Hunting for the perfect Telecaster Neck Pickup!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 січ 2020
- #blackguard #telecaster #jeremytheguitarhunter
Ryan from the band Who Shot John, @WshotJ, swung by and dropped off his guitar for me to swap the neck pickup into his custom blackguard.
He found the perfect guitar that is full of mojo but the neck pickup was just a bit too squashy and bassy for him. He decided to swap the pickup from a @seymourduncan to a @TheFendercustomshop #twistedtele.
Support the Channel on Patreon!
/ guitarhunter
Follow me on Instagram:
/ jeremytheguitarhunter
Follow me on Facebook:
/ jeremytheguitarhunter
Buy a T Shirt and become a Guitar Hunter
www.jeremytheguitarhunter.com...
![Let's Talk About Fender Telecasters [And T-Shaped Objects £139 - £Thousands] - That Pedal Show](/img/n.gif)
I'm in my mid 60's now and I'm going to share my recipe for the best tele neck pickup I've ever wound. 8000 counter clockwise turns with 43 gauge plain vintage wire, .187 alnico 5 poles with south polarity. 7.8K, 2.01Henries, .026 farads. As far as store bought goes, I think the Rio Grande tallboy is a very special tele neck pickup. Enjoy
It will be dark and get muddy with gain.
Best one I wound is 5mm mixed magnet alnico 3 & 5, north up, 8.5k clock wise turns, 8.1KR.... bass cut tone pot on concentric dual and volume (wired like an LP, bridge with treble cut)... Crank up gain and roll bass pot for thick creamy neck, easy woman tone. Clean, tweak pot and it gets close to an acoustic...
Im probably going to change the neck in my AO 50's, bridge went asap as it was weak as piss, noisy and microphonic AF, pretty disappointing for a premium Fender Tele.I could live with the lower output, the noise and microphonics not so much. I replaced the bridge with a locally produced hand wound jobby, he calls it a broadcaster. I think its a3, flat pole and 50% hotter than the fender jobby at around 9.5k. Much quieter. Ill probably get him to make me one for the neck as well. Necks usable but it does feel a bit weak with the much hotter bridge now.
I think Fender nailed it with the 64 neck pickup. I don't know what the recipe is besides the 7.4 - 7.7K-ish resistance (I've got 4 of them in 4 different Teles), but it is the clearest and punchiest Tele neck pickup I have found that still sounds like a Tele and not a Strat pickup.
@@user-cg7dg7uv8fthe Fender AVRI '62 is even better😉
That guitar looks perfect! As a builder repair guy I deal with guitar voodoo all the time. Guy says my neck pup is muddy the real answer is change these disgusting strings but the customer is always right. So lets do this unnecessary pup swap. By all means, now doesn't that sound better?
That what I was thinking. I thought the first one sounded pretty killer, old strings or not. Pickup winders gotta eat too though.
Sounds fantastic. Really enjoyed the whole process here. Thank you!
I've been playing for over 50 years, had plenty of guitars. The Tele really turned my head around upon seeing the movie "Crossroads" back in the mid 80's. THAT was THE tone. Holy Crow.
I found out pretty quickly that not all Tele neck p'ups are equal. Fortunately I met a truly talented luthier, Toru Nittono, who turned me onto Harmonic Design p'ups, a boutique shop out of Bakersfield, CA. He told me to get their Chromotone neck p'up for Tele. I did. He was right. I have never looked back. Sort of like finding the perfect woman to marry.
Thanks for the lift up. Been trying to figure out what to do with my tele.
IME, adjusting pickup height can change the pickup sound for the better. For example, my old tele neck position sounded muddy and dark when i first recieved it. After lowering the neck pickup nearly flush with the pickguard, it vastly improved the clarity. 🤙🏼
Thanks Chris, I am going to try that
As a Tele player , I play 99.5 % with the neck pickup by itself . I am a Blues guy who loves Teles , but hate the needle in your ear tone that most folks go for . I love Rio Grande Vintage Tall boys best !
Lovely craftsmanship, man! Loved that tone. And you play really well too!
ALL Fender Road Worn guitars have a Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish.
Surprising how many( guitar tecs ) sic don't know this !
But not the neck (at least on the Road Worn Tele). It has a urethane finish. It was a surprise to me.
