Attention Tone Chasers! I need your opinions.........

[stephen]

Okee-dokee, ya all know about my Tele:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/Mvc-020s-1.jpg

I love this guitar, and I love the tone, but..............

..........the noise!

My Les Paul has taken the ear-muffs off of me, and now I cant stand the 60 cycle hum!

Also, to get that great (and I mean GREAT) LP tone, the eq on my effects and amp make my tele seem like an ice-pick shrieking away! So I am thinking of something drastic:

I'm contemplating dumping my Seymore Duncan 1/4 Pounders for a Seymore Duncan ST59-1b little ‘59 in the bridge:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/ST59-1.jpg
and a Seymore Duncan STK-T3b / STK-T1n vintage stack in the neck:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/stk-t3.jpg

Going by the sound clips on SD's sight, I'm hopin that it will also darken my Tele up a bit too. Too my ears it will still let that tele tone out, just no mas 60 cycle hum!

So what do all you tone hounds think?

[dmock66]

My Strat has Bill Lawrence noiseless in it for about that very same reason. I think it still has all the Strat vibe but without the noise. Plus I put the hotter L290S in the bridge so I get some driving gain tones in addition to the rich Strat sweetness.

As for your solution, it sounds like one that will fit your situation. I rarely play more than one guitar per service so the EQ situation that you bring up isn't much of a problem for me. I know where each guitar is EQ'd both on my amp and pedals so I set my rig before I plug in and it stays that way for the duration of the practice/service. Now - if I were switching guitars mid-set then that would be a different story. However - as I recall you have a Behringer EQ-700. You could set your rig for one of your guitars then use the EQ-700 when you plug in the other to give you a more balanced sound. Just another option for the voicing - but that doesn't address the 60 cycle hum (which drives me nuts as well).

[hotraman]

Stephen;
I did the same thing will my tele.
Go to my website to see some pics.
The SD Lil 59 will darken the sound somewhat, but I love the new tone I get.
Plus I kept the standard Tex Mex P/U in the middle.
I do have to back off the treble in the 4th position.
But you will love the SD's.
Steve

[stephen]

Cool! Thanks for the info Steve!

Yeah, I'm gonna pull the trigger and get it. Might take me a while to save up the bucks, but it will be done!

[SAguitar]

I am just a Kinman freak. I don't like any other pickups for Teles of Strats, ever since I discovered Chris' incredible pickups. They are expensive, but silent, and just ooze tone. :cool:

[Jaybo]

That pickguard and tele look SO sweeeet! :cool:

I always believe in swapping pickups. Because it's FUN. It's interesting, and when you stumble on something good, it's really rewarding.

[Crunchyriff]

Stephen-
have you shielded that Tele?

If you take the time to do all the cavities, pickguard, etc. and use a common ground; you'd be surprised how much that will cut down your noise. The copper foil stuff works better than the "shielding paint", but be careful- that stuff will cut you VERY quickly if you aren't careful.

[stephen]

Stephen-
have you shielded that Tele?

If you take the time to do all the cavities, pickguard, etc. and use a common ground; you'd be surprised how much that will cut down your noise. The copper foil stuff works better than the "shielding paint", but be careful- that stuff will cut you VERY quickly if you aren't careful.

I have thought about that, but, my son wrote inside the cavitites (much like early fender employees/inspectors/craftsman), and even put little messages in there for me, and I cant bear to wipe them out (all the cavities are really tight, and for me to put the copper sheilding in would mean for me to take a router and open it up a bit.

I cant do it!

So, its humbuckers for me!

[prscustom24]

I am just a Kinman freak. I don't like any other pickups for Teles of Strats, ever since I discovered Chris' incredible pickups. They are expensive, but silent, and just ooze tone. :cool:

You & me, man. stephen's into 'buckers for now, so I think he's gonna ignore our input, but maybe if he does another fiddle one day he'll come to his senses and check these out.

http://www.kinman.com/

[SAguitar]

Right on, bro! Kinmans Rule!

I like my 'buckers, too, and play several Gibsons, but when I'm going for a single coil tone, I always grab one of my Kinmanized guitars! Pure Tone Heaven. :cool:

[Teleguy]

I can get used to anything.
If my Tele (wired completely with shielded cable and all) is noisy because of a particular venue's conditions, I just quickly adjust and turn it down between numbers. Been doing it that way for years.

Nowadays though, there ARE hum-free stacks that sound like single coils and fit right in. I've tried some.

Right now I have a Lace Alumi-Tone that looks promising. But I haven't installed it in anything yet, so will withold comment until I do, later.

[Micter]

Leave the neck pup alone. Get a mini 59 in the bridge and see how ya like it.

[MDK2323]

Stephen, I'm with David on this one, I really like the Lawrence pickups that I bought. They are quite affordable, sound great and are dead quiet.

