blackguards or brown sugars in AVRI 62 Telecaster ?

[copernic304]

Hi,

I am currently considering a pipckup chnage in a 62 AVRI telecaster. I'm looking for a vintage and twangy sound very specific to the tele. Blues and rock is what I play most - and so am looking for rolling stones-like sound. I have also a video in which i like the souond quite much :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcO0DDgjGhw&feature=player_embedded

What should i choose between :

blackguard 50 or 52 or 55
brown sugar
yarbirds ?

thanks a lot

[Telerocker]

Brown Sugars!

[BigB]

Everyone here already knows how much I love the BG52 - and mines are on a MiJ '62 RI so it's quite close to your own Tele. They work just fine for blues / blues-rock / classic rock and can even do old school hard rock. The bridge has that unmistakable TeleTwang(tm) thang but without being shrill nor thin, and I can testify it works just fine on a '62 type Tele. The neck is kinda special, more on the stratty side than your average Tele neck, so it's a matter of taste (I'm quite fond of it but I can understand why some people don't like it that much).

I've once (quickly) tried the BS on a maple neck Tele (don't remember if it was a US or MiM one) and to be honest was not that impressed (wrt/ the BGF52 I mean) - good typically Tele tones but nothing special to me. Now this was a very quick try on a small tranny amp and didn't have my own Tele at hand to A/B them so this is a bit unfair - I'd have to try them on my own amp to really know (and I suspect the result would be far better)  :?

Oh and yes, note that the Tele on the clip has a maple fretboard (and a maple top) which should make it a touch brighter than the '62.

[PhilKing]

I have the Blackguard 50 & 52 set as well as a Brown Sugar bridge in different tele's.  I have the 50's set in my 1958 Tele, the 52 set in a MIJ 62 Tele Custom, and the Brown Sugar in the bridge of a 1959 Telecaster, with an old Epiphone Mini-HB in the neck.  I think that my ultimate favourite of these is the 52 set, but that is because I am a blues/rock player and so like the sound of these (though I really like the Yardbirds too).   If you want the Keith Richards tone, then the Brown Sugar will nail it through a valve amp (the first time I tried it I had to play the intro to Brown Sugar - the tone was spot on).   I'm not sure about the neck pickup on this set, as I have the mini-HB.

While I don't have a Yardbirds set, I do have a 1962 tele, and the sound is spot on for that (I have played the Yardbirds a couple of times).  I really love the tone of these and think they are a great set for getting the Jimmy Page tones.

I probably haven't really helped you here, but if you want versatile, get the BG52, if you want Keith get the Brown Sugar and if you want a more mellow tele tone, get the Yardbirds.