Nathan Sink, hey Nathan I am a subscriber of your channel and also saw you mention poly on the neck of a roanworn. My understanding is that there were two versions of the roadworn models. The earlier were nitro head to toe. When Fender changed to the modern C on the roadworns those models to have poly. Let me know if you can confirm. Love your builds boss man. Wish you would finish a musikraft neck for me. Mjt’s prices are unreal thanks.
no name needed that's a good question. There definitely have been two versions of the Road Worn Tele. I'm not sure about the neck finish on the older one. I'll have to look into it and get back to you...
no name needed found these sites that still show the old (2009) Road Worn Tele specs, but none seem to explicitly say what the neck finish was. Might be worth reaching out to Fender if you really want to know: www.guitarcenter.com/Fender/Road-Worn-50s-Telecaster-Electric-Guitar.gc, www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/fender-road-worn-50s-telecaster-193632, www.premierguitar.com/articles/Fender_Road_Worn_Series_50s_Telecaster_Guitar_Review
Not normally a fan of the way relic'd guitars look... But that thing is absolutely gorgeous!
The trick on long PUP wires is to twist them like like a licorice and they will route through the guitar easily, once through - you can untwist to desired lengths for connecting.
richardthelionheart twisting the wires also helps get rid of noise (RMF).
@Jeremy Sheppard 4:50 hey, just a thought. Before pulling out the old wires, how about connecting it with an unused piece of wire -or a thin piece of rope or something - so you pull that inside the tunnel when you pull out the old wire - now connect that to the wire of the new pickup -> this way you can just pull the new pickup wire through easily, without having to push and wiggle it through.
Great video man. Love your channel. I have that neck pickup in my Baja Tele. LOVE IT.
I have the Jerry Donahue SD pickup in my Tele with a Twisted Tele in the neck position. I'm not sure all SD pickups are wired the same way, but I had to swap the leads on the Twisted Tele in order to be in the same polarity as the JD bridge. I don't think I saw you play in the middle position on this video? I hope you checked that before it went out because if out of phase it would sound rather weird. Anyway, take care, and have a good one!
I've had at least six telecasters throughout the years most of the time I would be in the middle and Bridge position only. Once I got a hold of one with the TT my search ended. Yes straty characteristics but at the same time very focused and clear. Great pickup!!!
Try Wilde Bill Lawerence Microcoil. Your search for the clearest, purest pickup only ends with Microcoil. And I tried a TONs of pups with my Tele over the pass 19 years.
The yellow wire coming off the neck pickup can be used with a 4-way switch. This allows you to have a fourth position where your pickups are wired in series. This gives you a very full, rich, slightly louder tone. To my ears it almost sounds like a wide range humbucker.
Yeah... that's not how it works.
@@Luthiart what do you mean? The 3rd wire is the ground for the pickup cover. It allows you to wire a 4 way switch easily because you have a second lead you can wire up to the switch lugs.
@@Luthiart Please enlighten me on how this works, so I can go back in time and rewire my 4 way switch.
@@ericmojave6061 The ground wire caries no signal, it's just there to ground the cover. It has no connection to the pickup at all. And you don't need an additional wire for series. You just need the two wires (one hot and one ground) coming from the pickup. Most of the time, the cover is grounded to the pickup itself (which is then grounded to a pot). There's really no need to have a long ground wire for the cover.
@@Luthiart right, and that’s the case when you’re wiring to a 3 way switch. I’m no expert, but I used that 3rd wire to wire my 4 way switch and it didn’t cause any problems. You’re making your point as if it’s the only way to wire a guitar. The fact is that it’s very common to wire a long wire from the cover to the ground and you can use the black and white leads to wire to the switch. I’ve done this, as well as many others. You may be right, and I wouldn’t dream of arguing that, but there is no need to be a no it all. Myself, and many others have had success using 3 wires for the neck pickup to wire a 4 way switch. Your way, I’m sure is correct, but you don’t have to act like you’re right and everyone else is wrong because you know “it doesn’t work that way”
Sounds beautiful man. I am currently chasing my sound and building my own tele
I have the SD antiquities in the bridge but a twisted tele in the neck. Great combo.
Your playing is so good, and the tone of the original pickup at 1:30, wow.
