Pickup suggestion for Esquire Conversion? (Post Rock/Metal).

[Boy_Narf]

Hello Everyone!

So I have a beautiful 2011 Am Std tele that I've converted into an Esquire but I just can't find a pickup that works well. Alder body I believe, maple neck/FB. It has highwood saddles installed which are super comfy but did kill some of the top end.

I've been through a few.

- Stock pickup, loved it, but the E string pole piece seemed to die and lost all output. Very strange. I then picked up a NOS AM STD pickup but it just wasn't the same.
- Tried an old TexTone Hybrid P90 pickup and it just sounded woofy and weird. Put in a 500k pot and it helped but the low end was too flubby.
- McNelly P90 hybrid (forget the name). Decent sounding pickup just didn't have much attack/bite.
- Peg City Pickups TC204. Bit too thin sounding for me, also didn't have much attack/bite. Better note clarity than the others though.
- Put the TexTone back in with a 1meg pot and this really helped to bring out the clarity, but it still didn't have the attack/bite I'm looking for.
- McNelly T-Bar is what I currently have installed. It has the attack and bite I'm looking for but it's very thick and has no note separation, even with a 1meg pot! If I do a full 6 string chord the top 3 strings are buried. I've messed with the pickup height a bit too. Backing off the bass side to a point where the high strings are slightly auditable it loses all focus and the pickup gets very thin.

So I'm not typically picky about pickups. I've never swapped out another pickup in any of my guitars I dig what they do stock, but this has been a struggle. I love the P90's in my LPJ and stratosonic JR. I love the P94 in my custom SG. I love the SD Black Winter in my other custom build (love that it somehow adds chime as it you roll down the volume). I just can't find something I like with this axe.

I chatted with support and they suggested a Cobra-T. Since then I've noticed a few posts about the Cobra being pretty dark and that the piledriver is way brighter/more dynamic. I haven't seen much about the cobra T anywhere on line, so if anyone has tested one of these vs the piledriver I would appreciate your insight.

Other suggestions are welcome too and if someone could point me in the direction of something with a boosted top end along with extreme attack and clarity I would be eternally thankful.

Thanks,

[Boy_Narf]

Well since I didn't get any replies :)

I ended up grabbing the Cobra T and it's the best I've tried soo far. It is very close to having the low end attack I'm looking for and cleans up the best of all the pickups I've tried. The upper strings are still a bit buried but they are more audible than the McNelly duel blade that was previously installed. I'm on the 8th pickup in this guitar and I think it's as good as it's goona get. At this point I think it's just a dark sounding tele (i don't have an audio comparison but I swear the HG saddles killed all the top end and twang, might have to try a different set of saddles).

I went against BKP's suggestion and put in a 450k pot which has the perfect amount of brightness for my needs. I actually think it might still be a bit dark but it's very close to the brightness of my Black Winter and the P90's in my JR.

I give up! haha. I'm 90% to the sound in my head and have spent more money on pickups than I spent on the guitar. Time to play the dang thing.

[b.gandt]

Interesting re the 450k pot.  That you indicate that it now closely compares to the P90 brightness in your Jr makes me think that if I someday go to Cobras in a Strat I may rethink keeping the standard 250k pots in.

[darkbluemurder]

Bridge saddles can have a profound effect on the sound, and it is the thing I am looking at when several pickups did not sound right.