What's the hottest, most metal Tele bridge pickup?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rex Rocker
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Funny story, I was gifted a 2017 USA Tele the other day by a relative. I assume it's stock. Sweet I thought, country guitar! So then, the other night at (metal) band practice where I was playing My IIC+ straight in I took off my ESP & jacked in the Tele. Started riffing on the bridge pickup. I hate to say it, and, it was really good. Plenty of gain & articulation, and a very cutting top end that sliced through the mix.

Maybe John 5 & El Hefe are on to something...
 
GJgo said:
Funny story, I was gifted a 2017 USA Tele the other day by a relative. I assume it's stock. Sweet I thought, country guitar! So then, the other night at (metal) band practice where I was playing My IIC+ straight in I took off my ESP & jacked in the Tele. Started riffing on the bridge pickup. I hate to say it, and, it was really good. Plenty of gain & articulation, and a very cutting top end that sliced through the mix.

Maybe John 5 & El Hefe are on to something...
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Cause teles are bright as hell.
The 60 cycle hum has made me have two noisegates in my rig
 
I can't personally say I've ever liked a stock Tele bridge pickup under high gain. To me, it just sounds like squelch squelch scratch scratch.
 
I modified a strat hot rails (a little hotter than the Tele version) to go in mine (cheap squier Tele that plays like butter). Love it, sounds killer. Will post a pic when i get home. 😉
 
GJgo said:
Funny story, I was gifted a 2017 USA Tele the other day by a relative. I assume it's stock. Sweet I thought, country guitar! So then, the other night at (metal) band practice where I was playing My IIC+ straight in I took off my ESP & jacked in the Tele. Started riffing on the bridge pickup. I hate to say it, and, it was really good. Plenty of gain & articulation, and a very cutting top end that sliced through the mix.

Maybe John 5 & El Hefe are on to something...
Click to expand...
That’s what tele’s do. They can sound as killer under high gain as anything if used right. I’ve got myself 2 early ‘60’s pre-cbs Tele pickups that sound amazing, as well as some vintage Bill Lawrence & Schaller Tele pickups that are killer, just gotta get more Tele guitar’s for them lol. Imo Tele’s are 2nd hardest pickups to get right (only behind P90’s). Other than the Tone Specific Deluxe Set, all the other recent made ones I’ve had imho really left a ton to be desired vs these great older ones
 
Beyond Black said:
Here ya go, Rex. Expensive, but if Sam says it’s that good, I’d believe him. He’s very, very gear wise, has literally tried everything, and has never steered me wrong.
https://reverb.com/item/60832757-bi...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=60832757
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For how good it sounds I’d consider it a relative bargain. There are lots of boutique pickups made today that cost as much or more that sound & feel worse. Other than the Tone Specific Deluxe set it’s been IME very difficult to find recent made tele pickups that sound any good vs the great older ones
 
Whatever Lollar that Nash uses is pretty hot. Not crushing, but hot enough that I didn't feel the need to go hb. I hate single coils in the bridge. Not this one:
 
Here's mine, I traced out the Tele pickup base on a thin piece of steel, epoxied the strat pickup to the new base and tada, was good to go.
 

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Sounds like it’s not the pick-up.
It’s the Telecaster bridge and the saddles,
that’s where the top-end slice starts,
magnified, it’s twang.
This is why I run ABR/tailpiece Tele Deluxe type’s
like this mean as hell Kingfish Tele I’m breaking in.
When I did have a standard Tele,
the best pickups were the Fishman-the Greg guys Sig Tele pick-ups, there’s a boosted setting, THAT! will fatten the bottom frequencies while retaining the fangs.
I had all pickups mentioned.
 

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A Telecaster is supposed to sound like a Telecaster. The hotter you go with your pickup, the less like a Tele it’s going to sound, the more compression and less articulation you’re going to get.
I haven’t seen anyone talk about using the tone knob. My Tele is the only electric is use where I actually work my tone knob. I roll it off slightly to moderately and work my volume knob as well.
 
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That's the thing. I want my Tele to look like a Tele, but not sound like a Tele, LOL.

I don't think a standard Tele pickup is *that* articulate under high gain, TBH. Lots of pick and fret scratchy squelchy noises, IMO.
 
