Inspiring pickups for Tele

[Jazz Rock]

That's it! I have given up. It has been 2 years I have tried to get on with the stock pups of my MIA Tele but I can't.

Not that they are bad pickups, they just don't do it for me. I can get a good distorted sound with the crunch box to play some Alice in Chains stuff (not the heavier stuff) but no sound which really inspire me to be creative like the MQ / Mule combo of my LP Studio.

I am not getting anywhere in trying to pinpoint what I am missing, or to describe the sound I am after, the bestway I can put it is that the main problem with these pups are that I don't seem to be able to come close to the following sounds:

1- Chris Cornell on Euphoria Morning. I know that he is a Gretsch player but I read that he acquired a '52 Tele that he loved the sound of just before recording this album, so chances are, a good part of the album was recording with it. I like the sound on his latest album as well but not as much.

2- Frank Black sound on most of his solo albums, especially the Cult of Ray, Pistolero and Blue Finger. I believe he is mostly using a Tele from the 60's, even though I know the other guitarist on Cult of Ray was using a Tele with EMGs for solos, but that is not the sound I am after... More like the rhythm sound on the Marsist.

So far, doing some research on the web, I listend to the sound clips from the Seymour Duncan forum and the STL-1 '54 has the clip sounding the most promising to my hear. Nonetheless, I have seen that these things are costing about £110 for the pair. So for an extra tener, I could get some jollygood British made BKPs.

The Tele is alder body with maple fretboard, played through a wee Laney LC15R, so any advice on which BKP set could get me my Tele sound heaven would be appreciated, as I really enjoy the sound of this guitar unplugged. It has a sort of dryness to it, but in a good way, that I would love to get through when plugged in.

Cheers

[AndyR]

I haven't heard the musical references you give, so take this with a pinch of salt, but my gut tells me you want Blackguard Flat 50s.

Two main reasons:

a) I find the BGs are in the same ball-park as the MQs and Mules for the feeling I get when I play them. Different sound, obviously, but I'm talking about how they make me think and play.

b) My Baja was stock and not quite doing it for me - much like you describe. I didn't really know what I wanted, but I was hankering after a 52 tele sort of vibe (didn't know what it was exactly, and still don't really). Eventually I went "sod it" and got the BGs. The guitar came alive for me the moment I put them in, I finally mastered "tele" after years of trying to like them, and I bought two more because of it.

I think you might also like the Yardbirds. It depends on what you really want. All I can say is I find the Yardbirds "more polite" than the BGs, and for me they're better suited to some of my rhythm playing than the BGs are. The BGs, for the way I play, give me a more in-your-face "I'm the only guitar in the band" sort of tele tone.

Both are great for leads, and sound all the world like "classic tele" tone to me :D

I haven't tried any of the others, so I can't really comment except to say that I suspect you should look/enquire about the Boss set as well - hopefully someone else can wade in about those or other options.

[38thBeatle]

I can't comment upon any set other than Country Boys and therefore I am not in a position to compare them.All I can say is that they provide great warm classic 1950's Tele tone-not high output but ticks all the boxes. I would dearly love to try the Backguards though based upon the comments of Andy in various posts -he has whetted my appetite on more than one occasion. From his description of the YBs I am also keen to have a set of them but buying more teles is not an option for me right now.

[AndyR]

I left out Country Boys partly cos I don't know them, but mainly cos I felt sure you'd bring them in :lol:

I have to say Jazz Rock, when I first ordered BGs, it was a massive toss-up between BGs and Country Boys for me. Country Boys were in the lead for a long time, and then I picked BGs on the name :roll:

I'm glad I did (I even bought another set for the next tele), but I still want to get my hands on Country Boys at some point.

Same as 38th - if getting another tele at the moment was an option...

[Jazz Rock]

Thanks for chiming in guys.

It seems from what you are saying that any of the sets you mentioned would be a step closer to what I am looking for. I am actually tempted to post in the seconds out section to see if any forum member are willing to part with a set of BGs, CBs or YBs.

Could you let me know what kind of music you are playing with your teles and what do they excel in?

Andy, I have just played my MQ/Mule loaded LP again this afternoon, there is just no settings that don't bring a smile on my face  :D :P :D

[AndyR]

I use my BG teles for blues, blues-rock, rock and roll, and "classic rock" where it's a single blues-based guitar part.

I use the Yardbird tele for almost anything. It's really good for layering guitars in a 60s/70s pop-rock, or classic rock kind of way. I find the Yardbird tele more versatile, but if we're wandering into areas of the BG strengths, then I use the BGs because they excel at the raunchier stuff.

I haven't got any clips of the BGs, but if you follow the link in my sig, on my soundclick page you'll find two songs that feature the Yardbird tele heavily - If we should sing together (I think that's all tele), and Sooner or Later (that has some MQ'd Explorer in the choruses, a Dano low in the mix in the verses, otherwise all tele). If I'd used the BGs for that many guitar parts, it would've sounded fatter, but would have lost some of the clarity.

[Jazz Rock]

That sounds cool. Do you play all the instruments on these tracks?

Listening to the sound of the guitar, I might be more of BGs guy. What patch on the modeling amp have you been using for these tracks?

[38thBeatle]

Blues for me too. Somewhere in the players section there is a clip of my guitar though it would be a bit of a search.

[Jazz Rock]

I found the clip with your guitar... and many more. Some pretty amazing playing around here.

I think after this wee listening/visioning of vintage Tele BKPs I would be inclined to get BGs, Bosses or Brown sugars. I am definitely more attracted by the raw tele sound than the more polite version.

I think I'll just go fishing... wish me luck :)

[AndyR]

That sounds cool. Do you play all the instruments on these tracks?

Listening to the sound of the guitar, I might be more of BGs guy. What patch on the modeling amp have you been using for these tracks?

Yep, that's all me - the drums are made up of a bunch of preset patterns, you can't edit the patterns themselves on the unit unfortunately (the whole thing, both songs, was recorded, mixed, and mastered on a Boss Micro BR).

Modelling patch - I cant really remember. It's a Vox Tonelab LE, and I think my favourite patches around then were the "UK Blues" amp, which I believe is a JTM45 model, going through the AC30 cab model. At least one of those songs was pretty much the same patch for most of the takes.

And yeah, my gut feeling was that you'd be wanting a raunchier, more raw tele sound.

Good luck! :D