Stratocaster vs. Telecaster

they are good. I play a Telecaster but I bear no ill will towards the Stratocaster.

My first guitar was some weird Yamaha with a locking nut and a pseudo Floyd Rose and it weighed like 20 pounds, so I traded it for a Squier Strat which I've owned since 1988 (though it's currently out of commission—pickup issues). I should probably get a legit good Strat someday, but there's no rush.

I had a fake Tele once, and I've played real Teles before, but you have to be really good to play that guitar confidently. It doesn't hide a thing.

I've realized I kinda hate humbuckers; i had some in my homebrewed tele deluxe and recently swapped them out for p90s because it always sounded way too muddy and dull for me.

been thinking about getting one of these, this guy makes handwound P90s that fit in a Strat single coil mount

thinking that for the middle, the TV Smith Filter'tron in the bridge humbucker I posted above, then keeping the Strat neck pickup the same

https://www.rosepickups.com/rose-pickups-products/freedom-t-90-bridge

Keith had the right idea, put a humbucker in place of the Tele's (imo not very useful) neck pickup. You get the bright twang of the bridge, but more versatility out of the neck and combos.

That said, I'm not a big fan of humbuckers. P90s, though, those are great. And Neil Young might have stumbled on the best combo years ago with his Les Paul, which sports one P90 and one Firebird pickup. Iirc Daniel Lanois has the same setup on his own Goldtop.

I've kind of been fascinated by all the unique propriety pickups: Firebird, Jazzmaster, Gretsch, Rick. For those last two, do all models sport the same unique pickups?

I like the neck pickup in my tele. Think it’s an American standard, bought it new at GC in 1997. The bridge pickup is too think and twangy. Lobe the neck on clean or with a little bit of grit.

Neck pickups are the shiznit. I will never alter this opinion.

Also I have mad love for a P90.

For a while, to get semi-hollowbody sounds into my palette, I had an epi 339 with alleged coil-split abilities. Sounded okay, but did not really get to true single-coil scalpel-like tone.

It was a pretty nice guitar, just not for me. I gave/sold it to my bandmate (I recall there was whiskey involved). So I still get to see it every now and then.

Perhaps there is a fully-hollow archtop with P90s in my future. Wildly impractical but it might be cool. Like maybe a Casino or Jazzica type thingy.

My guitar teacher played enough Beatles tributes over the years that he eventually bought a Casino and a Gretsch strictly for that purpose, because nothing else quite sounded like them.

been thinking about getting one of these, this guy makes handwound P90s that fit in a Strat single coil mount

thinking that for the middle, the TV Smith Filter'tron in the bridge humbucker I posted above, then keeping the Strat neck pickup the same

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, December 4, 2020 9:28 AM (forty-five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this sounds like a really fun configuration

Gretsch, Rick. For those last two, do all models sport the same unique pickups?

Rickenbacker has always used in-house designs. Since the '80s their guitars have mostly been fitted with a pickup that is higher-gain than the design used in the preceding three decades. Some of their more expensive models (e.g. the Tom Petty-signature 12-string) are available with the '60s-style "toaster-top" pickups.
Gretsch guitars have been manufactured with all kinds - their own designs, but also DeArmond, TV Jones, Lindy Fralin...

Supros have unique pickups too the new stuff they are putting out is really cool

I've been playing an ES-335 for a couple years now which has 57 classic and super classic humbuckers, and I like them for what they do not have, i.e. a lot of the tones I don't like in single coil pickups. They can sound slightly dull through certain amps for sure, but, like, just don't play through those amps, play through something brighter. Some day I might want a tele for limited uses, but my current electric gives me the sound I want in most applications. Plus semi-hollows are nicer to practice unamplified with.

Can't see myself ever wanting a strat again. Gilmour is the only guy who I would really say gets a beautiful tone out of it, and it's so fat and un-strat-like imo, but it's really un-anything-like.

The Keef neck humbucker seems like the opposite of what I'd want - I don't want to make the neck potentially muddier, I'd rather have a bridge humbucker and a neck P90 or something.

I find at least on my Tele (which has one) it's a bit louder and fuller, more ... piano-like?

