New Pickups for my Baja Tele?

If you like shrill, sterile and characterless pickups then, by all means, fit some noiseless ones.
Personally I love the pickups in my Baja and wouldn't change them or anything else on it-except for the useless jack socket which I swapped for a Les Paul-type flat plate.

 

WHY??

The Baja pickups are amazing, you just might need to shield the pickup cavities. Some get rid of the S-1, but that most likely is not it.

My Baja is fine as is and I won't change a thing, but some have complained about the Bajas being noisy, but it is not the pickups, it is the non-shielded pickup cavities causing most of your problem.

Of course this is just what I read on the forums, do a search.

 

i agree with the sentiments expressed- my baja pickups are staying. i do want to rewire the control plate to get rid of the s-1 garbage (which never gets used), and go back to a standard 3-way.

shielding can be done with copper tape or shielding paint if needed, you might loose just the tiniest little bit of high end though.

 

Build a second control plate, with a 3 way, so you can do a fair trial.

Lots of wiring, connections under the hood of the Baja. Some of the noise is not just 60 cycle stuff and changing the pickups to noiseless may reduce the noise much less than you expect.

Keeping the existing control plate intact makes sense. You get comfortable with the 3 way, then sell the stock control plate for $$$. People will want it, you watch.

 

I replaced the pickups in my Baja for OC Duff's. I'm more of a country than blues guy and the stock pickups while well liked by tons of guys weren't for me. Check out the Dimarzio Area T's for yours. They're probably whats going in my mine next since I'm sick of hum ruining quieter parts of songs. Those or Bill Lawrence (Wilde) pickups. He has some cool designs but if you contact them about info expect a Phd level explanation about how all other pickups are flawed and how string theory applies to noiseless pickups.

 

Yep. I sold mine as a unit with the pickups and it was pretty heavily sought after over at TDPRI. Haven't regretted it for a moment.

 

Yes.

One must study for 3 weeks and try and run (mentally) like a madman to try and stay up what information is coming at you!

If you caught on to just 5%. I can't do it because I can't hear speech that well to start with - too much of what Bill is saying gets lost.


Anyway, I wanted to ask you how much reduction in noise the change yielded, and maybe what percent was 60 cycle and what was not.


Much obliged.

 

I've got a set of Dimarzio Area T's in mine, with a standard 3-way switch and like it just fine. The bridge pickup is only 70-80% noiseless, but that's good enough.

Cb

 

Those stock Baja pickups are cool IMO. I remember the twisted tele neck pickup being a hot commodity in the past

 

I went for the noiseless setup about 5 years ago. Bought a set of used Bardens off Ebay. The neck p/u was a bit shrill for my taste. It died of sweat overload a few months later. Replaced it with a $30 GFS rail P/U.
The Barden neck p/u is great for what I want. The El Cheapo GFS is unexpectedly good for what I need. Middle position is very usable for clean rhythm playing.
It's not your exactly your typecast Tele sound, but more versatile than most stock single-coils, and totally silent, great for recording with a cranked tone or gigging in places with seriously screwed wiring.

 

Love me some stock Baja tone...

 

I've got a set of Dimarzio Area T's in my USA Standard tele and have been very happy with them. I also recently put a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless pups in my FSR BSB Tele (which is similar to the Baja) and have been happy with those as well.

 

http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-shield-your-pickups-cavity-your-electric-guitar-398943/

I would stay with the pickups also, noiseless pickups and the like seem to rob a guitar of vibe and sound to be honest, I had 4 or 5 and try to stay away now.

 

Those are my favorite Fender-made tele pickups and wiring scheme. I say work on shielding and keep them!