Need pickup recommendation for Tele Deluxe (custom build)

[SuperMoos]

Hi all,

I recently acquired a beautiful Custom Build Telecaster Deluxe. She feels and plays great, but I find myself not loving the pickups. They came with the builder's interpretation of PAF humbuckers and I need some advice on what else I can try.

I am no stranger to PAF humbuckers (I have a PRS Singlecut with Lollar Imperials) and I really love the sounds I get out of that. I hoped that I could achieve about the same results with the PAFs in the Tele Deluxe, but it's not working for me.

The guitar has an Alder body, Maple neck, Rosewood fretboard. Great build; absolutely love it. It's routed for 2 standard-sized humbuckers. But what would you guys put in there? I want to play mostly rock / hardrock (think Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam) with this guitar, yet I would like it to NOT be a one-trick pony. Amp is a Friedman BE-100.

I read great things about Lollar, Bare Knuckle and others. They all have humbuckers, humbuckers-sized P90s, humbucker-sized singlecoils, etc.. Maybe I could do a humbucker in the bridge and then something different in the neck position? Anybody have cool ideas?

-R.

[Telerocker]

Maybe a Holydiver for the bridge and a humbuckersized Nantucket for the neck.

A tad more vintage, but with more output, mids and less topend than a classic PAF would be an Abraxas or even a Crawler.

[SuperMoos]

Thanks for that! I'll check it out!
Nantucket seems like a great choice for the neck. It will add versatility to the guitar. For the bridge, I'm leaning towards an Abraxas. I have PAFs in another guitar (mahogany body, maple top), so the Abaraxas will be close, yet more powerful. Might be better for an Alder body with bolted neck.

[richard]

My Abraxas set is in a PRS Singlecut (Bernie Marsden) and I can't praise them highly enough, If you do a search of the forum you'll see how popular they have become lately and that, unlike some BKs, they seem to do really well in just about any guitar. The bridge pup is astonishing, great cleans and plenty of punch when overdriven. I've had mine for about a year and they still knock me out every time I plug in. There's a few folks on the forum that have them in Teles.

[Telerocker]

Thanks for that! I'll check it out!
Nantucket seems like a great choice for the neck. It will add versatility to the guitar. For the bridge, I'm leaning towards an Abraxas. I have PAFs in another guitar (mahogany body, maple top), so the Abaraxas will be close, yet more powerful. Might be better for an Alder body with bolted neck.

Absolutely. Abraxas will add some beef. Btw, the Crawler performs very well to in my swampash strat.