Fat Tele - Replacement Pickups

[Atomheart]

Sorry, to those of you who are sick of them, for posting yet another "which pickup" post. I have a MIM "fat" telecaster. I love the versatility of being able to get both single coil "sparkle" and humbucking "grunt" out of one guitar and it is probably my favourite gig-guitar for this reason, but...

I'm thinking about replacing the pickups because:

(a) the bridge is very noisy - I'm having the usual problems with computers and single coils not making particularly good companions in the studio and it picks up all sorts of unwanted hum and even the odd radio station in certain venues when playing out; and

(b) the humbucker is very indistinct and muddy - it really doesn't stand up against either my SG Standard or my Les Paul Custom (which are, of course, very different guitars from each other - let alone from the tele - and I don't expect the tele to sound just like either one of them, but the same ball-park would be good).

Finally getting to the point of the post, I was thinking of getting a Kinman AVn-60b for the promised: "thick, focused, rich and heavy tonal texture, trebles that are "sweet as" and outstanding mid definition" for the bridge. I've heard lots of good things about Kinmans generally and I have tried a Stratocaster with two AVn-'56s and one AVn-'62 with which I was very impressed.

I just can't decide what to go for in the neck position. Anyone got any particular thoughts on what might balance well with the Kinman (or maybe suggest a different single coil that goes particularly well with a favourite humbucker)? Is the answer, on the basis that I like the stock Gibson pickups (Classic '57 in the LP and 490R in the SG), to get a Gibson humbucker?

I know that I will probably have to play with the height settings to try to even things out, but I don't want two pickups that are so unmatched that I can't switch between them, while playing, without fiddling with the volume or the amp. A good thing about the current pickups is that they have a similar output.

Any advice gratefully received.

[Old Tele man]

I have a '71 CBS/Fender/Seth Lover humbucker installed in neck on my '68 Tele and it's actually better than either a mini-HB or a full-sized HB...slightly clearer and cleaner. BUt, finding one these days isn't easy...athough Warmoth is selling the FMIC reissue version I see...

[Atomheart]

Originally posted by Old Tele man
I have a '71 CBS/Fender/Seth Lover humbucker installed in neck on my '68 Tele and it's actually better than either a mini-HB or a full-sized HB...slightly clearer and cleaner. BUt, finding one these days isn't easy...athough Warmoth is selling the FMIC reissue version I see...

Old Tele man, thanks very much for this. This throws up another possibility that I hadn't even considered. I'll go out and try to find a guitar with either the Lover original or the Warmoth copy to have a listen to one. It will have to be down on Denmark Street, so I'm not sure how much success I'll have in this - you probably have slightly more access to classic American guitars in Arizona than we do in London.

Excuse my ignorance, but what is FMIC?

[Old Tele man]

1946-1965: in the begining there was the "real" Leo Fender and Fender Electric Instruments (FEI)...

1965-1985: then came CBS/Fender and Fender Musical Instruments (FMI)...

1985-to present: then came the "buyout" and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC)...the current incarnation...

[Atomheart]

Originally posted by Old Tele man
1946-1965: in the begining there was the "real" Leo Fender and Fender Electric Instruments (FEI)...

1965-1985: then came CBS/Fender and Fender Musical Instruments (FMI)...

1985-to present: then came the "buyout" and Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC)...the current incarnation...

Gotcha! I'm probably still ignorant but much better informed. I knew a little of the history, but certainly not the dates and I have never heard, let alone understood, any of those abbreviations. Thanks.

[Tele-Bob]

A Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucker or '59 would both be excellent choices to go along with the Kinman bridge p'up. You will still have to shield the guitar even with humbuckers if you want it to be really quiet. You also need to try and stick with a low output humbucker if you want the guitar to sound balanced in all switch positions. Matchijng the two p'ups is almost more important than what they are individually.

[Atomheart]

Originally posted by Tele-Bob
A Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbucker or '59 would both be excellent choices to go along with the Kinman bridge p'up. You will still have to shield the guitar even with humbuckers if you want it to be really quiet. You also need to try and stick with a low output humbucker if you want the guitar to sound balanced in all switch positions. Matchijng the two p'ups is almost more important than what they are individually.

Tele-Bob, thanks for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it. Your response raises another question though. I have had a look at the Seymour Duncan website and, again putting my lack of knowledge on display, I can't see anything that is referred to specifically by the name "Antiquity". Does it go by another name?

The models listed as "Vintage" - presumably signifying lower output(?), which you advise would make a better match for a single coil - are:

(a) the SH-1 '59™ Model Humbucker (the '59 to which you refer);
(b) the Alnico II Pro™ Humbucker;
(c) the SHPG-1 Pearly Gates™ Humbucker;
(d) the SH-55 Seth Lover Model™ Humbucker; and
(e) the Classic Cover™ Humbuckers.

None of the "Progressive" or "Cutting Edge" humbuckers listed seem to make any mention of "Antiquity" either. Am I looking in the wrong place?

I've noticed that the "Antiquity" is mentioned quite a bit on the Les Paul Forum, where it seems to garner a lot of praise. I'm a pretty cautious kind of guy and I really like to try before I buy. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage this with these SD pickups, but it will be a good excuse to spend next weekend trawling guitar shops - so thanks for that! Are either the Antiquity or the '59 fitted as standard on any particular make/model of guitar?

Something else has occurred to me. The Kinman website has a piece on "how to stop losing treble/presence when the volume is turned down". The site suggests wiring a .0012uF (1.2nF) 63 volt polyester capacitor in series with a 130K Ohm resistor (1/4 watt) across the two hot terminals of the volume pot. Clearly, on my Telecaster, the single coil and the humbucker will, ideally, be sharing a volume pot if I want to leave the tone control operational. Will this modification have an undesirable effect on the operation of the humbucker?

[Old Tele man]

the "treble-bleed" VOL control RC-circuit will "brighten" an otherwise dark neck HB, as well as "shrill-up" an already "bright" bridge SC... Off course, if both pickups are already too muddy or dark, then it'll probably make things "right."

The nice thing is, it's an "easy-to-install" modification... and is just as "easy-to-remove" (just snip RC out with wire cutter) .