Great job on this one. The original is the classic tele neck, they’re always a little woofy/wooly. The twisted tele is exactly what it says, a tele pup that sounds like a strat, which I think overall it’s more versatile and easier to work with. I have one in my tele and love it paired with my nocaster bridge. Same setup as danish Pete’s purple tele. Fender should sell the nocaster/twisted CS set. Or offer the ability to mix and match their pickups to do custom sets.
Either neck pup is fine depending on what you want. Great playing too!
Cool! Great sound.
Sweet find Jeremy
I hade two vintage pickup on my custom made tele with alder body and rosewood fretboard. But I swa, two years ago the neck pickup with the custom twisted one. And now it sound ok for me!
I’m a huge fan of the Dimarzio Vintage Minibucker Neck model DP240. Very clear and articulate.
Thanks for the video!
What measurements did you set the bridge and neck pickups from the strings?
that twisted pick sounds awesome
I always check new pickups with a volt meter first before even turning on my iron. Working repairs for a bit, have come across a good number of dead Seymour Duncan’s. Nothing worse than installing and then NOTHING lol
I'm a finger-picker who doesn't use a thumb pick and not all the strings ring out equally for me. Since I've never even seen a Gretsch in the wild I don't know if the F'trons would help me get the even string balance I'm seeking. Would saving up for one of those be a leap in the right direction, or do you know of something better? Thanks.
Of the all the Tele neck pickups I've used the best were: Lollar wound me a stratty type Tele neck pickup that was perfect, I like the Fender PV 65, and the MFD neck pickup on my ASAT is excellent.
Those roadworns are legit nitro finishes, I've got a strat from the first run and it's checked up fantastically
I have a set of Fred Stuart Blackguard pickups. I have had nothing but compliments on them.
I love my text Mex neck and 62 reissue bridge, it's perfect for me......thanks bud rock on
I put 51 Nocasters in my FSR butterscotch tele, to replace the ceramics. It's completely transformed it, low output and very dynamic. Love it.
Sheeeesh. I want to hear that. I love teles.
Nocaster ‘51 pickups sound great!
I had a pr of twisted pups in a semi hollow and they were great. I'm hearing a ground pop or something that I didn't hear in first pickup. When you lift your hand and then make contact again,pop. Not sure what is the cause.
Hey , Loved the vid! Subscribed for more!
I have a love affair going with my American Special Teli and my Helix, but looking for more 'Stratlike" attack from the neck pickup. I was hoping for a before and after comparison at the end of the vid. Would you say the upgrade did this? A little more gian? What was the pickup? You said Seymore Duncan but which model?
Thanks in advance!
What’s the value in higher end pots and switches ? How does it affect the sound ?
Had a friend of mine make me some great pups . All original antiquity pickups . Picking them up tomorrow.
My 2008 Tele has a Lace Chrome Dome in the neck position. (Strat pickup.)
The Custom Shop Twisted Tele is my favorite neck pick up. Love it
Hello, what should be the specs of the capacitor for this pickup?
I keep hearing that alot I'm gonna have to try the tt..I have tex mex neck but I have another tele I'll try the twisted in the spare
I have a tele with these pickups and didn’t realize it was anything that different until recently. Not a gear head just play by ear for fun but I was comparing two teles at the store and this one just sang to me. Doing research now I’m seeing why. Lol.
Have owned and played a lot of Teles. By far the best neck pickup I’ve ever heard that wasn’t trying to be “stratty” like the twisted tele but was actually a true tele neck pickup is the Lambertones Blondie with the screen over the pole pieces.
i have a road worn but neck face does not look like that, what did you do?
I have a Paul Gilbert strat bridge pickup in the neck position of my "Franken-tele" kit guitar, and a Kent Armstrong in the bridge. Both sound AMAZING by themselves but they don't play well together.
As far as traditional tele style neck pups go. I've found that I like an A3 magnet with 42 formvare wire and a nickel silver cover with a low output of 5.5k to 6k sounds best. Clear, sweet and articulate.
Otherwise an A5 low output p90 works great as well.
Love the Death Cab For Cutie melody you played!
Did you “tin” the wire and then place the wire on the pot then solder it to the pot or did you apply more solder to it?
Pre tin, then a little on the lug
I’ve got a Richie Kotzen signature telecaster that has the Dimarzio twang king in the neck. It sounds fantastic.
