Duncan Antiquities are great. Don Mare if you feel like waiting a little longer. Those are probably the two most obvious choices from where I'm sitting.
I just bought a set of Van Zandt True Vintage that are suppose to be awesome. I havent installed them yet but have heard alot of positive things on them. Cant wait to try them out!
And what HE said too. I could add that Lindy Fralin makes a good one, as does Fred Stuart and Jason Lollar. It's a great time to buy a Tele pickup - there really are tons of good ones. I'm jonesin' for a set of Don Mare Stingray bridge and Stelly neck pickup as I write this. Dana O.
I've got a Don Mare Super Sport set in my blue tele - absolutely beautiful pickups. You can't beat em.
Fralin, Mare, Stuart, Novak, or any of the usual suspects...I like the lower output for classic tele around 7K...Ive got a Novak set in my Tele and a Fralin in my Esquire, I have a Mare Super Sport bridge going in another Tele, I also have a set of Fender OVs that are just as good as the others. They're ALL GOOD.
As Per recommendation from Steve Rhian who's a Texas Country Telemaster,I bought a set of Textone Tele pickups.The bridge pickup give you that nice rich classic tele twang with out be harsh on the top end. It's a very balance sounding pickup. The neck Textone pickup compliments the bridge very well. Here's a link to their website.I've got the Model T/TC in the bridge, and the Model -T in the neck. http://www.tex-tonepickups.com/id73.html Here's some pics of the Textone's in my New to me '78 Tobacco Sunburst Tele.
If you don't want to go the boutique route, the Duncan Broadcaster model is an awesome Tele pickup IMO. Al
It's hard to go wrong with Duncans...the Vintage 54 Lead is great as is the Broadcaster or even the Alnico II Pro and don't rule out the 5/2's and the Vintage Rhythm is great too...if you can spend a little more cash the Duncan Antiquities is amazing, some of the best pickups out there are Antiquities!
All of the pups mentioned are great, but if you specifically want twang - as in Don Rich Bakersfield twang, you really need a 60's style staggered pole pickup. I second the recommendation for the Duncan 54's. Either that, or get a set of Fender `62 Customs : http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/pickups_tele62custom.htm
I just picked up the Jerry Donahue SD bridge pup on a recom from a Telemaster friend of mine. I wanted something with fatter mids and he says this delivers. We'll see once I get it in there.
Depends on which vintage twang you need. The two tele bridge p/us that do it for me are Don Mare's. The lower output 2324, higher output 0038. They differ mainly in volume. Both will twang, cut, scream, do anything you want. There's warmth, clarity and resonance in both. BTW: the bridge and saddles are just as influential in twang characteristics. You might want to look there too if you haven't already.
That's the tele bridge pickup that I prefer. It's got a nice smooth midrange but still has a clear vintage-style tele bridge tone, IMO. It was designed to emulate tone of the pickup in Donahue's '52 tele so it should do vintage twang.