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LPMojoGL said:
Whatever Lollar that Nash uses is pretty hot. Not crushing, but hot enough that I didn't feel the need to go hb. I hate single coils in the bridge. Not this one:
Click to expand...

Yeah Lollar makes those exclusive for Nash and they sound great. I went with Fralin SP43's in my build, really close to a P90 and can handle gain pretty good.

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Rex Rocker said:
That's the thing. I want my Tele to look like a Tele, but not sound like a Tele, LOL.

I don't think a standard Tele pickup is *that* articulate under high gain, TBH. Lots of pick and fret scratchy squelchy noises, IMO.
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I guess it’s a matter of perception, but I consider tele pickups (at least the good ones) to be maybe the most articulate pickups out there and those things you talk about with those noises are imo because it’s so articulate that it picks up all those details that humbuckers do not. I find you need a bit more control in one’s playing and to adjust a bit to them to get the most out of them, but there’s more clarity and potential for nuances in the playing with tele pickups vs many others ime. I think the metal plate they’re attached to also contributes hugely to the sound. Just my take on them though
 
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Yeah, I get ya. It's all about different playing styles, IMO. I like a sledgehammer tone, and for that, I like sledgehammer playing, not nuanced playing.

The one example I do like of a Tele doing the style of metal that I like is Wintersun, but that's an exception, and not really the tone that *I* go for.



But each to his own. :)
 
GJgo said:
Funny story, I was gifted a 2017 USA Tele the other day by a relative. I assume it's stock. Sweet I thought, country guitar! So then, the other night at (metal) band practice where I was playing My IIC+ straight in I took off my ESP & jacked in the Tele. Started riffing on the bridge pickup. I hate to say it, and, it was really good. Plenty of gain & articulation, and a very cutting top end that sliced through the mix.

Maybe John 5 & El Hefe are on to something...
Click to expand...
The thing many people don't understand, and this mostly applies to the 'run all knobs wide open' crew, you back off that tone knob 1/4 turn or maybe even a little bit more and its straight up P90 range on anything but the wimpiest stock Tele bridge pickups. My blue mutt above absolutely will grind if needed, but that only happens with the tone knob rolled back. YMMV and all that.

Also, and this is a huge thing, the Rutters Bridge will make most any Tele roar. It's much thicker than the regular stamped Tele bridge, but he's machined out the entre area around the pickup on the underside to the same thickness as the vintage stamped versions:

https://ruttersguitars.com/rutters-bridgehttp://crawlsbackward.blogspot.com/2014/07/marc-rutters-tele-bridge-and-cavalier.html
Congrats on the gifted Tele!
 
Rex Rocker said:
That's the thing. I want my Tele to look like a Tele, but not sound like a Tele, LOL.

I don't think a standard Tele pickup is *that* articulate under high gain, TBH. Lots of pick and fret scratchy squelchy noises, IMO.
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Exactly , it's the sound of Tele's that I hate lol. As you may have figured out I strongly dislike single coil pickup's.

You like the look of a Tele but prefer the sound of a Les Paul .
 
tonedover said:
Cause teles are bright as hell.
The 60 cycle hum has made me have two noisegates in my rig
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Put an Ilitch Noise cancelling system in your tele. I've got the pickguard one and it's as quiet as my les Paul without altering the tone at all. Expensive but highly worth it if you play a single coil a lot.
 
Rex Rocker said:
Yeah, I get ya. It's all about different playing styles, IMO. I like a sledgehammer tone, and for that, I like sledgehammer playing, not nuanced playing.

The one example I do like of a Tele doing the style of metal that I like is Wintersun, but that's an exception, and not really the tone that *I* go for.



But each to his own. :)
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That Wintersun clip sounded great! Thanks for sharing that. Never heard of them actually. I also sometimes like using tele's for that kinda stuff. That bite and zing they have can work very well for getting that frosty quality in Scandinavian metal like that. For a sledgehammer type sound I think only a highoutput humbucker really does that IME. The ‘80’s Bill Lawrence I recommended sounds very similar to their 500 series humbuckers of that era and I think it may actually be basically that disguised as a Tele looking pickup. I often like to use those nuances I mentioned to further add aggression and attack around the notes, but those kinds of pickups never will be full out sledgehammers
 
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