Thoughts on cheap Tele pickups

Zonular

So I've a mim Tele with piledriver pups from 2004 any recommendations on a cheap vintage / classic Tele pups set? 

The middle position on the piledrivers don't sound much different from the neck and I've got 500k pots in there too.

Really really gassing for a strat to get the low output fix but the Covid work situation is putting that on the back burner

munckee

Have a look at Axes R Us their pickups are good sounding and cheap.

545454

For a cheapy bridge pickup, the Wilkinson broadcaster (WVOB) is excellent.

I've had the Tonerider Vintage Plus in the past which were great for a lower output option (although I found the bridge one a wee bit too bright).

rico

Are they what Tele's give birth to?

Teyeplayer

Don’t know how the mim teles are routed, but if there’s a middle pickup space, go Nashville and get a bit of the strat vibe at the same time. I’d second Wilkinson’s for cheap and still perfectly useable. Also check out @Alegree, he has just launched a cheaper line that’d definitely be worth a look.

springhead

Irongear are good but cheap.  I've got one of their Steel Foundry Tele bridge pickups.

munckee

Teyeplayer said:

Don’t know how the mim teles are routed, but if there’s a middle pickup space, go Nashville and get a bit of the strat vibe at the same time. I’d second Wilkinson’s for cheap and still perfectly useable. Also check out @Alegree, he has just launched a cheaper line that’d definitely be worth a look.

Just had a look, £33 quid for an alnico vintage tele set, would buy those.  If the wiring is cheap on the old MIM I'd get a pre wired harness as well.

Zonular

Teyeplayer said:

Don’t know how the mim teles are routed, but if there’s a middle pickup space, go Nashville and get a bit of the strat vibe at the same time. I’d second Wilkinson’s for cheap and still perfectly useable. Also check out @Alegree, he has just launched a cheaper line that’d definitely be worth a look.

Ooohh yeah Nashville is the way to go alright, have to take this yoke apart now.

In the meantime I've messed about with pup heights and it's made a difference but I like the idea of getting the 2/4 positions 

Funkfingers

For several years, the MIM Standard Telecaster has been routed with an oversized rectangular pickup cavity in the neck/Rhythm position. This will accept any humbucker, P90 or Filter’Tron clone without modification. A Firebird pickup would have to be suspended through the pickguard. There is no wood into which its surround could be screwed.

Teyeplayer said:

… if there’s a middle pickup space, go Nashville and get a bit of the strat vibe at the same time.

A bit of the Strat vibe is all that you are likely to get. Certainly, no more than the Dan Armstrong / Jerry Donahue half-out-of-phase trick.

Zonular said:

The middle position on the Piledrivers don't sound much different from the neck and I've got 500k pots in there too.

The BKP audio demonstration bears this
out. 

The obvious solution would be to trade the Piledriver pair for another BKP pair of equivalent value. 

One way to some Stratty tones would be one of the taller than standard neck position T pickups. Fender calls theirs the Twisted Tele. Oil City has The Californian. Alegree, Creamery and Mojo offer similar designs but I do not know the names they give their models.

Teyeplayer

Having gigged a Nashville tele for years, the 2, 3, 4 positions were as much of a strat that I needed, but there again, that’s where you’ll find me when I pick up my strat. It’s horses for courses, we’ve all got different tastes. 

Grampa

Toneriders? Played a mate's Mexi Tele fitted with the Vintage Plus set, sounded pretty bloody good to me.

John_P

I’ve just put mojo broadcaster in one of mine and it sounds fantastic - not the cheapest but I can imagine finding better.   

CasperCaster

Toneriders are pretty decent (I had them in a Squier CV Tele), but for my money I'd go for some IronGear pickups. If you want to retain some (switchable) power go for the Steel Twin bridge (it's a tapped single coil), with something with lower power in the neck, or maybe a Strat pickup in the neck. Personally, I find the Bill Lawrence/ Jerry Donahue half out of phase trick to be quite useful - there is no routing required, and for the cost of a 10nF cap and a DPDT switch it's got to be worth trying.

chris_john

I have a Tonerider Hot Classic in the bridge position. Love it. 

Zonular

The hot classics look great but by and large the ton riders look rare as hens teeth

althy

John_P said:

I’ve just put mojo broadcaster in one of mine and it sounds fantastic - not the cheapest but I can imagine finding better.   

Mojo is great for vintage fender sounds. 
If you are feeling adventurous and want to try something hotter the harmonic design stuff is outstanding. Especially for teles

poopot

Save up and get a set of these:

https://www.mojopickups.co.uk/product/59-telecaster/

I have them in all my teles (inc a ‘61, original pups long gone)... got through loads of tele pups over the years and these are by far the best sounding tele set out there... bar none!...

OilCityPickups

As a pickup winder ... someone who spends all my working days surrounded by wire and magnets, flatwork and bobbins ... for the love of god please don't call them 'pups' ... 'pups' are a contraction of puppies ... that is: baby dogs. Likewise I'm all for stringing up people who call Les Pauls 'Lesters' or BMWs 'Beamers' ... 

Zonular

How do you feel about the term doggos?

OilCityPickups

Zonular said:

How do you feel about the term doggos?

Lol ... easy to confuse with dogging ... which somewhat out of the spirit of social distancing :-)

Oh and the best 'for cheap' tele sets are Tonerider in my opinion as a pro pickup winder ...

poopot

OilCityPickups said:

As a pickup winder ... someone who spends all my working days surrounded by wire and magnets, flatwork and bobbins ... for the love of god please don't call them 'pups' ... 'pups' are a contraction of puppies ... that is: baby dogs. Likewise I'm all for stringing up people who call Les Pauls 'Lesters' or BMWs 'Beamers' ... 

I was just saying the same thing about pups to a mate the other day as I was loading my lester into the back of the beemer!...

and contrary to what I said above, get one of ash’s liquidator tele sets you won’t go wrong with those!... had the bridge in a snakehead I sold!!!!!