pickup for telecaster bridge with less 'harshness'? SORTED

Funkfingers

Needs a few stickers for a Joe Strummer vibe. Ash's Alligator 90 or Kayman 90 pickups might provide a hint of Mick Jones.

lovestrat74

markblack said:

@all thanks for all the replies... i shall hit Google.

It's only to go into a cheap and cheerful project I've just done turning an old piece of oak work top into this.
It's a bit rough round the edges... weighs a tonne... but I wanted to learn a bit more about building a guitar body.

Plays nice enough (to my surprise) and the pick up ain't bad - I've used @OilCityPickups in the past so that will be the way I go I think...

That looks killer! Good work  

markblack

@lovestrat74 cheers! 
@Funkfingers - I was thinking some stickers! or try and make a scratch plate... bit of tort action. I'll have a look at those pickups!

stickyfiddle

Wisdom abound in this thread already. I’ve had good results with the BKP Brown Sugar & Boss sets, though I admit I like a chunk more treble from the guitar than most (I have fat sounding fingers, apparently). 

More recently I’m a big fan of Lollar but in the U.K. I’d be giving Oil City a shout and doing whatever he says! 

OilCityPickups

I really like that ... I don't often like messing with the traditional Tele shape ... but that's nice. 

paulnb57

Creamery Tele size P90 is very good or just roll the tone off a bit...

Dave_Mc

Dominic said:

Those tone knob things are pretty handy too

Speaking of the tone knob, what value capacitor is in there? It's a subtle difference, but if it's currently got 22nF, changing to the more-vintage-accurate 47nF *might* make enough of a difference. It did on one of my guitars, at least.

markblack

@Dave_Mc - thanks - already have a 47nF in there.

gjonesy

Don’t dismiss tonerider
I have a number of their pickups and I’m not disappointed for the price

Dave_Mc

markblack said:

@Dave_Mc - thanks - already have a 47nF in there.

Ah no worries

jw_H-535

Lollars. I have some in my Nocaster, perfect warm neck and smooth bridge unless you get right over the bridge and then the ice pick tones are there if you need them. 

Pabcrane

My Tele pickup experience is pretty limited but I got a set of Bare Knuckle Flat 52s to replace the ones I had. It really made a massive improvement. However, they're pretty twangy so might not be what what you're after. I wouldn't describe the bridge one as harsh but maybe it is compared to the 49 Oil City one.

That guitar is a really cool shape and colour. If it's a bit too heavy and you want to practice some more guitar building skills have you thought about routing it out from the back for some chambers and putting on a thinish back-cap a la Rickenbacker? 

markblack

thanks again for the replies...

@Pabcrane - I did think about routing it out more... but it was just a bit of fun with a bit of scrap wood I had... I'm building another and this time from a lighter wood!

bluecat

I would imagine using the tone and gain controls on the amp would soften the harshness somewhat, you could give it a try then at least you will find which way you want to go.

markblack

so I went for an @OilCityPickups Wapping Wharf after a very helpful chat with Ash...



I think it finished off the build nicely but more importantly it sounds like what I was after and the fact that it's tapped for two different sounds is really nice to have on a simple set up like this.

I'm no pickup expert... in-fact I'm about as far from being one as you can be but this is my 3rd oil city pick up and all have been very pleasing on the ear.

ICBM

You’ll probably find the intonation is better if you swap the E/B and G/D saddles - the stagger is the opposite way round on them.

markblack

@ICBM cheers. I have a swap over. 

OilCityPickups

markblack said:

so I went for an @OilCityPickups Wapping Wharf after a very helpful chat with Ash...



I think it finished off the build nicely but more importantly it sounds like what I was after and the fact that it's tapped for two different sounds is really nice to have on a simple set up like this.

I'm no pickup expert... in-fact I'm about as far from being one as you can be but this is my 3rd oil city pick up and all have been very pleasing on the ear.

Looking good in there Mark :-) 

I often think that the Wapping Wharf pickup suffers from not having a sexy name ... but the story behind it means I won't be changing it. 
A customer of mine, a lovely chap Chris who built guitars to satisfy himself and sometimes sold them - asked me to design a custom pickup for him. He wanted a tapped Broadcaster pickup with real heart and tone ... and when I asked him what he wanted it called, he said Wapping Wharf after the studios he most enjoyed recording in 'back in the day'. 
To be honest Chris was one of those customers who would happily spend an hour plus on the phone discussing guitars, the world and everything. He was a lovely bloke, but whenever he called me I knew it was going to be a long one. 
He had many pickups from me and I think the last I made was a tapped Wapping Wharf neck pickup ... last because he (unbeknown to me) had been battling cancer for some while, and a mutual friend phoned me to say he'd passed away. 

Chris was a bit of a pain in the bum ... but a lovely gentleman in the best sense of the word - so his Wapping Wharf will stay called that ... and I may get around to making the neck version available at some point.

Offset

markblack said:

so I went for an @OilCityPickups Wapping Wharf after a very helpful chat with Ash...



I think it finished off the build nicely but more importantly it sounds like what I was after and the fact that it's tapped for two different sounds is really nice to have on a simple set up like this.

I'm no pickup expert... in-fact I'm about as far from being one as you can be but this is my 3rd oil city pick up and all have been very pleasing on the ear.

I think that looks the dog's cojones. And a small tort plate would be the icing on the cake.

Very nice work indeed.

impmann

OilCityPickups said:

markblack said:

so I went for an @OilCityPickups Wapping Wharf after a very helpful chat with Ash...



I think it finished off the build nicely but more importantly it sounds like what I was after and the fact that it's tapped for two different sounds is really nice to have on a simple set up like this.

I'm no pickup expert... in-fact I'm about as far from being one as you can be but this is my 3rd oil city pick up and all have been very pleasing on the ear.

Looking good in there Mark :-) 

I often think that the Wapping Wharf pickup suffers from not having a sexy name ... but the story behind it means I won't be changing it. 
A customer of mine, a lovely chap Chris who built guitars to satisfy himself and sometimes sold them - asked me to design a custom pickup for him. He wanted a tapped Broadcaster pickup with real heart and tone ... and when I asked him what he wanted it called, he said Wapping Wharf after the studios he most enjoyed recording in 'back in the day'. 
To be honest Chris was one of those customers who would happily spend an hour plus on the phone discussing guitars, the world and everything. He was a lovely bloke, but whenever he called me I knew it was going to be a long one. 
He had many pickups from me and I think the last I made was a tapped Wapping Wharf neck pickup ... last because he (unbeknown to me) had been battling cancer for some while, and a mutual friend phoned me to say he'd passed away. 

Chris was a bit of a pain in the bum ... but a lovely gentleman in the best sense of the word - so his Wapping Wharf will stay called that ... and I may get around to making the neck version available at some point.

I've often wondered the (great) backstory - thanks for sharing.