Recommendations for tele pickups?

[Sambrowne]

Hi guys,

I have a MIJ tele (rosewood fretboard) that I'm looking to put some BKPs into.

Sonically I am looking for rock and blues tones but still plenty of top end presence.  I have several guitars loaded with various flavours of BKP humbuckers ranging from stormy mondays and mules up to rebel yells, so I'd like the tele to be something quite different, with plenty of top end bite and jangle, which still having plenty of output as that's what I'm used to.  The rebel yell is my main sound and I'm kind of looking for the single coil telecaster equivalent of those pickups.

I'm weighing up the flat 50s, 52s and The Boss but I'm open to suggestions.

[Andrew W]

I have a Tele with a '52 in the bridge and a '50 in the neck which I think might do what you need. I did a couple of videos when I'd installed them to show what they sound like doing bluesy rock stuff:

http://youtu.be/unb8Ug7tf54

Also, some cleaner tones:

http://youtu.be/ExKEtEMpnKs

Hope that helps a bit? I really think these pickups give a great balance of grit and sparkle, especially the bridge.

[DagleBee]

I plan on owning a tele this spring and the flat 50's are the perfect tone hands down ( for me ! i also play a lot of rock with a touch of 80's :)   ) . That rosewood fretboard may be a problem but you may like the combo . Keep asking . Cheers :)

[Telerocker]

How much I like my Blackguards, I want you to consider the Brown Sugars. They look right up your alley.

[BigB]

I have an "old-specs BGF50s" (now BGF52) in my MiJ Custom 62 RI Tele and the result is just magic. Less output than something like the RY of course but still able to drive an amp (these 50s Tele pups were not shy), jangle and bite a-plenty with still a nice growl and weight, and... well as far as I'm concerned these are THE perfect Tele pickups set :happy:. Works wonder for blues, blues-rock, 50s rockabilly (obviously), 60s rock, 70s rock, hard-rock (yes they do hard-rock), punk-rock (the mid/late 70s kind), pub-rock, well,  TL;DR: they rock !

But the (new specs) BGF50s might be a good choice too if you want a bit more output and beef.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Personally I'd look at the Boss set as a good choice
Still jangles but rocks really well.

[Gary_Goo]

I have a set of Brown Sugars in an alder/rosewood Tele and they sound like something that you could be interested in. Still quite Tele sounding, but with a bit more output and a little more mid growl. They are a little "darker" sounding though, but still have plenty of Tele spank to them.
I tried Flat 50's in the same guitar and although they were big and punchy with decent output they didn't exactly jangle. They sounded great when I switched them into my ash body and maple fingerboard 52 Tele though. Top end presence isn't something that springs to mind when I think of these pickups though.
I've always been interested in hearing Yardbirds too as I think they sound like they'd be good, slightly hotter, but still very Tele sounding pickup.
The more you make the output of a Tele pickup try and match the output of a humbucker the less Tele character it has in my opinion.
Hope that helps.

[Telerocker]

I have a set of Brown Sugars in an alder/rosewood Tele and they sound like something that you could be interested in. Still quite Tele sounding, but with a bit more output and a little more mid growl. They are a little "darker" sounding though, but still have plenty of Tele spank to them.
I tried Flat 50's in the same guitar and although they were big and punchy with decent output they didn't exactly jangle. They sounded great when I switched them into my ash body and maple fingerboard 52 Tele though. Top end presence isn't something that springs to mind when I think of these pickups though.
I've always been interested in hearing Yardbirds too as I think they sound like they'd be good, slightly hotter, but still very Tele sounding pickup.
The more you make the output of a Tele pickup try and match the output of a humbucker the less Tele character it has in my opinion.
Hope that helps.

That's what I meant. I recommended Brown Sugars and stick to it even more now.

[chrisj1602]

I haven't tried any others so can't compare, but I've had a brown sugar bridge pickup in a 72 Custom reissue and later in a Relic Esquire, loved it.