which tele pickup is for me

[steve gray]

hey guys I am newbie. I am a diehard lollar fan, but you good words about BKP have made me consider changing my stock pick ups of my fender 52 reissuse and get a BKP

i emailed tim and he suggested the piledriver, but i am afraid that may be a bit to much for me output wise and i have noticed alot of metal guys using it.

basically i run and mesa boogie mark II c+ and cascade both gain channnels to get a very nice 60s silicon fuzz type of sound and i run my clean and pedals thru a marshall 1974X

I am looking for a warmer thicker more deminsional tone with out the harsh highs.
I play indie rock and i am a huge fan of traditional tele sounds but just need and bit more bottom end
i was also suggested The Boss
but out of all the sound clips i have heard i like the country boy the most.
how is the tone of those in person? is it overly twangy? or is there alot of bottom end?
any details would be very helpful
also how do they compare to lollars?
thanks

[badgermark]

I have the country boy set (for sale actually...) and love them.

They are not overly 'twangy', but have a very rounded tone, the bridge pickup is balanced but still got enough bass to use clean when strummed, no ice pick at all. Also I use them with a vintage Big Muff- the tone is thick and defined, probably thanks to the lower output.

So my vote goes for the CBs, traditional tele tone- sexy clean and they can rock hard when boosted. I have a set for sale (need the money more than i need the tone right now...) if you're interested send a pm or email.

[38thBeatle]

Welcome to the forum. I can't compare BKPs to Lollars unfortunately and so I can only give you my impression of Country Boys. I have a MIM 1950's r/i Tele. I wanted the traditional Tele tone and the CB's deliver in skip loads. Crank the amp a bit and the just-breaking up tones are superb.The stock pickups were not bad but not great.The upgrade made all the difference however. There is the brightness of the bridge pickup of course but that is the typical Tele tone.The neck is extremely warm-together that have the great janglesome quality that we who know of it, adore. Obviously they are low output (if output is the word to use ) but I am always in favour of that as my own view is that it allows the tone to come through( if you want heavy distorted sounds then use a pedal is my philosophy) . Somewhere on the players section is a great demo by Steve -he used my guitar to do it. It would not be right if I did not mention 4 way switches too-if you haven't already thought of it  then I'd highly recommend fitting one.

[Philly Q]

It would not be right if I did not mention 4 way switches too-if you haven't already thought of it  then I'd highly recommend fitting one.

Mr 38th is a major shareholder in Oak Grigsby, the company that makes those switches.  He's sold so many of them on this forum, he'll be buying a football club next season.  

[ailean]

Hi Steve and welcome to the forum.

I can't give much input here, we have a set of Black Guards in out Feline Tele and they are awsome, but possibly not what you want. My only advice is to take some ideas back to Tim, he's rarely wrong, usually it comes down to making sure he understands what you want and your fears.

We have a set of Piledrivers (doing nothing atm, sold the guitar they were in), they certainly have bottom end, they are not as high as a traditional tele, but (as with all BK's) they are very versatile, yes you can play metal with them, but you don't have to. BK's seem to be quite good even when used outside of their 'core skills', it's one of the beauties.

Let us know what you go with and how they work out for you!