Your favorite Tele pickups

[sjaustin]

Inspired by trailer's thread on Strat pickups, I thought I'd check out what people are putting in their Telecasters these days. I have a Classic Vibe Thinline that might be getting more use in a new band soon, and am considering an upgrade.

Feel free to share any favorite pickup, but bonus points if you can meet my specific criteria: better than stock CV pickups (so probably not GFS or similar, but maybe) but cheaper than boutique prices.

[thesmokingman]

I don't get to pickup swap much so I'll speak to what I didn't like. I didn't like the fender noiseless I did recently for someone's classic vibe tele. it was like they literally ruined everything about the tele sound. the guy loved it, I didn't ymmv
I've gotta be honest, I pretty much dig the classic vibe pickups as-is.

[mjcyates]

I have Dimarzio Twang Kings in my 77 Tele and I think they sound great. I am building an Esquire and have a Dimarzio Pre-B1 to put into it so I am anxious to see what it sounds like.

[Frank_NH]

I have three Telecasters 

(1) American Standard Tele with TV Jones telecaster pickups.  Hot (but not overly so) with great clarity and twang.
(2) Partscaster Tele with a surf green H-H body.  This guitar has two Jason Lollar HB-sized P-90s.  This is THE rock and roll guitar, especially in the bridge position!  Fat midrange and lots of tone!
(3) Tele Deluxe with two Brandwound Wide Range Humbuckers.  These pickups are built like the vintage Fender versions from the 70s, with 12 magnet pole pieces (the Fender reissues are built like conventional HBs with steel screw pole pieces and a magnet on the bottom).  I love these pickups as they combine the beef of a humbucker and the clarity of a single coil.  Quite hot at about 10K each.

[jimilee]

I'm have Texas specials in one of mine. Working on getting one wound by timbo for an Esquire.


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[Ralfg]

Nordstrand NVT alnico 3.

I posted in the strat thread, I'll repeat here. Disclaimer... I am a friend... but it has nothing to do with my love for Nordstrand pickups.  They are a bit pricey, but the tone is incredible. I can not recommend them more.

[Aleph Null]

I have a CV Thinline that now has a Warmoth baritone neck. It's loaded with an EMG T set. I chose the EMGs because I knew they would be able to handle the low B. It still sounds like a tele, despite the active pickups—just with less noise and a smoother treble response.

[gordo]

I have a pair of slightly overwould Seymour Duncans from the masters hands.

The BIGGEST improvement I've made to ANY tele neck pickups is to take the cover off.  You can get it a bit closer to the strings and it opens up the top end of the pickup in some very cool ways.  I would strongly recommend picking up some pickup tape from Stewart-McDonald though and putting a wrap around it to protect it from the inevitable stray pick stroke.

[madbean]

I've got Fender Noiseless in mine...they are fine. Not mind blowing but pretty good.

[diablochris6]

I have a Seymour Duncan vintage stack set in one of my Tele builds, along with a Strat pickup in the middle. I am not disappointed with them, but I have a set of Timbo's Broadcaster-style pickups in another build that I absolutely adore.

[pickdropper]

I've been happy with Lollars so far. 

I also have EMGs in a partscaster tele.  I expected to pull them out, but I really like them.  They don't sound anything like stock tele pickups, however. 

[HamSandwich]

I love my GFS's, so I'll STFU   

[sjaustin]

I love my GFS's, so I'll STFU   

No, don't! Tell me about them. I've liked their stuff in the past, but my sense is that they're comparable to, not better than, CV pickups. (That's a good thing.) I still want to know which you got and what you like about them.

[midwayfair]

Kinman's Broadcaster set. I have them set up as a bridge and middle, with a tele neck pickup in my red tele. (Most modern teles are already routed for 3 pickups.)

I think they're my favorite pickup set, period. At least 80% of the recordings I've ever done use that guitar if you want to hear them in context.

FWIW, the stock pickups that came in that guitar were also fantastic. They're Fender's 60s set and I put the in my other tele I gave to a friend.

[chris weaver]

I have Dimarzio Twang Kings in my 77 Tele and I think they sound great. I am building an Esquire and have a Dimarzio Pre-B1 to put into it so I am anxious to see what it sounds like.

+2 on those twang kings! They pop!