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Hey everyone, I was hoping I could get some advice.

I have an early/mid 90's Fender Jap reissue '62 Tele Custom that I love dearly. It is a gorgeous guitar, it plays beautifully, and the bridge pickup has that perfect Tele sound.

My only complaint with this axe is the neck pickup: absolutely no treble and very weak output. The neck pup is useless on its own, and it sucks all the life out of that awesome bridge pup with the switch in the mid position. I don't know if this is by design, or there is something wrong, but in any case I would like to put in a neck pup that I will actually use. This is a great guitar, but I don't play it as often as I should. I know I would play it more often if it had a decent neck pup.

I thought about dropping in a full-size humbucker, but I don't want to carve a huge hole in the body or the pickguard (pickguard has a cool design on it). I am willing to route to accomodate a Strat-size pup, but nothing bigger than that. I figured something like a Little '59 would be a good compromise, but I want to make sure it is a good match to that Tele bridge pup.

I mostly like classic rock tones as well as Weezer-type stuff, but I don't want to pigeonhole myself into one particular sound. My other guitar is a Strat with a Pearly Gates in the bridge and Texas Specials in the mid and neck. It is my main axe, but like I said, I would like to play the Tele more often.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome! I think it depends on the wiring and not on the pickup itself!
I have no experiences with teles, but i heard that vintage teles have been wired different from today.
You should remove the plate and take a look at the wiring. Maybe there is used a cap or something with the pickup, which let the pickup sound muddy.
In the past the tele neck pickup was maybe used to sound like a bass guitar.

The tele as bass thing might be true. If you select only the neck pup, can you futher muffle it with the tone control. If not it might be one of those fully engaged cap on neck. Here you can simply re-wire the thing. I i doubt that your guitar would have been wired that way. As much as it's a quot;truequot; re-issue feature, it's useless now that bass guitars have been invented.

First check this. Bypass the cap if it is indeed in place. If pup is still mud, then I'd say pop in a neck Alnico 2 pro or a Quarter pounder. Then you'll be singing. Then you'll start eyeing that bridge position...

I have a MIJ Tele Custom. The neck pickup didn't have the cap on it that makes it super muffled and bassy...don't know if yours does or not. You'll have to take a look.

It might just be a cheap pickup in your guitar.

If you want to stay with a Tele sized neck pickup I'd suggest the Duncan Custom Shop Tele ala Strat neck pickup or a Lindy Fralin Blues Special.

I've never tried it but I've heard the Duncan Tele Hot neck pickup is also very good.

If you want to go to a Strat pickup, the one I put in my MIJ Fender tele Custom is a Duncan Antiquity Surfer. Best Tele neck pickup I've ever used!

A Duncan SSL-1 would also be great.

Lew

Thanks for the great suggestions so far. Where specifically should I be looking for this cap? I am assuming under the control plate somewhere, but what would it be hooked up to?

It would be easier to decide if I knew what a Tele neck was quot;supposedquot; to sound like. I'm gonna hit the guitar shop and try out a few to see what I think, then I'll decide whether to go with a Tele replacement, or go for the Strat neck tone I know and love.

Other related question: what is that strange rectangular pickup that you see in a lot of Gamp;L ASAT neck positions?

Thanks!

The Gamp;L neck pup is their proprietary MFD (magnetic field design) pickup -- sort of like a hi fi P90. The ASAT Classic uses their version of an uncovered Tele neck pickup.

If you are going to stick with your current lead pickup and if it's a Fender version, then there is a good chance that any SD covered Tele neck pickup will require a flip of the hot and ground wires at the switch, which may also mean rewiring the neck pup cover or the lead pup base plate. So, if you really like the stock lead pickup, you might want to consider a Fender replacement for the neck slot. The standard American Series neck pickup is actually quite nice, as is the Nocaster neck and perhaps the Texas Special Tele neck. Alternatively, you could replace the set with a SD set -- the best choice there would probably be one of the Antiquity sets (which will be RWRP for hum-cancelling when combined) followed by the STL-2/STR-2 set for a nice overwound Tele tone (can be special ordered as RWRP).

