Telecaster neck pickup with a bit more bite

[fentonwinmill]

I've recently gotten a Squire classic Vibe tele. Have to say I'm very impressed given the price point.
The bridge sounds awesome, however the neck pickup makes it sound like a big Jazz box guitar.

What you suggest for a neck pickup or matched set, bit a little bit more bite at the neck.
I love the sound of a Strat Neck pickup (think SRv).

Cheers

[darkbluemurder]

What you suggest for a neck pickup or matched set, bit a little bit more bite at the neck.
I love the sound of a Strat Neck pickup (think SRv).

Sorry to say this but the best way to get that is to slightly enlarge the body rout and the pickguard rout and install a strat pickup (I personally hate Tele neck pickups as most are too wimpy against the bridge pickup but I certainly have not tested all of them). My two favorite teles have strat neck pickups.

Cheers Stephan

[Dave Sloven]

The Boot Camp pickup sets are pretty sweet.  Personally I like the demos of the Brute Force, which is the most powerful set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2fl3lcB2F4

The same guy reviewed the True Grit (medium) set as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qol7tanIClE

There is also the Old Guard (low output) set (different reviewer):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQ44VyW9DM

[b.gandt]

I have a set of Flat 52s in a Tele.  The neck in that set is very similar to a Strat.

Or, drop a Strat pickup in as previously mentioned.

[timmy_b]

I have a set of Flat 52s in a Tele.  The neck in that set is very similar to a Strat.

Or, drop a Strat pickup in as previously mentioned.

Absolutely, the Flat '52 is going to be your best bet for a more Stratty vibe from a traditional Tele sized coil, especially if you avoid the chrome covers (chrome uses a brass cover blank under the plating, which rounds off the treble response a little, so any other colours, or completely uncovered will give you the most "spank").

Teles are great for mixing and matching pickup types too, as you often just need a different pickguard, since most modern examples have oversized neck pickup routs to cover multiple models with different pickup options. Be aware, though, that a normal Strat coil will be out of phase with a normal Tele bridge, when you run them together, so you would need to specify what the final setup was going to be if you ordered a Strat pickup from us, to be sure that we build it to match. Having said that, an out of phase middle position on a Tele sounds cool as heck IMO!

[Dave Sloven]

That's good info Timmy.

I've just picked up a Squier Jim Root Telecaster that I will put my ceramic Black Hawk into, and I was thinking of a new pickguard anyway so I am considering a Cobra neck single coil.  Would the conventional polarity for the Cobra neck be in phase with a bridge humbucker?  Or would it need to be RWRP?  Would a RWRP middle work as a neck pickup?

[timmy_b]

For any Strat / humbucker combo, we can make them up with a special coil / polarity spec. Humbuckers are wound the opposite way to Strats, so, for an HS setup like that, you really want a Cobra with stock polarity, but a reversed wind. That will then hum cancel with the inner coil on the Black Hawk if you split it and will generally be in phase with both humbucker coils. As long as you mention that it's HS when ordering, we can do that no problem!

[Dave Sloven]

For any Strat / humbucker combo, we can make them up with a special coil / polarity spec. Humbuckers are wound the opposite way to Strats, so, for an HS setup like that, you really want a Cobra with stock polarity, but a reversed wind. That will then hum cancel with the inner coil on the Black Hawk if you split it and will generally be in phase with both humbucker coils. As long as you mention that it's HS when ordering, we can do that no problem!

Thanks Timmy!