Pickups for Squier CV Thinline Tele

[froglord]

By 'eck my Squier CV Thinline Tele is a nice guitar, but I'm looking to give it the BKP tonal arse-kick. I'm sending off the inevitable e-mail to Tim soon, but I was wondering what you guys recommended.

I'm looking for a versatile set that will do sweet cleans, chewy blues, and have enough grunt for rock. It's a mahogany bodied guitar with a one-piece maple neck and the standard Tele single coils.

[38thBeatle]

The description is one I could use for my Country Boys but I have no other set with which to compare and I hesitate to blindly recommend them when I have not tried others.

[froglord]

Thanks, 38th.

I hadn't thought of the Country Boys because the description and DC resistance seemed to imply they were mostly for clean playing. How much output can you get from them?

[Peter Krasov]

I have Squier CV Tele (pine body), and I've chosen Blackguard for it. Really gorgeous sound. Not sweet though, but has enough muscle for rock and blues.

[BigB]

Blackguard Flat 50s do have the grunt, no problem. I kinda like there clean too - neck and n+b parallel cleans are awesome IMHO - but YMMV, so not sure you'd qualify it as "sweet" - but mine's an alder/rosewood Tele, so you may have a quite different result on a chambered mahogany / maple one.

[froglord]

Maybe "sweet" is the wrong word. I don't mind a fair amount of clang (as long as it can be tamed with the tone control), what I'm less keen on is that nasal treble that some teles have - it's fine for country and western, but not my bag.

[Peter Krasov]

Maybe "sweet" is the wrong word. I don't mind a fair amount of clang (as long as it can be tamed with the tone control), what I'm less keen on is that nasal treble that some teles have - it's fine for country and western, but not my bag.

If so, Blackguard neck or Piledriver neck pickup will be good for you. Both have full and rich sound, but Blackguard is vintage-voiced, Piledriver has modern tones.

But I guess Blackguard bridge won't give you the sound you want. It has grunt, but it's good for 'old-school' tones.  Nevertheless, it can give much more bass and low-mids with mahogany body. I've tried this pup with pine and ash bodies only.

[BigB]

But I guess Blackguard bridge won't give you the sound you want. It has grunt, but it's good for 'old-school' tones. 

Hmm... On my alder/rosewood Tele, the BGF50s bridge can do much more than "old-school".

Nevertheless, it can give much more bass and low-mids with mahogany body. I've tried this pup with pine and ash bodies only.

[BigB]

Maybe "sweet" is the wrong word. I don't mind a fair amount of clang (as long as it can be tamed with the tone control), what I'm less keen on is that nasal treble that some teles have - it's fine for country and western, but not my bag.

Not exactly into c&w myself (and that's an understatement :lol:), and I certainly don't find anything "nasal" in my BGF50s. They can go from beautiful, woody, fluid cleans to  suprisingly heavy grind (not metal, but way enough for serious hard rock riffing, think AC/DC, early BOC etc).

[Ratrod]

Another vote for the BG-50.

I have little to add to the earlier comments. It's all true.

And I'm still madly in love with that pickup.

[38thBeatle]

Hi Froglord- well when I crank my amp and add a bit of overdrive, my Tele can sound like a beast. Although they are low output, they deliver a great core tone and of course the amp can take care of the rest. As I said before I can't compare them-I do like the descriptions of the Blaggards.

[froglord]

Thanks for all the comments.

I've got Tim's reply. To be fair, I gave him a lot more info, saying I wanted a bridge pickup that was a bit thicker (especially on the top E) and could do a passable P90 impression, and a neck that was clear and Strat-like.

He recommended the Piledriver bridge (a big surprise to me) combined with a Yardbird or Blackguard Flat 50 neck.

The Yardbird sounds ideal. Reading up on the Piledriver, I think I'm warming to the idea, especially as I like Fender's Broadcaster in the Baja Teles. What concerns me is that it might be a bit too hot and compressed, and lose a bit too much top end. Can anyone chip in with their Piledriver thoughts?

[Ratrod]

I'd have the same concerns about the Piledriver as you.

The BG does go into P90 territory when you back down the tone a bit. You might want to ask Tim why he didn't recommend the BG. There could be a very valid reason for it, something I have overlooked.

[Peter Krasov]

The Yardbird sounds ideal. Reading up on the Piledriver, I think I'm warming to the idea, especially as I like Fender's Broadcaster in the Baja Teles. What concerns me is that it might be a bit too hot and compressed, and lose a bit too much top end. Can anyone chip in with their Piledriver thoughts?

I've tried only Piledriver neck pickup. On my American Deluxe Tele it is paired with Duncan Custom Shop JB53 bridge single. The neck one is perfect: very deep, tight and glassy. No mushy sounds, no harshness.

Also, I will try a bridge Piledriver soon (in a week), so I will write my impressions here.