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Man, I haven't been on the SD Forum for a long time... like a year or something..

Anyhoo - recently picked up a Highway 1 Tele (alder body, maple neck). The stock pickups sound good, in fact, the neck is a keeper - but the bridge is a little weak. I like the twang for the clean/countryish stuff I play, but I'd also like to be able to rock and growl a bit more when I'm playing my more hard rock/open chord/power chord stuff.

I turn to you fine folks of the Forum for some advice. The front runners seem to be the Hot, the Alnico II Pro and the Quarter Pounder. Which of these (or other) will best retain the classic tele twang, yet give me a little more output, low end and tame the highs a little when I crank it?

Note: I'd like to keep it single coil (no rails, stacks or 'lil humbuckers). I like the character of single coils and I don't mind the hum.

Thanks a bunch,
- Cheezemaster

i havent tried a hot in a while but the qp is a cool pup, raw but with more output and a bigger very punchy tone, great rock pup, some bite not so twangy.
the alnico II is a nice pup but might not be what you are looking for, vintage tele tone with a smoother high end and a little more mids but still plenty twangy.

the solo prince was playing in that pic was pretty sweet

QP Tele is my favorite Tele pup. Lots of attitude and just raw sounding right out of the box.

The Jerry Donahue model walks the hot/vintage line very well. Another option would be a tapped STL-2 and a 5 way switch, that way you can get a hot tele lead tone and a more traditional lead tone with the same guitar.

My favs are the Antiquity I flatpole lead and the STL-2 Hot Tele lead. I also like the JD and 5/2 Tele leads, along with the Fender CS Nocaster. If you want to keep the stock neck pickup (which is probably a fine idea as Fender neck pups are generally nice), then the STL-2 or QP or another Fender would be easier to install (no cover or baseplate ground switching needed). If you want a good Tele sound that's a bit hotter and fatter than vintage, then it's hard to beat the STL-2 Hot for the price (actually regardless of price, too). You could get it tapped and add a 5-way switch if you want to retain the vintage Tele tone, but I love the full-bore tone so much that I don't miss the tap feature at all.

Man I am thinking Hot Tele for you this time around if you don't want another QP.

Might be willing to move the BG1400 if you're interested Cheeze old buddy.

Glad to see you stick your nose in here again, stay strange but don't be such a stranger.

I'd go for the Tapped Tele Hot. The low output will have all the snap and twang of a Duncan Broadcaster and the high output will push your amp alot harder for more overdriven tones. Lew

Cool - thanks for the advice everbody. Here's what I'm thinking. (although I'll probably have someone do the wiring for me). Go with the tapped Hot tele bridge pup. I'd also like to have the tone control (which I never use) replaced with an independent bridge volume knob - which is also push-pull tap. Likewise, neck pup will have an independent volume control - basically a Gibson-type switching setup (minus tone pots) in a Tele.... that oughta cover all the bases for me.