Fat Tele Pickup Suggestions for Bridge

[cycler]

i have a 1999 us fat tele, rosewood frtbrd, alder body, has the dh-1 humbucker in the neck and a rio grande tallboy in the bridge...which was just recently installed for me...anyway, the tallboy is not what i was hoping for...i am looking for a bridge p/u that is less noisy, less twangy, a little warmer/cleaner and would match up well with the dh-1 in both modes, humbucker & single coil...yeah, i know i am asking for a lot, but, hey you gotta try...anyway, i play mostly blues, classic rock with this guitar, so any ideas/suggestions would be appreciated...thanks in advance, cycler

[SteveB334]

A little JB mght fit the bill ita humbucking tele bridge pup its very strong. It might match the output of the HB. I just ordered my fat tele can't wait. good luck

[Dale]

My fat tele arrived today. The neck pup is pretty hot. A good bridge match for it might be one of the following:

A little 59 in the bridge.
A Little JB for the Bridge.

Both do classic rock and blues well, both are 4 conductor.

Another alternative is a Z-90 type replacement fo the bridge (I don't know the model for a tele) )www.harmonicdesign.net).

Dale

[Taller]

A number of us that had been hanging at that 'other' forum bought Fat Teles and pitched the stock bridge pickup for a Fender Nocaster Clean.
My Fat is a 2001 white blonde with a rosewood board and tortoise pickguard. I find the Nocaster matches up well with the DH-1 [I love this p'up!]. It retains the vintage Tele thang [as one would expect] and has more character than the bridge p'up that was stock.

[Phil Jacoby]

You might jsut live with a little mismatch.

I put a Duncan '59 in the neck slot of my beloved MIJ 1993 '50s Classic and hunted for bridge PUs and settled on Duncan's Nashville 5/2. There is a mismatch, but yet they blend well. I go from jazz sophitcate and blues raunch in the neck to killer mid rhythm/leady stuff to redneck rootsabilly in the bridge.

The output is different, yet works. I adjust with my picking attack for the situation. The neck PU barrels thru with serious mid and lows, yet the bridge PU cuts with upper mid twang and cast iron bass. Same thing on the rotgut mid '70s Tele Custom I rescued from the pawnshop. On that beast, the neck PU was swapped by the chump beore me and bridge is stock, but it still works. Cuts like a ginzu knife, ifn yer pickin attack is wantin it to! The axe for all situations! I've been packing Teles modded this way on weddings, club/bar dates and even the coveted lowbuck/offnite jazzathons.

But to be fair, I must admit that my other two Teles sport minihumbuckers in the neck slot as I feel the overall match is better, one a heavily modded MIJ '62 RI and the other my own handmade setneck mahog/maple top thinline tiltback reverse stock funstick. I still go for the one with the full size hummer for the truer jazzy depths...

I guess the most important thing I can offer here (if I can offer anything..!), is that if you get away too far from a sort of trad Tele bridge sound, it isn't much of a Tele anymore IMO (YMMV no offense intended), and you limit the stealth versatility and ultimately the sensative-in-the-artist's-hands-yet-barely-in-control nature of the Tele. Hummers and SCs cut on different frequencies and I choose the lighter/vintage flavored PUs to help the mathc and retain that Tele mojo. I guess that makes me a bastard true believer, but I never carec for the stock flavor neck PU anyway (although Kinman and Barden have a good take IMO).

Good luck and let me know what works for you.

[cycler]

first off, thanks to everyone who offered suggestions...well, since i had been noticing a severe volume drop when i combined the two pickups, i called the tech who installed the tallboy and he was real cool about it, said,"the five way switch fender uses was a little confusing to him, bring the guitar back, it's a five minute fix to change to wires' positions, sounds like it is out of phase"...well, he was right...there still remains some volume drop when i combine the two pickups, but, no unpleasant change in tone, per se...so, for the time being, i am gonna stick with the tallboy, but, i have written down the suggestions made, and in the future, if i decide to tinker some more, truthfully, i am leaning toward the nocaster clean p/u...thanks again, cycler

[Troy T. Blues]

I'm not sure if this pickup would work great with a humbucker, but. I have installed a Seymour Duncan Nashville Studio Lead pup in my Tele and let me say, this is one of the best bridge pups I've EVER heard. It is a REAL winner!

[Teleologist]

I have a Duncan Vintage Stack bridge & a Duncan '59 SH-1 neck in one Tele and surprisingly they get along real well PLUS the thing is quiet. The Stack looses some highs, put since the SH-1 is darker anyway, I changed the pots to a pair of CTS 250s that actually measure 280K and went with a .03uF tone cap instead of the stock .05. With this setup, the Stack by itself sounds a lot like a Texas Tele bridge PUP, the dual-PUP tone is Keith Richards heaven, and the '59 by itself is like a Tele on steroids!