I put an early-70s bridge pickup in a 2016 classic vibe 50s telecaster, along with Lollar wiring and bridge pickup. Best Tele I’ve ever played and it cost like$700 total
My telecaster has a mojo pickups humbucker sized dynasonic at the neck and a Seymour duncan broadcaster at the bridge , a beautifully put together wiring harness from "home of Tone,hollowed out under the pickguard,smugglers tele style giving it an amazing punchy gretsch telecaster hybrid sound.and it looks great to boot.
Does anyone know why there are one steel saddle and two brass saddles? Is this for tone?
👍Nicely done. I like how easy it is to change the neck pick ups without removing the strings. Been considering the Fralin Steel Pole 42 or 43 Tele's. I'm intrigued by the P90 sound but don't want to entirely loose the Tele sound. I have been using the middle position quite a bit. Could be interesting...
I have SP43's in a Nashville Tele. When I got it(used) it had 250K volume pot, so I changed it to 500K but left the tone pot at 250K. The 500K really made the pickups come to life.
Old thread, but have you heard Charlie Christian neck pickups? If you wanted to retain the flatter, non mid pushed Tele EQ, they provide some of that P90 rawness without changing the fundamental sound.I suspect that is how they became a popular choice for that position back in the day.Really nice upper mid/low definition, and they can be pretty or nasty.
Best neck pickup for a Tele is a Gibson Firebird mini-humbucker. The original style ones with the one long magnet, not some of the newer versions with individual pole pieces.
Nice mod, it worked fine!
Since I found too heavy my Deville, your Deluxe is a srinked down version of it?
Other suggestions? I like my Deville as a reference.
Thanx
Ciao!
1x12 version, 40 watts, still pretty heavy.
Those red jazz picks are where it’s at. Been using them for over 10years.
What’s the song at 7:56? I know it but I can’t place it. Is it Lloyd Cole?
Really enjoyed watching the whole process. I would suggest that you play the same things on both pickups for comparison, though.
Same. Wanted the comparison at the end, and the overall improvement.
might be because it didn't make much if any difference.
Who did the relicing job if I might ask?
Sounds killer, but how did you find a Twisted neck pup? I thought they only sold them in sets?
Nice, an Oak Grigsby switch, I've a CRL in my Harley Benton TE-52 (I'm poor, lemme alone, and it plays great!), but I might have an Oak Grigsby in another, I know I have had one in the past. Have some Fralin Blues Specials on the way as my last upgrade on my fully modded budget Tele, can't wait. :D
Interesting choice of pickups. I thought that, since the owner of the guitar is a Danny Gatton fan, he’d want some Bardens installed in the guitar.
The glove compartment isn’t accurately named
Hey, great tone - what pedals were you using?
I have Twisted Tele pick ups but they sound very basic I think it’s the .047 capacitor on the emery wiring kit that’s choke in the sound of wondering what capacitor this guitar has
Try aTonerider TRT2N neck pickup. A3 neck , I just love that original A3 sound as used in Telecasters till '54. I got put onto these buy Kelvin Ho in Singapore. He builds great Teles and he didn't flinch when I asked him what he tought was best, just slapped a set of Tonerider Hot Classics on the counter. They are inexpensive but sound great. Have used them since that time in 2008. ( Terry from Oz). They are inexpensive about $51 AUD . for a single pup.
What was the original pickup?
Checkout Wilkinson WTVN & WTVB pickups they sound soo good and super cheap. Underrated pickup!
I liked that 1979 tune in there. Good video
I agree that the original was a little woofey/muddy but it does "that" sound great. It certainly wasnt unusable but you could easy do better, and you did lol. Also love the AFI riff!
Bare knuckle flat 50s set... perfection
The best neck pickup for a tele is a mojo goldfoil or a vintage goldfoil like ry cooder uses. It’s perfect balance for a tele bridge pickup. Less muddy and boomy than the standard tele neck.
Maybe but I would never consider getting rid of my Twisted tele at least with the setup I've got going on
I put a custom gold foil in mine. Stays open G and begs for the slide blues! Or using dirt and playing Black Crowes
njcranes then again a Tele is always great stock too! Lol
The neck pup in the Fender Texas specials is pretty near perfect in my American Special Tele.
