SD Alnico II Pro's put in MIM Tele

[Duffy]

I installed the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro traditional style tele pickups in my MIM standard tele I bought in Nashville a year and a half ago. I had been dissatisfied with the sound of it ever since and have been wanting to put in some new pickups. I had not been fond of the stock hot ceramic, noisy, totally non-noise cancelling - even in the middle switch position - pickups. The stock pickups didn't have a beautiful musical sound to them and were, in my opinion, unremarkable, putting it mildly.

This telecaster now sounds the best of any telecaster I have ever played. The change is way beyond what I expected. I expected a change, for sure, definitely a noticeable one; but this is dramatic. The guitar now produces very musical tones in any switch position and it is very quiet, even with the Big Muff Pi. It is totally silent in the middle switch position.

It sounds like I think a good telecaster should sound, lots of twang and a nice mellow neck pickup; but they both rock. The sustain is great. They work really good with blues because of the sustain and great musical depth of tone.

I did the whole job without even getting burned. I bought two new Weller soldering irons. A forty watt and a twenty five watt and a bunch of extra tips. I got new solder and flux. The whole soldering process went great. The original pickups were installed really well with the pickups being grounded to the wooden body with screws as well as the bridge pickup being grounded, in addition to a screw into the body cavity, also to the bridge plate via a star connector screwed between the pickup and the bridge via one of the bridge pickup height adjustment screws.

The new bridge pickup has a very nice full brass or copper, thick, baseplate. The Fender bridge pickup didn’t have a metal baseplate. The Fender pickups looked really cheap compared to the Seymour Duncan ones. The bridge pickup has heavy black string wrapping the wire windings and the neck silver/chrome cover encloses the whole pickup down to the mounting plate. The Fender bridge pickup has a thin fabric tape covering the wire windings and the neck chrome pickup cover doesn’t even completely cover the wire windings, which are totally exposed and visible between the plastic base and the cover. Purely cosmetic? I don't know. But nice appointments.

These stock pickups are, I think, one of the main reasons that so many people say that the Squier Classic Vibe Telecasters sound so much better than the Fender MIM standard ones. I bought a butterscotch CV Tele and it sounds way better than my MIM standard did before I installed these new SD pickups. I'm glad I took the risk and bought the Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro telecaster pickups, without ever having seen or heard them. I have been very satisfied with all of the premium pickups I have bought from SD, no affln. Paying the extra money can sometimes be worth it. I would still like to try a set of Golden Age or Tonerider tele pickups in another tele.

Thru the DRRI this tele sounds awesome.

This guitar will now be one of my favorites, without a doubt. I’ll be keeping it close by.

[Duffy]

This is the MIM Fender standard tele that I installed the SD Alnico II Pro pickups in:

[IMG][/IMG]

[bcdon***]

Hey Duffy,

That's a mighty nice looking tele.. I'm heading down to Texas at the end of the month, and if I find a nice one, I'm going to bring one home.

I really like that picture, with the Vox in the back and the bottle of Pepsi.. looks like you're having a good time.

[Duffy]

BC, actually we were camping out near D.C. and had just arrived from the Nashville area, even though we live in North Central Pennsylvania. I had a couple days that I had to spend at the NIH seeing my Dr's and having tests.

It was one of the first times Charity had been camping, and the first time in a tent. We were using our Eureka Timberline 2 and had a small air conditioner pressed up against the screen of the rear door, under the vestibule. Although it was realy hot and humid out we were nice and chilly, even with lots of blankets.

The Vox DA5 is a very nice little amp with a thirty hour battery life, plus you can plug it in. It produced some great sounds that were perfect for camping out and travelling.

The Fender MIM standard tele's original pickups were not fond to my heart and I finally got around installing the SD's. It now sounds as good or better than my butterscotch Squier Classic Vibe tele - and that is saying something. It is now one of my favorite guitars.

I can't say enough good, however, about those Squier Classic Vibe butterscotch tele's; right out of the box they are great by most accounts and my experience definitely asserts that opinion.

The Fender MIM standard has a very thin finish on the neck, which I like - compared to the very heavy poly coat on the CV's neck. The Fender feels great and plays great as well. I won't be giving up Fenders just yet. I keep this one close by me all the time and it is plugged in right now.

[FrankenFretter***]

Alnico II pickups are the bomb. Teles, too.

If the poly clear coat on the neck bothers you Duffy, you can use a Scotchbrite pad to take some off/dull it down. It makes the playing experience much better, afaic.