Baja Tele pickups...

[Pierre67]

Hi !
Firts post here  :P
I have a Baja Telecaster and even if the stock pickups are not bad I want to change them to something with a little more personality or character...My first choice was Fender's Original Vintage set, no that expesnive an with great reviews...then for a little more money I was thinking of a Noncaster set...now I'm thinking to spend a little more and get a BK Bare Knuckle Blackguard Tele Series Flat '50 set...
I play mostly (or try to play ) rockabilly, country an some blues...big fan of Danny Gatton, Arlen Roth, Roy Buchanan and Jim Campilongo, well, you get the idea...I like clean tele tone, maybe a little overdrive...
...I'm a little affraid that the BK Flat '50s are a little to hot, and I don't know how to compare each  pickup, maybe if somebody can help me with some thoughts...

Thank you !!!

[Andrew W]

I have a Tele with a Flat 50 neck and a Flat 52 bridge which works great for me. There's a clip I recorded to show some of the tones that it's capable of and I think they might be similar to what you're after maybe?

Thread in the Players section about said pickups.

[Pierre67]

really really nice !!!
The reason I' m asking about the Flat '50s is because I can get them as a set in a local guitar shop for a good price, but once again, I'm worry about the bridge pickup being too hot...

[Pierre67]

...but is really tempting to have them ready to go at no more than 200 mts from work (and for a good price !)...

[Mr. Air]

I say go for the flat 50s. If you don't like 'em you can always sell and buy another set  :D

[BigB]

really really nice !!!
The reason I' m asking about the Flat '50s is because I can get them as a set in a local guitar shop for a good price, but once again, I'm worry about the bridge pickup being too hot...

If what you fear is loosing clarity / openness / dynamic, I don't think you shouldn't worry too much - higher DC rating doesn't mean they'll sound compressed or mushy, nor sound too "modern".  Remember, this IS the real deal - built on true vintage specs (no bullshitee, Tim really spent time collecting and studying the original pups), sounding like the first tellies did *when they where new* (that is, when they were used to record those famous 50's hits).

If you can get them at a good price, just give it a try, chances are you'll never look back.

[Telerocker]

They will do fine and just roll the volume back to clean them up if necessary.

[AndyR]

Yep,

Baja + BG Flat 50s = "what was meant to be"

I did it to mine a couple of years back. I was looking for the "vintage tele" tone, though I didn't really know what it was at the time. I was aware that the bridge might be a meatier tone than what I had already.

I've never looked back since I put them in. My experience was that the BG Flat 50s manage to achieve what it felt like the stock pickups were only trying to do. In my hands they do give me that "little more personality or character" I was looking for.

Btw, I got into Roy Buchanan later, and a Baja with BG 50s still does it :D (don't forget your tone and volume controls, though, both guitar and amp).

Whatever you go for, if you want to keep the 4-way (YESS! with BG 50s) and S1 switch (up to you, I did), you need an extra/separate ground wire on the neck pickup's cover. I've always ordered them like that, but if you're buying from a shop you might have to put it on yourself or get a tech to do it.

[Andrew W]

They will do fine and just roll the volume back to clean them up if necessary.

This is quite true.

I actually ended up with a mixed set because I already owned an old style Flat 50 (now Flat 52) and so could buy whatever I liked for the neck as it was being bought separately. I do really like the combo of the two though: the extra wallop of the neck biases the in-between tone into something a little different to a regular Tele in-between tone which I like.

I'd say get the Flat 50 set and if you feel the need to swap things around in the future you won't have any difficulty in getting rid of the pickup(s) you don't like without losing much money and try something else. It is a bit of an experimental process as no two guitars sound the same and it can take some trying to get the magic mixture right.

[AndyR]

Oooh crumbs - Andrew W's post reminded me. I have the old style Flat 50 sets in my teles. So if that's now the 52 set, that's what I was talking about in my previous post! :roll:

[Pierre67]

thanks for all your replys !!! but it's too late, they sold the pickups yesterday as I was writing this post...They only have a Flat '52's set...If I want Flat '50s or any other pup set (Country Boy's?) I have to order them and the price will be, of course, higher :roll:

[Pierre67]

...and how about the '52 set?

[Andrew W]

...and how about the '52 set?

The bridge pickup in the video I posted is a Flat '52 (effectively). Lower output than the Flat 50s which might suit you actually. The neck pickup in a Flat 52 set would be lower output than the one in the video.

[Telerocker]

Personally I think the 52-set is the most versatile in BG-range. It has enough output to make a big sound, but retains the tele-bite in the most pleasant way. The neck is stratty and I like that. I alway liked the neck-strat-pu als one of the best for cleans. Hollow, woody, but big (talking IT's in my strat). With drive/distortion and wah... wow!