As many of you know, I have one or two Telecasters of varying type.
Not only that, but they also have a wide range of pickups in them, from original Squier to Suhr, Fender Custom Shop, Bare Knuckle etc.
Most sound great, but one or two are not the same. I have a Player Tele in Electron Green, alder body with maple fingerboard and neck, which is now on its fourth set of pickups.
The originals were ok, nothing special, and I decided to try a set of the Cobalt Chromes in it. These were ok, but felt a little sterile.
I replaced them the other day with an Oil City Fortyniner in the bridge and a Bare Knuckle True Grit in the neck, which also sounded ok but still a little sterile, so I've just put a set of Monty's Danish Pete pickups in.
I can't try them until my daughter wakes up but I fully expect them to sound ok, if a little sterile, at which point I might swap them for the Noiseless set in my baritone Player Plus as those are very lively and bright, just to see what happens.
I could (and probably should) be happy with it as it is, but its become something curious to persue now, and it stops me looking at Reverb and the classifieds here for a while
"I'll probably be in the bins at Newport Pagnell services." fretmeister
Comments
That's my guess too, but as the pickups which have been put into it so far have all been ones I haven't tried before I thought it better to try some I have already heard in a guitar using my set up to confirm the the theory.
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Thank me later
A change of bridge or saddle might be what you are looking for. Those block saddles can be a bit blah, a set of bent steel ones might be just the thing.
Compare it to your other T type guitars. Is there any particular wood and hardware combination that you prefer the sound of?
If the Player Telecaster sounds too polite, lacking note separation and twangy bite, consider changing the chromed brass bridge saddles to steel ones (solid or stamped/bent Stratocaster type). This might enliven the guitar.
The nearest I have to your issue is/was a Squier Standard Telecaster. Rosewood fingerboard, maple neck, mystery body wood, budget modern six saddle bridge. My solution was a pair of Alegree pickups. Texas Dust Devil bridge and (T neck position format) Texan Hailstorm. Everything balanced out very nicely. Total outlay, just over £200.
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Well this one certainly has a solid baseplate. Having said that, the Player plus with the very bright and zingy sound has the thickest bridge plate I've ever seen.