The aural beauty of the Telecaster neck pickup

RandallFlagg

Lovely:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Purdy!

I liked that chord he played at the very end too. No idea what it was, but sounds good!

RandallFlagg

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Purdy!

I liked that chord he played at the very end too. No idea what it was is, but sounds good!

Yeah, really nice tune, i'm going to learn it.

ICBM

Admittedly there are bad ones with cheap covers which dull the tone, but I've never understood why they're so unpopular in general... a good one sounds at least as nice as a Strat neck pickup, to me.

bermudianbrit

very evocative of Slow Dancing in a Burning Room.

TTBZ

I'm a big fan of the Tele neck pickup tone, maybe more so than a strat as I don't find it as generic/cliche a sound.

munckee

I recently acquired a tele with bare knuckle country boys in, with the intention of putting a humbucker in the neck but I love the neck pickup, gives me all the frusciante type tones I had a strat for.

Lestratcaster

Was a hard one for me to get right but an Oil City Liquidator has done the trick.

Whitecat

I’ve had more Teles where I didn’t like it then Teles where I have. But when it was good, it was great. Possibly could have spent more time playing with the heights or the pots or whatever on the ones that weren’t that amazing but since the perceived wisdom is that it isn’t that great anyway then I think I just never bothered. 

thatguyoverthere

Julian Lage seems to consistently get a great sound out of his. I find it a compelling argument to buy a Tele now...

https://youtu.be/rhUMUeyrlNY

Brad

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Purdy!

I liked that chord he played at the very end too. No idea what it was, but sounds good!

That’ll be an Emaj9 0-2-4-1-4-0. Lovely indeed!

koneguitarist

The problem I find with Tele neck pickups is getting a nice balance with Bridge pickup bite without it being to brittle and then taming the bridge so neck pickup is too dull. 

Went through loads of pickup configurations on a Tele, but since I used the early 50s wiring with neck blend instead of tone control I’ve never been happier. 

It probably helps that I bought the House of Tone neck pickup with the top cut on cover. Real clarity at last for me. 

Sassafras

Don't know why everyone's so surprised.
They're brilliant guitars, full stop.

idiotwindow

He's an excellent player but I can't stand all the neck wiggling.

DiscoStu

That chord! Sweet.

ICBM

koneguitarist said:

The problem I find with Tele neck pickups is getting a nice balance with Bridge pickup bite without it being to brittle and then taming the bridge so neck pickup is too dull.

That's exactly why I like Teles, probably best of any of the classic guitars - the pickups are so different. I do sometimes find the bridge too thin, and it's certainly true that a bad neck can be too dull, but when they're right it's brilliant - the bridge being louder and more middy as well as brighter makes it almost like having an overdrive pedal in the guitar.

With pretty much all the other classic guitars I need to fit a hotter bridge pickup to get the same effect.

brooom

Also the middle position on a tele is usually awesome all around (rhythm or lead)... love this tone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gd3skYmav0w

koneguitarist

ICBM said:

koneguitarist said:

The problem I find with Tele neck pickups is getting a nice balance with Bridge pickup bite without it being to brittle and then taming the bridge so neck pickup is too dull.

That's exactly why I like Teles, probably best of any of the classic guitars - the pickups are so different. I do sometimes find the bridge too thin, and it's certainly true that a bad neck can be too dull, but when they're right it's brilliant - the bridge being louder and more middy as well as brighter makes it almost like having an overdrive pedal in the guitar.

With pretty much all the other classic guitars I need to fit a hotter bridge pickup to get the same effect.

When it’s right, it really right! 

Roland

It’s why I use Wapping Wharf bridge pickup. It’s tapped, so two sounds in one.

mgaw

i stuck a firebird in the neck, job done for me

roberty

I used mostly neck pickup when I played teles for ten years. They don't flub out under distortion