Country Boys for an early 80s US Tele

[Brendan]

Hey all
I've only been aware of this forum for all of a day, but long enough to realise that Tim is the man, and I see he's online now. My problem is this: I've got an early 80's US tele (82-84 from the serial no.) which I love, but the bridge pickup could peel paint. The early 80s don't have thru-body stringing, unfortunately. I generally play clean, though I like mild overdrive sometimes. I play indie type stuff, switching from rhythm to lead to fingerpicking, so my guitar needs to be a jack-of-all-trades. Are the country boys the way to go for clean? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!

[Tim]

Welcome  :D
the Country Boys are very clean and have a bell like chime and twang.......none of that harsh ice pick high end you're getting.
Another alternative would be Yardbird Tele coils, they're wound with Alnico IV magnets to a blues hot output-a little more juice than stock and in conjunction with the AIV should fatten up you Tele without losing any twang.

[38thBeatle]

If I may add something here-(and I have bored everyone to death on this) you can get a 4 way switch which adds a position for both pups in series- adds an extra dimension- louder and fatter and extremely pleasing. Country Boys are , imho, what a Tele should sound like but then I am a traditionalist.

[Brendan]

Thanks Tim. That's exactly the kind of info I needed. The Yardbird sounds tempting.....Fat without losing its twang is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

[Brendan]

Thanks for the tip 38th.  I didn't know about the 4 way switch (I've been out of the loop for a long time now). One more thing for me to look into....

[38thBeatle]

You are welcome Brendan. You can get them from BKP too btw( forgot to say that).