seeing enough of an answer to my question.

I have a 2016 American Standard - so the Twisted Tele set. I generally like the tone coming from the neck pickup in the middle and neck positions, but just feel it falls flat somehow, especially in comparison to the bridge pickup which is like getting hit in the face with a Louisville Slugger.

As the Twisted Tele neck is already supposed to be moving towards a little more strat like oomph, am I likely to get enough more of a kick by going to say something like a Lollar Royal T/some other coverless design or would it just be a little more of the same?

Also open to the idea of putting in a P-90 (actually don't have any P-90 equipped guitars so maybe looking for a reason to try one out) or maybe even a mini hum, but don't know if that would take me in a much different direction tonally as again I like the overall tone just want (a lot) more of it.

Any thoughts on good specific pickups to look into in any of these categories are very welcome!

 

[Wayne Alexander]

By oomph do you mean a pickup with more volume while remaining relatively bright/clean, or a pickup with more midrange and breakup?

If the former, I'd suggest a Joe Barden neck pickup or a Kinman Broadcaster neck pickup (AVN-48N) . If the latter, I'd suggest a Kinman Neck Blaster pickup.

There are lots of other valid choices.

 

[sudogeek]

1. Fender Hot 50s strat pickup in the neck position
2. Drop the tone cap down a step.

 

[Chuck Stoat]

By oomph do you mean a pickup with more volume while remaining relatively bright/clean, or a pickup with more midrange and breakup?

If the former, I'd suggest a Joe Barden neck pickup or a Kinman Broadcaster neck pickup (AVN-48N) . If the latter, I'd suggest a Kinman Neck Blaster pickup.

There are lots of other valid choices.

More the former for sure. I appreciate the tips!

 

[kiwi blue]

A p90 would sound bigger, thicker and a nicely raw with overdrive. My main Tele is set up with a Lollar p90 in the neck. For my style (old school blues) it's great, but you run into issues getting it to match up with a Tele bridge pickup, and of course you have to adapt or replace the pickguard and often have to route the body depending on what's under the hood.

Usually you need the p90 to be a little underwound for p90s, and I was never happy with how mine sounded with 250k pots. I much preferred it with 500k, but then the bridge pickup gets a bit ice-picky. On the other hand some people are quite happy using 250k pots with a p90.

My solution on that guitar was to use stacked concentric pots so the bridge pickup "sees" 250k and the neck "sees" 500k. On other guitars I've used 500k pots and added a resistor to the bridge pickup so it sees 250k when selected.

There also t90 type pickups, built like a p90 with bar magnets and adjustable steel poles but in a Tele format, so it's a drop in replacement. I'm thinking about trying one on a recently purchased CV 50s Squier. I wouldn't expect it to exactly nail a p90 sound but something of that flavour would be cool. I'm just not sure how they would work with 250k pots. I've found that I like 250k with rod magnet pickups (even rod magnet p90s) but 500k with bar magnet pickups. The size of the coil doesn't seem to matter as much.

 

[kiwi blue]

Also open to the idea of putting in a P-90 (actually don't have any P-90 equipped guitars so maybe looking for a reason to try one out) or maybe even a mini hum, but don't know if that would take me in a much different direction tonally as again I like the overall tone just want (a lot) more of it.

A p90 would definitely change the tone. A lot more mids, thick like a humbucker but more dynamics and rawness. I'd suggest trying a few P90 guitars in your local music shop to get a feel for them before going down that route.

It sounds like you'd be happier with a higher output fender style pickup. These days there are plenty of Tele pickups (such as your Twisted Tele) that aim for more of a Strat tone, and you can also use a real Strat pickup with minor pickguard modification.

 

[Chuck Stoat]

A p90 would definitely change the tone. A lot more mids, thick like a humbucker but more dynamics and rawness. I'd suggest trying a few P90 guitars in your local music shop to get a feel for them before going down that route.

It sounds like you'd be happier with a higher output fender style pickup. These days there are plenty of Tele pickups (such as your Twisted Tele) that aim for more of a Strat tone, and you can also use a real Strat pickup with minor pickguard modification.

