Replacement neck and middle pick up

Lez325

I bought a  2nd hand dirt cheap Fender Telecaster modern player as a spare guitar- it has the SSH configuration. The Humbucker being in the bridge position and it's coil tapped, sounds ok!

Having just purchased my 1st ever Fender Amp ( Fender Princeton 68 Reverb) a fabulous amp by the way

I am a little disappointed that the centre and neck pick ups through this amp have lost a lot of the Tele twang - so my question is:

What pick ups are out there to replace these and give me back my true - Tele sound????

Les

Lez325

No one knows then?????

DrBob

I'm no expert but I'm thnking that the easiest way to get a 'true' Tele sound, in the neck position at least would be to get a proper Tele pickup in the neck position.
I have seen 'Nashville' style guards which have a T type hole in the neck and then a Strat pickup in the middle position. If you've got a Tele ashtray type bridge but with a humbucker in the back you might have to widen the cutout at the back of the pickguard to accomodate it as I think I'm right in saying humbucker Tele bridges are a bit wider than normal Tele ones but that might be a start.
Dont know if there's an easy solve for the middle position as thats not something you'll find on a stock Tele !
As for the bridge, if you wanted to get an even more Tele tone there might I recommend the Oil City Brass Knuckle, as @ICBM has said on more than one occasion splitting to just the front coil gives a very good approximation of the Tele bridge pickup because it isnt wound like a standard bucker.
I currently have one on the bridge of my Strat that I might be looking to move on as it goes. It's brilliant at what it does but I'm after a more classic bridge humbucker sound.

Dont know if that helps at all !

Lez325

Yes is does help Dr Bob, Thank you - when you say Proper Tele pick up in the neck, I assume I already have that??? My reason for wanting more twang is is doesn't sound as good through my  recent purchase of a Fender Princeton 68 re-issue as it does through my Marshall stack, maybe its an amp thing- ??????

The Bucker in the bridge position, when tapped to single coil has a lot more tele twang than the current neck pick up

Les

ICBM

You have a proper (ish) Tele neck pickup, but you won't get the proper 'Tele twang' because that comes from the bridge pickup and the bridge+neck, which you can't get with the standard 5-way switching.

The way to get it how you want is a better Tele neck pickup, a Brassknuckle in the bridge, and switching which gives you the front coil + the neck pickup. Second best option if you still like the humbucker as it is, is just to replace the neck pickup and change the switching.

You may also be losing some 'twang' simply because there is a middle pickup - the magnetic field will damp the strings to some extent. Lower it as far as you can get away with.

DrBob

@Lez325 my apologies for the confusion, I assumed your Tele had a Strat neck pickup, I just did an image search and see that it does have a proper Tele neck pickup !
Would still be up for selling on this Brassknuckle if you're interested 

paulnb57

Sounds to me (no pun intended!) like the amp is the issue, not the guitar, if you get the sound you like through the Marshall.......not suggesting there is anything wrong with the new amp, its just different?

Lez325

paulnb57 said:

Sounds to me (no pun intended!) like the amp is the issue, not the guitar, if you get the sound you like through the Marshall.......not suggesting there is anything wrong with the new amp, its just different?

I now have a Fender Blues Deluxe and the sound has greatly improved-