Re: Gilmour, of course he's associated with the Strat, but there's more to it than that. I had my mind blown when I learned that despite the fact many would point to it as an ultimate Strat sound, the solo on Another Brick in the Wall was actually done on a Goldtop with P90s. My friend's theory is that it's just more forgiving than a Strat is of those super high bends he does.

strats are pretty flexible, i mean, everyone from hendrix to albert hammond jr to ritchie blackmore, those ppl have really different tones

teles are pretty flexible, i mean, everyone from page to black francis to steve cropper, those ppl have really different tones

yeah and jimmy page played a lot of tele too even though he's considered a les paul guy

i mean shit at the end of the day now a lot of people are running their guitar through like 12 boutique pedals it probably doesn't even matter than much

The "Tele" that Black Francis played with Pixies had humbuckers in it.

yeah and jimmy page played a lot of tele too even though he's considered a les paul guy

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown)

These 2 on LZ records:

1959 Fender Telecaster (The Dragon). Given to Page by Jeff Beck and repainted with a psychedelic dragon design by Page. Played with the Yardbirds. Used to record the first Led Zeppelin album and used on the early tours during 1968–69. In 1971, it was used for recording the "Stairway to Heaven" solo. It was later disassembled and parts used in other guitars.

1966 Cream Fender Telecaster (used on Physical Graffiti and on "All My Love" during the Tour Over Europe in 1980).

and this one live:

1953 Botswana Brown Fender Telecaster featuring a Parsons and White B-string bender, originally with a maple neck, and later refitted with the rosewood neck originally from the "Dragon Telecaster". Seen primarily during the 1980s since it was one of his main guitars on stage during The Firm and Outrider era. Also used on the Led Zeppelin's 1977 North American concert tour and at Knebworth in 1979, notably on "Ten Years Gone" and "Hot Dog".

It took a long time of being interested in guitars to figure out that the early ‘50s-style Telecasters and Esquires that look the most country also have the hottest pickups for rock

i mean shit at the end of the day now a lot of people are running their guitar through like 12 boutique pedals it probably doesn't even matter than much

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, December 4, 2020 10:58 AM

Hey you do your job and I do mine, pal!

As long as we're talking shop in here, I recently bought a second electric guitar in the form of one of the recent Squier Cyclone reissues. From what I understand, it's basically like a Mustang body with Strat innards. It's blue and it's very fun.

On my Tele, I play almost exclusively on the neck pickup because why the hell would you do anything else?

you know Christmas is just around the corner hint hint

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/ry-cooders-original-heavily-modded-coodercaster-strat-is-up-for-sale-for-dollar150000

Any Fender shade here can be parried with equal amounts of Gibson shade, just sayin

Wow, with a Les Paul you could sound like Joe Bonamassa OR like Jimmy Page!

With a Tele, you can convincingly sound like either Vini Reilly or Neil Young. That's fun.

The "Tele" that Black Francis played with Pixies had humbuckers in it.

god help me I just made a deal to buy a 1972 Greco Tele, maybe it'll be old and hokey enough to put me off my Japanese Tele obsession.

i get kind of bothered when like that one spottie posted or this one
https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-series/artist/guitars/jim-root-telecaster/0134444780.html

when they just put humbuckers in a telecaster. i don't get the point if it doesn't have the plate and bridge pickup

otherwise why not just get like a charvel super strat w/two humbuckers it's going to be more comfortable to play and a tele isn't a tele w/two hi gain humbuckers imo

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, December 3, 2020 3:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

never got the sense that the guys in slipknot were concerned with comfort while playing

― call all destroyer, Thursday, December 3, 2020 3:50 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

That Jim Root guitar is terrifying.
I used to play in a band that wore chunky masks like that onstage and can confirm that it was extremely unpleasant and a handicap. Instruments had to complement the visual style above all else, for shows at least. I would say the sound, let alone playability, was a secondary concern to that.

I think ums is otm about telecasters with humbuckers in the bridge. My first "good" guitar (maybe my only "good" guitar) was a 1993 Tele Plus with the lace sensors, like the one Jonny Greenwood plays. We got it used very cheap. Radiohead weren't a big deal yet- I was going for a very sharp Syd Barrett/Daniel Ash kind of sound that it did not really deliver.
This was a source of frustration to me for years and years, and I desperately wanted to modify it to sound like a standard tele but never had the money. This was for the best as it's now probably the most valuable thing i own.

There are way too many kinds of guitars imo there should only be about 3 or 4 different electric guitars. OTOH there are only 7 or 8 different kinds of pedals, really, and there ought to be 25.

Fender brought back the real wide range humbuckers from the '70s with CuNiFe pole pieces. It's real tempting to have my Jazzmaster routed for a pair and have a Lee Ranaldo Jazzblaster.

I picked up a pair of the CuNiFe WRHBs for this exact purpose, though I'm aiming for a what-if-there-was a mid-70s Jazzmaster Deluxe with this build than a Jazzblaster (i.e. I'm keeping the rhythm circuit, 1M pots instead of 500K ones). I just need to find a JM neck I like. Jason Pierce of SP3/Spiritualized has been playing a mid-70s Telecaster Thinline with dual WRHBs for years.