Yeah I think in this case that is probably more the direction I want to go in. Maybe save the P-90 thing for a whole other guitar. Though man I really appreciate all the insight from you on that!

I'd like to avoid the full on strat pickup/cutting the pickguard thing - at least in part for aesthetic reasons! So I guess this all hones in on the more specific question of whether there are other strat like pickups are going to give me that much more than the pickup I already have which is designed in that direction anyway.

 

[sudogeek]

You can get tele pickguards made for strat neck pickups cheap. You may need to widen the rout underneath depending on your Tele. I didn’t like the Twisted Tele - tries to be a strat but not very good at it.

Another thought for more oomph and clean tone while still staying in the Fender ballpark is a G&L ASAT Classic MFD pickup. Drop-in replacement on a Tele and a very nice choice.

 

[fender4life]

Dimarzio twang king is exactly that. A5, 42 AWG, but wound to about 6.2k instead of the twisted at i believe 5.6k. I have a bootstrap pretzel which is a twisted clone and a twang king. I love both, but the TK definitely has that little extra fatness for solos and still cleans up like the pretzel with a bit more body. You could also save some $ by having bootstrap custom wind you a 6.2k pretzel for $10 extra and it will cost about 1/2 of the twang king.

 

[Timbresmith1]

Apologies in advance as I know there are a million posts related to neck pickups but not really seeing enough of an answer to my question.

I have a 2016 American Standard - so the Twisted Tele set. I generally like the tone coming from the neck pickup in the middle and neck positions, but just feel it falls flat somehow, especially in comparison to the bridge pickup which is like getting hit in the face with a Louisville Slugger.

As the Twisted Tele neck is already supposed to be moving towards a little more strat like oomph, am I likely to get enough more of a kick by going to say something like a Lollar Royal T/some other coverless design or would it just be a little more of the same?

Also open to the idea of putting in a P-90 (actually don't have any P-90 equipped guitars so maybe looking for a reason to try one out) or maybe even a mini hum, but don't know if that would take me in a much different direction tonally as again I like the overall tone just want (a lot) more of it.

Any thoughts on good specific pickups to look into in any of these categories are very welcome!

What does Oomph mean to you?
More output?
Hotter clean/ more defined?
Warmer/ more grind?
The Barden Tele neck is one of the few I found that could keep up with any Tele bridge pickup while retaining focus and note definition.

 

[archetype]

Apologies in advance as I know there are a million posts related to neck pickups but not really seeing enough of an answer to my question.

I have a 2016 American Standard - so the Twisted Tele set. I generally like the tone coming from the neck pickup in the middle and neck positions, but just feel it falls flat somehow, especially in comparison to the bridge pickup which is like getting hit in the face with a Louisville Slugger.

As the Twisted Tele neck is already supposed to be moving towards a little more strat like oomph, am I likely to get enough more of a kick by going to say something like a Lollar Royal T/some other coverless design or would it just be a little more of the same?

Also open to the idea of putting in a P-90 (actually don't have any P-90 equipped guitars so maybe looking for a reason to try one out) or maybe even a mini hum, but don't know if that would take me in a much different direction tonally as again I like the overall tone just want (a lot) more of it.

Any thoughts on good specific pickups to look into in any of these categories are very welcome!

What do you want to hear? What tone do you truly want from the neck pickup? A TT neck pickup with more oomph or kick won't sound like a TT neck pickup.

Consider just putting an LPB-1 or other clean boost pedal in your chain.

 

[thegaijin]

I have tried several, but kept the TT. I also kept a SD mini-humbucker which has oomph for days. I have a set of JBE’s but have a love/hate thing with those and they are in a box right now.
All that said however, I have no doubt that Rob from Cavalier Pickups is your best bet for ending up with what you want.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I agree with others who've said the most logical next step in that direction is an actual Strat pickup. Something strong yet bright, maybe a 60s-voiced bridge model?

 

[Cali Dude]

I had a similar issue with my old '90 Tele. I put a set of Texas Tele special pickups in it, and was very satisfied.

 

[Bruxist]

Cavalier Wolf (or She-Wolf)