best telecaster pickup for old country music?
I'm looking at getting a fender or a squire classic vibe telecaster and I've been really getting into old country/pop ala Townes Van Zandt and earlier stuff. I love that spanky tele sound and while I know a lot of it has to do with playing, I was wondering which pickup combination gives the best of the old school vibe?
Thanks
Standard fender ones will do just fine, thats what they used !
If you want a Les Paul sound, buy a Les Paul, if you want a tele sound buy a tele with fender pickups.
While I agree for the most part there are definitely Fender pickups to avoid if you want a pop/country tone. If you buy a more recent MIM standard for example the bridge pickup is a bit hot sounding for clean Tele work, but it sounds decent under gain if you keep it low enough to remove some bass and output.Originally Posted by koneguitarist
I don't think most aftermarket pickups are worth the investment unless you need a performance upgrade (eg noiseless) or vastly different tone and are 100% certain you want to keep the guitar and don't care about resale. If you find a guitar that is 95% of the way there, and it is a cheaper guitar like a Squier, I'd probably say leave it as is. As soon as you are in the right ballpark guitar wise the amp and pedals can handle the rest.
I've not tried the Squier stuff to know what it sounds like, but a quick google tells me they're sub £300 new so if your budget is around there or a bit more I think you can probably find some of the classic series Telecasters used and they already have some nice pickups. I had a Baja tele previously and I thought it sounded really nice with the broadcaster/twisted tele set. They've actually just started putting that set in the current US Standards. I've heard good things about the classic 50s and classic 60s telecasters too.
However concerning pickups, currently I have a MIM Tele (bought used) and a set of Dimarzio Area Ts. I think it pulls off a classic Tele tone but the main advantage is being able to get Tele twang at high gain and volume without the noise. I appreciate this is the opposite of what you're going for so I don't think I'd recommend them to you as a similarly priced true SC like a BKP Brown Sugar would probably be a better choice if you're staying mostly clean. If I didn't want reduced noise pickups I'd have probably gone for a used US Standard and left it stock, but the used MIM plus aftermarket pickups worked out cheaper because I'd have paid more for the US std and still would have had to buy the pickups anyway.
The CV squires already have Toneriders which will take some beating. If you are going to upgrade them you need to go up to the BKP, Bulldog level to make it worthwhile.
51 Nocaster pickup would get you in the right area.
Just noticed you haven't even bought the guitar yet! In that case buy it, play it and then ask yourself if it really needs changing.
I made a similar mistake recently. I picked up a Mexican thinline on eBay at a decent price. I already had a Filtertron waiting to fit in the neck and decided to change the bridge pup too - to a 51 Nocaster. I ordered this before I had even played the guitar. So to cut a long story short - the guitar arrived and sounded fantastic with the stock pickups. Since by now I had the replacement bridge pup, I decided to fit it anyway but I don't notice any great improvement - it sounds just as good as it did before. The pickup looks nicer and is undoubtedly 'better' made - for what that is worth.
"Give me five minutes and I'll make 'em all sound the same."
I bought my CV tele with the intention of upgrading the pickups. However, now the 'honeymoon' period has gone and I've spent lots of time playing it, there's no way on earth I'd ever swap them. Ever. They're perfect. If you get a CV, give it time before deciding on an upgrade. My bet is you won't feel the need to bother. The brass saddles help no end too.
My experience is similar to that of Deadman and Gagaryn. A few years ago I picked up a nice MIM Tele which was a refreshing change to the Epi Sheraton which was my only electric up until then. I got really into Teles, listening to a lot of americana/alt-country and wanted a less modern-sounding one with a three-saddle bridge, Ash body etc... I ended up with a nice Classic 50s. Although a step up from the MIM Standard overall, the pickups didn't sound as sweet as the MIM's, so I thought that a pickup upgrade would make it an even better guitar. First I tried a pair of 52 RI Tele pickups but I couldn't really say there was much of a difference. I tried the next step up, Fender's ultimate Tele pickups, Custom Shop Nocasters but to my ears they sounded pretty much the same as well. So the Classic 50s had pretty good vintage-sounding pickups in the first place, I'd guess that with Squier upping their game with the CVs (and Chinese-manufactured pickups like Tonerider and Irongear raising the bar as well) you'd be pretty close to the sound you're after with a stock guitar.
I later got a Classic 60s Strat, I upgraded the tremolo block to steel but I didn't feel the need to spend money on pickups after my experience with the Tele! I'll like to try some boutique UK pickups in there at some point, but right now it's just not worth it for me.
The traditional "country "tele tone is pretty much a standard pickup, if its a bit hot sounding lower it into the bridge more and use steel saddles for more twang.
My tele does country/blues/rock all from the volume and tone control.
I use a Voodoo 50`s braodcaster type pickup which is pretty lively, but the amp is more important than the guitar with country.
With trad country, tele`s were not used much until mid 60`s with Merle Haggard and Buck Owens creating the Bakersfield sound of Roy Nichols/Don Rich and James Burton. all with fender blackface and s/f amps. Before that it was mainly the semi`s of Chet Atkins and Merle Travis using guitars such as Gibson and Gretsch.
Obviously there was the exception of Luther perkins playing an Esquire or Telecaster for Johnny Cash, but quite often he was also using a Jazzmaster, still sounded the same though.
Has the OP given any thought as to whether he needs to get a new amp as well? I'm given to understand they do make some sort of contribution towards the overall sound...
Reply With Quote