Tele pickups

[Bluesbreaker59]

For over the past year, I've been building and assembling my own Tele. I've always loved butterscotch blonde Teles, but the price was never feasible, so I decided to make my own. I got a 4.4 lb southern swamp ash body, nitro cellulose laquer from Guitar Reranch, a nice big, fat maple neck from a friend of mine, and have acquired the hardware from different sources over time. The hardest decision for me are what pickups to use. Right now I've got a Duncan Hot Stack, and a Rhythm stack waiting for it, but I'm not sure if that's what I'm looking for.

The tone I'm looking for may be a bit "redundant" to experienced Tele players, BUT none the less, I want a pickup to give Roy Buchanan like tones. I'll be playing through my modded JTM45 Marshall amp, which I know isn't "Buchanan correct", but hey I can't afford a Blackface Vibrolux right now, so the Marshall will have to do. So what are everyone's thoughts? I'm very new to the Tele scene so please be gentle.

[Jim Collins]

Of all the Tele pickups I've tried, the ones that got me closest to the Buch tone were the Duncan Antiquities.

It does take a little time to try to capture that Buch tone, regardless of the pickups and amp you use. Someone who is new to the Telecaster might have to develop an appreciation for the tone control on the guitar. Players who are used to other guitars frequently don't use their tone controls. (I find this to be true particularly of Strat players.) With a Telecaster, you are going to have to learn to use that tone control.

Buchanan, at least back in the Polydor years, when he was playing through a Vibrolux Reverb, used to dime all the controls, except for reverb. Then, he'd control everything through the volume and tone controls of his guitar. (I played at a club, one night, through a friend's BF Vibrolux Reverb that was set up this way. I was playing my Tele, getting exceptional Buch tones. My tone control was rolled off halfway.)

I typically set my amps up to be louder and brighter than I'll need, and I do it all with my guitar's controls. This allows me to get some great tones out of both pickups, but I do have to work the tone control while I'm switching pickups. Part of the charm of playing a Telecaster.