A Strat pickup will probably not fit the neck slot if it's a traditional Tele routing, but you'd have to pull the pickguard to know for sure. It may even be pre-routed for a HB, which opens up a host of possibilities, depending on your musical tastes and goals.

you could also listen to the tele neck pup samples on the SD page. That will lets you hear proper neck sound.

Hmm ... hadn't considered replacing both pickups, but I'm not opposed to the idea. The bridge is great, but I imagine anything I replace it with will sound as good or better. Besides, it would make sense to have a matched set I think. I could try the Antiquity II set for that authentic 60's Tele sound, but we'll see.

So I sat down with the Tele in my PODxt, dialed up a Twin Reverb, and compared my neck pickup to the sound samples on sd.com (both through the same Samson monitors). Much to my surprise, the pickup sounded not too bad today - very similar to the Vintage '54 neck. I wondered if I was losing my mind, but I swear it sounded like crap two days ago. I would bet there is something physically wrong with the pickup or the wiring that is causing it to crap out occasionally. I have had problems with the switch in the past, so maybe that's it. Any other theories are appreciated.

Thanks!

I feel the same way about conventional tele neck pickups. I really like strat pickups in the neck position. My current favorite is the Duncan hot stack.

Not to be blasphemous, but the DiMarzio Twang King Neck might just be the most articulate, best bang for your buck non-botique tele neck pickup out there. I LOVE it, and it matches very well with a duncan broadcaster, or a Fender Nocaster.


Originally Posted by ratherdashingHey everyone, I was hoping I could get some advice.

I have an early/mid 90's Fender Jap reissue '62 Tele Custom that I love dearly. It is a gorgeous guitar, it plays beautifully, and the bridge pickup has that perfect Tele sound.

My only complaint with this axe is the neck pickup: absolutely no treble and very weak output. The neck pup is useless on its own, and it sucks all the life out of that awesome bridge pup with the switch in the mid position. I don't know if this is by design, or there is something wrong, but in any case I would like to put in a neck pup that I will actually use. This is a great guitar, but I don't play it as often as I should. I know I would play it more often if it had a decent neck pup.

I thought about dropping in a full-size humbucker, but I don't want to carve a huge hole in the body or the pickguard (pickguard has a cool design on it). I am willing to route to accomodate a Strat-size pup, but nothing bigger than that. I figured something like a Little '59 would be a good compromise, but I want to make sure it is a good match to that Tele bridge pup.

I mostly like classic rock tones as well as Weezer-type stuff, but I don't want to pigeonhole myself into one particular sound. My other guitar is a Strat with a Pearly Gates in the bridge and Texas Specials in the mid and neck. It is my main axe, but like I said, I would like to play the Tele more often.

Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum!


Originally Posted by ratherdashingHmm ... hadn't considered replacing both pickups, but I'm not opposed to the idea. The bridge is great, but I imagine anything I replace it with will sound as good or better. Besides, it would make sense to have a matched set I think.

Don't do it! At least, not unless you have issues with the combo once you replace the neck pup. If your bridge tone makes you smile then if you swap pups just to see if you can improve it you could end up chasing after your original tone, which can be costly and very time-consuming. You'll be doing yourself a favor if you wait it out to see if you really NEED (as opposed to want... who doesn't want to try every pickup they can?) to replace the bridge pup, especially if you like it as it is now. Striving after an ideal setup/pickup match is no substitute for simply plugging in, playing, and liking what you hear.


Originally Posted by alex1flyYou'll be doing yourself a favor if you wait it out to see if you really NEED (as opposed to want... who doesn't want to try every pickup they can?) to replace the bridge pup, especially if you like it as it is now.

Should he wait another two years on top of the two he's already waited?


Originally Posted by KGMESSIERShould he wait another two years on top of the two he's already waited?

I think that if the neck gets replaced, and its superior in tone to the bridge making the bridge sound not so good, then by all means replace it. But if the bridge already has what he considers quot;the perfect tele tone,quot; then he could spend another two years trying to find quot;the perfect tele tonequot; in the Duncan equivalent of what's in his guitar right now. Don't underestimate the power of G.A.S.!


Originally Posted by alex1flyDon't underestimate the power of G.A.S.!

An excellent point.