I put Yosemite pups in my 2007 Highway One Tele. Best thing I ever did.
Custom Shop Texas Special Telecaster pickups are the best I've heard IMO
Damn right. I’ve them in my American Special Tele and Yosemite in my 2007 Highway One Tele. Two incredible guitars now.
Change those cheap electronics. It’ll make you realize just how good those guitars sound (I have 2. 👀)
AFI on a Tele. Awesome!!
Very cool 👌
The original neck pickup got a good Led Zep 1 tone... why don't you like it?
It was the good playing that made up for it.
This guitar had replaced the original neck pup ( Tex Mex) apparently with a Seymour Duncan.
🤪 I gotta change my neck pickup on my Tele too 😵
what capacitor is ?????
I put active EMG pickups on my 69 Thinline and never wanted anything else!
Do you do this as full time gig or more of a side hustle?
I'm trying to make this my full hustle. I'm creating a lot of content to help people find guitars that light a fire in their belly. Check out theguitarhunter.com
Love the twisted tele neck pickup almost strat like!🧠🤯🔫
Yup, went through a lot of Tele neck pickups before I found the Twisted Tele, it's the perfect blend between Tele and Strat.
Oh man...and i am just on the hunt too...
I dont want it to sound too bassy...
lower the bass side, it'll let your treble and mids ring out more, alot of people make the mistake of raising and raising until they're loud but now your pick ups magnetic field is pulling you strings out of tune and wrecks your intonation, not just just that it blends alot better and still lets you retain the spank in the middle position, you also have your amps eq settings to help tweak minor things
@Neve ☝️Try this first.
Being a blues Tele player for a long time now (60+ years), I thought the original pup had way more personality to work with. In my view it’s more likely about settling on the right strings for the player. But heh, if a pup swap makes a player feel it, who am I to judge. Go forth and rock.
Neck pickup sounds great as is.
I thought my Lindy Fralin Blues Specials were 'special'...and they are...especially the bridge...but I dropped a set of Lollar Special T's in another guitar (same make/model/etc) and was even MORE impressed with them. I disconnect neck from tone pot...helps with clarity/output. Prefer Lollar neck....Fralin bridge. Lollar bridge was a bit bright/thin. Lollar neck is fuller than Fralin. Both sound better than Fender's new Pro II tele pups (which are also quite nice).
What songs are you playing?
Because the wires are unscreened, you need to twist them tightly to reduce hum. I wonder why people never do that.
I think there are probably more ‘good’ tele pickup offerings around now than for any other guitar. I’ve used everything from Don Mares ($300+) to some of the new Easter European winders ($50) and my conclusion is, as great as pickups like the Mares are, there really is no need to spend big to get a great sound. I think it’s very easy to be snobbish on the subject, I’ve certainly been guilty of it, but I’m now firmly of the belief that you don’t have to go for big names and high prices to get great tone.
I agree. It's always surprising how different they can sound in different guitars and wood combos, more money doesn't mean more better for sure.
I'm looking for Telecaster pickups to sound like Jimmy Page. Please suggest something inexpensive. Thank you.
Throw those new Seymour Duncan La Brea (Brad Paisley) pickups in it. I bet it would sounds killer!
Tonerider Hot Classic (A3) pickups.
If you get a little solder on the guitar it won’t hurt…..just add to the relic finish.
Best Tele Neck Pickup Monty's Danish Pete DP51, you get all the Tele Sounds and add in Strat capabilities
I've put Cavalier pickups in several of my teles. Great pickups. Also did the 4 way switch with series added and treble bleed. Love that setup!
That's a great setup. I love 4 ways, I do treble bleeds in everything with humbuckers.
Cavaliers are excellent pickups. I’ve had a set (Nashville Lion bridge with a Fat Lion neck) for a few years now and they’ve seen higher priced pickups come and go. For around $120 they can’t be beat imo, especially considering all the options he offers.
I found the perfect Tele neck pickup! It's in my '52.
That's my favorite DCFC song.
I don't understand shielding when both pickups are surrounded by grounded metal on a Tele.
Would 50s wiring yield results along those lines?
50's would be a lot darker for the neck pickup
beautiful guitar i'm so jealous :) Peace All !
oh ya dont want to mess up that finish
Sounds great now, nice playing Jeremy
Niice. Glove compartment