They make Tele pups and humbuckers too, and Bill's designs have been used by Fender. The SCN's are Bill's design.

You may want to consider them also. Either way, I hope you find some great noiseless tone wherever your search takes you tho bro!

[Swarty]

The lil 59 is a great sounding pickup, but your Tele will not sound like a Tele. Hello honk, bye bye twang. Just depends on what you're after.

I've tried lots of stacked things over the years, including Kinmans. Duncan used to make a maroon covered thing with no pole pieces exposed. I have had a couple of these in a frankenstrat for about 15 years. They have vintage (low) output and are the strattiest stacks I've heard (they are long out of production). All of the other stacks I've tried, including a set of Kinman Woodstocks and Bill Lawrence back in the '70s had more mids and less bottom and top than their single coil counterparts. I do have a strat with a Cool Rail in the neck, a JB Jr in the middle and a Hot Rail in the bridge... of course this thing is completely different and does sound nice (hmm, I thnk I'll use it Sunday), but seldom gets the call. I seem to use the noisy strat and tele 90% of the time. I can't imagine not turning down between songs as the pedals typically create more noise than the the pickups?

[MDK2323]

It's funny how subjective tone can be. We all are tone chasers, we're just all chasing different ones. :D

[Micter]

The lil 59 is a great sounding pickup, but your Tele will not sound like a Tele. Hello honk, bye bye twang. Just depends on what you're after.

I've tried lots of stacked things over the years, including Kinmans. Duncan used to make a maroon covered thing with no pole pieces exposed. I have had a couple of these in a frankenstrat for about 15 years. They have vintage (low) output and are the strattiest stacks I've heard (they are long out of production). All of the other stacks I've tried, including a set of Kinman Woodstocks and Bill Lawrence back in the '70s had more mids and less bottom and top than their single coil counterparts. I do have a strat with a Cool Rail in the neck, a JB Jr in the middle and a Hot Rail in the bridge... of course this thing is completely different and does sound nice (hmm, I thnk I'll use it Sunday), but seldom gets the call. I seem to use the noisy strat and tele 90% of the time. I can't imagine not turning down between songs as the pedals typically create more noise than the the pickups?

I have a mini 59 in my Tele and I would call it "nasty"...."honk" isn't even in the ballpark when talking about how it sounds.

One man's treasure............................

[Swarty]

The lil 59 is a great sounding pickup, but your Tele will not sound like a Tele. Hello honk, bye bye twang. Just depends on what you're after.

I've tried lots of stacked things over the years, including Kinmans. Duncan used to make a maroon covered thing with no pole pieces exposed. I have had a couple of these in a frankenstrat for about 15 years. They have vintage (low) output and are the strattiest stacks I've heard (they are long out of production). All of the other stacks I've tried, including a set of Kinman Woodstocks and Bill Lawrence back in the '70s had more mids and less bottom and top than their single coil counterparts. I do have a strat with a Cool Rail in the neck, a JB Jr in the middle and a Hot Rail in the bridge... of course this thing is completely different and does sound nice (hmm, I thnk I'll use it Sunday), but seldom gets the call. I seem to use the noisy strat and tele 90% of the time. I can't imagine not turning down between songs as the pedals typically create more noise than the the pickups?

I have a mini 59 in my Tele and I would call it "nasty"...."honk" isn't even in the ballpark when talking about how it sounds.

One man's treasure............................

So I guess one man's honk is another man's nasty. I found the 'lil 59er to be very midrangey compared to a stock type pickup.

[stephen]

Well someone sold me a lil59 for 20 bucks. Cant go wrong at that price!

So it will be installed by Saturday, with a full tone report by Monday!

I may do like micter said, and just leave the neck pup the way it is.

[Swarty]

Well someone sold me a lil59 for 20 bucks. Cant go wrong at that price!

So it will be installed by Saturday, with a full tone report by Monday!

I may do like micter said, and just leave the neck pup the way it is.

If it is a stock output neck pickup it may be a very useful combination. Your pickup switch will become a treble/volume/gain boost.

[Jaybo]

Well someone sold me a lil59 for 20 bucks. Cant go wrong at that price!


:yeah:


That is awesome! Can't wait to hear how she sounds.

[Ravindave_3600]

Well someone sold me a lil59 for 20 bucks. Cant go wrong at that price!

So it will be installed by Saturday, with a full tone report by Monday!

I may do like micter said, and just leave the neck pup the way it is.

So, Bro, where's the full tone report? :cool:

[Ravindave_3600]

So, Bro, where's the full tone report? :cool:

Oh, it's uh... in the next thread. :embarassed:

Ummm, I knew that. ;)

[stephen]

So, Bro, where's the full tone report? :cool:

Oh, it's uh... in the next thread. :embarassed:

Ummm, I knew that. ;)

Thought I was cowbellin didjya!

Hee-hee!