Opinions sought: best Tele bridge pickup?

[duhvoodooman***]

The brass saddles helped, but I'm still looking for a little less twang and a little more warmth. I bid on a couple of p'ups on eBay over the weekend but didn't win either. Don't want to go higher than the very low $30's. Have to be patient, never an easy thing!

[duhvoodooman***]

Well, that didn't take long! I put in a last-second bid on a GFS Fatbody Overwound Tele bridge pickup and got it for the minimum bid price of $26! Not bad--$9 cheaper than the online price of $35, which is very reasonable to begin with! At this price, if I don't like it, I'll just put it back up on eBay and should be able to get close to what I paid for it. The description sounds like an excellent match to what I'm looking for, but you never know until you hear it in the guitar....

[duhvoodooman***]

Well, unfortunately, I got a notice from GFS saying the Fatbody pickup was backordered. I asked for how long and they say 2 - 3 weeks. Why the heck they're auctioning them on eBay when they don't have the stock to fill the order is a freakin' mystery to me. I may ask for my money back; haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I started looking at some others, and I bid on & won one of these Hot Alnico 3 p'ups, used in the Highway 1 Tele. Figured it was worth a try if I could get it under $35. Have read reviews ranging from "best Tele bridge p'up I've ever heard" to "complete crap, sounds terrible", so I'll be interested to hear how it sounds for myself....

[marnold***]

Anyway, I started looking at some others, and I bid on & won one of these Hot Alnico 3 p'ups, used in the Highway 1 Tele. Figured it was worth a try if I could get it under $35. Have read reviews ranging from "best Tele bridge p'up I've ever heard" to "complete crap, sounds terrible", so I'll be interested to hear how it sounds for myself....

Unfortunately, I am one of the people who fall into the latter category. I hope you will disagree.

[duhvoodooman***]

Unfortunately, I am one of the people who fall into the latter category. I hope you will disagree.

I understand that these hot alnico 3 pickups were fairly recently introduced in the Highway 1 (perhaps because of the lackluster p'ups originally used?). I think the change was made after that early 2007 period when you and I both tried a Highway 1 and weren't impressed (as I replied in that thread). But we'll just have to see. I figured at under $35, if I didn't like them, I could always put 'em right back up on eBay and only lose a few bucks, worst case.

I asked GFS for a refund on the b/o'd Fatbody, along with a comment that I thought auctioning an item without stock to fill the sale was a pretty lousy business practice. Probably just a careless mistake, because I've found them excellent to deal with on other items, and very customer-sensitive.

[duhvoodooman***]

I received the Fender hot alnico 3 Tele bridge pickup yesterday and popped it into my Xaviere XV820 last night. Was quite concerned that it would be too hot (measured the DC resistance at a whopping 15.0K!), but it turns out to be exactly what I was looking for.

Country players who want maximum twang/spank will not be interested in this p'up, but I don't play in that style anyway. As a blues/rock player, I wanted more warmth and smoother highs, and a pickup that would work well with overdrive pedals. This one does that in spades. And it's certainly not dull or muddy sounding in the least. It still has plenty of snap and top end, just tamed down from the stock pickup which I found too bright for my tastes, at least in this guitar. And, yes--15K or not, it's still unmistakably Tele-sounding. And the growl it produces when overdriven is a thing of beauty. I'll have to get a short clip posted....

The only problem I see is that it doesn't balance particularly well with the stock neck pickup--not surprising, given its 5.7K DC resistance. So I think I'll look for a neck version of this same pickup!

[duhvoodooman***]

Here's a hastily recorded clip, so don't expect too much! Hopefully will show a bit of the tone of this new pickup. Recorded using Line 6 Gearbox emulation software. Amp model is a '64 Deluxe Reverb, set up clean with a bit of reverb and slapback echo. The tone control on the guitar is set right at halfway. First part is recorded clean--variation on a favorite Peter Green riff. Second part is a blues riff run through my BYOC British Blues OD pedal, gain around two-thirds. Here's the link:

http://www.box.net/shared/3ieisnjhqt