GITEC has a really nice multipart rundown on what makes the original Fender CuNiFe WRHB's so unique and why they're different from most other boring HB pickups. Lots of technical info and gets into the physics of it:
https://www.gitec-forum-eng.de/2019/09/17/whats-so-special-about-the-fender-wide-range-humbucking-pickup/

Where I live I have had pretty good luck knowing and being friends with some people that work and build guitars for cash both for a living and a side hustle. From that I ended up my electric guitars are just parts guitars. I have a couple of mutant Fender/Gibson hybrids I got put together, one about 10 years ago and I built one later.

I think what got me hooked was finding and spending alot of time playing with these guys site.

http://tctwp.com/kisekae/

I've probably got 50+ saved JPGs of different designs I have played with on that website on and off for 10-15 years designing different guitars.

You can get twang with humbucker, but it helps to have one that is a lower signal output and some seem to think 'scatter' winding which is basically winding them not evenly (basically wiring them kinda wrong), That type of wiring defeats some of the noise cancelling and some enthusiasts and pickup winders is the sonic mojo dust in the old Gibson PAF humbuckers.

ah I'd seen the term scatter winding but never knew what that meant

GITEC has a really nice multipart rundown on what makes the original Fender CuNiFe WRHB's so unique and why they're different from most other boring HB pickups. Lots of technical info and gets into the physics of it:
https://www.gitec-forum-eng.de/2019/09/17/whats-so-special-about-the-fender-wide-range-humbucking-pickup/

― Elvis Telecom, Friday, December 4, 2020 7:31 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

thanks, this was really interesting to skim through. kind of want to get the CuNiFe reissues to put in my tele though they're already sold out on fender's site. interestingly, fender is selling a neck and bridge version even though there was apparently only one version of the original. someone on reverb has just the neck pickup reissue for sale; wonder if buying two of those and throwing one in the bridge would actually be closest to the 70s models.

It is kinda hilarous that the 'genius' sound on guitar pickups would be because some worker bee was slacking off and not keeping the wire winding straight might be part of the 'magic'. It's like the magic slacker genius when you get a burrito or pizza and the stoner making it just throws a bunch of extra stuff in because they don't give a crap.

xp - I'm suspicious Fender just sells them as neck and bridge out of habit and to make things easier for ordering.

They don't currently even sell any guitars that use a bridge CuNiFe WRHB, just the American Original Tele Custom with one in the neck.

also it didn't occur to me as I've been thinking about this to make sure Fender had them in stock

oh I see now, they are claiming to wind them differently. The neck pickup's listed resistance is right in the ballpark of a set of a vintage WRHBs I had but had to sell before I used them (both were 10.5k)

Sometimes neck and bridge have different pole spacing, but that’s not usually a Fender thing.

yeah, the neck pickup resistance is similar to the vintage measurements in that article elvis posted.

lollar seems to make the most well-regarded clone and they also make a separate bridge pickup "for better volume and tone balance" though i wonder if it's just a nod to certain expectations people have of bridge pickups. as i said, i'm tempted to buy two of the neck version and just roll the dice that way.

Perhaps there is a fully-hollow archtop with P90s in my future. Wildly impractical but it might be cool. Like maybe a Casino or Jazzica type thingy.

I saw a rig rundown from the guitarist in David Byrne's band, and she plays humbuckers exclusively, out of preference as well as as a complement to Byrne's guitar. But she did have Fralin make her custom humbuckers to get more personality.

I have a Fralin bridge pickup in my Tele, and it sounds *perfect.*

Fender shows the bridge Wide Ranges in stock again FWIW

they're both back in stock! thanks for giving me the heads up fender's "notify me when back in stock" feature did not.

Ditto, I checked because I was wavering on just ordering two necks.

new wide ranges showed up today. time to dust off my nonexistent soldering skills.

that was actually pretty easy. i had never swapped out pickups before. i'm very happy with them, i think in part because they're just much higher quality than whatever fender has been putting in its mexican reissues (or was in 2000-2001). nice articulation and chime. i think i need to raise the bridge pickup height a little bit b/c it's out of volume balance with the neck pickup right now. the neck pickup is a star tho.

ooh i wish i had the money....gorgeous

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/dak/msg/d/saint-paul-gl-asat-classic/7257102222.html

classy!

I got one of the limited edition Squier Classic Vibe 70s Deluxe Teles today and it’s absolutely lovely. Apart from the volume and tone pots, nothing feels cheap and it’s a delight to play. Also, sparkly.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitars/telecaster/squier-fsr-classic-vibe-70s-telecaster-deluxe-seafoam-sparkle