Man, all this talk about Teles... Then I popped in the Danny Gatton video last night. I want a Tele! I played a Tele once with a 60's Gibson mini-HB at the neck and a stock bridge PU that sounded GREAT. I also like the Fender Nashville Teles with the Strat middle PU. Which readily available PUs do you recommend for that setup (Mini-HB neck, Strat mid, Tele bridge)? Thanks.
I've never seen the mini-hum + Nashville Tele thing anywhere. It'd be way cool, but I think you're going to have to go the custom route (or rout, come to think of it...) to get there. I dunno - does Fender put a swimming pool rout on Teles, or just Strats? If so, all you need is the pickups, a 5-way and a pickguard to make it happen. If not, I imagine Warmoth would cut a body for you. Or your odd-Chapin or other custom guy would be able to build you one as well. But you want readily available, and I'm not sure you'll find it.
I would probably go with a USA Custom body with a swimming pool rout for the neck/middle. I have a USACG Strat that's just awesome. I'm looking for pickup suggestions. There's just so many to choose from now and I'd like to hear others experiences.
My Mini /S/Tele ran a Seymour SM2/Alnico II/ Vintage stack and I liked it alot. One ready done tele is the Valley Arts Brent Mason model Good stuff, have fun!
The setup you describe is what Brent Mason uses. You can actually buy a Brent Mason guitar from Valley Arts with this pickup configuration. Incidentally, he has three knobs: master volume, master tone, and volume for the middle strat pickup. Plus the tele three-way switch. - Jim
I have a mini-hum in the neck of my Tele and I love it. Very bright and clear, but roll off the tone and it's great for jazz licks. It's a 70's mini-hum out of a Les Paul deluxe.
Yeah, I've been thinking about one set up like that for a while now. If you check out Brent Mason's video, (besides the incredible playing) he shows in depth the tones available. He gets great Carlton tones & bright tele tones from the same axe.
Pounder, You'll love the Suhrs in the Nashville Tele. I put them in mine and it sounds great. I also changed the pots to CTS and the tone knob is a push/pull that gives you the neck/bridge combo without the middle pup to give you a more traditional option. I can't say enough about the Suhr pups.
I have a set of V60's in my now #1 Strat...killer tones The push pull option sounds good...I'll try it out. Thanks!!! Aloha
>>I have a mini-hum in the neck of my Tele and I love it. Very bright and clear, but roll off the tone and it's great for jazz licks. It's a 70's mini-hum out of a Les Paul deluxe.<< Same here, except the minibucker in mine is a recent Dimarzio (their "vintage" as opposed to their higher gain minibucker). You've described the tone well. I also have the matching minibucker at the bridge. Still very bright, not quite as twangy as a standard Tele bridge, but not as ice-picky, either, and a tad fuller.
Hey i have that Dimarzio Vintage Mini-humbucker in my Tele too! It was installed by the previous owner. It does exactly like you described, and just I love the tone of it! Check out the photos of my guitar here: http://community.webshots.com/album/258633421GeLXjD It's a hot-rodded G&L ASAT Classic.
I really like the way the switching system he has is described. I'd be real interested in hearing that. The extra knob makes it look like a strat, tho.
benster wrote: >>Check out the photos of my guitar here: http://community.webshots.com/album/258633421GeLXjD Cool guitar! fullerplast wrote: >>Check out these, from the original relic master himself: http://www.vinettoguitars.com/ Those Vinettos are what prompted me to try the Dimarzios in the first place, a brand I have otherwise stayed away from due to nagging memories of the Super Distortions from decades ago (silly, I know, but there you go), and more recent annoyance with their litigious copyright grab on double creams. But I have to admit, their minis sound great <prideswallowed\>.
Thanks George! This thread has got me to thinking of adding yet another Dimarzio mini-humbucker to my tele, in the middle position, with a 5-way switch plus a push-pull tone pot to get the extra pickup combinations. That'll make it one heckuva versatile guitar! I'll have to route out another hole though. Hmm. The neck+middle and middle+bridge sounds on the sound clip section of the Vinetto site are very nice! Check them out!
But it does the pickup combo/blend thing really well. I've always liked the pickups in this guitar and have never been tempted to replace them. There are ten usable sounds in this guitar. This guitar has seen a lot of playing time and regularly gigs with my Teles. It's a '95 Gibson Nighthawk.
Those Nighthawks are probably not the most fashionable guitars around, but I've played several and have to admit they can sound pretty good. Excellent in-between quack, too.
So is the consensus that any good strat pickup works well in the middle position of a tele? Also, does anyone have experience with a std. tele bridge, a full humbucker in the neck and something in the middle? I have a Melancon routed for the S/S/H config and I want to fullly populate it and do a swiss army knife guitar, which blend, coil split, etc. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. I'm totally psyched about what this guitar (which is already a sweet tele) is going to be like! Thanks, Dave
