Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 I have a Nash Tele that is light and resonant and plays super well. its my favorite guitar to play but the sound is super BRIGHT, country western style. It's made of ash with a maple neck. it came with Lollar pickups which are great and usually sound fantastic and they still sound fantastic in this guitar but BRIGHT. Get the picture? 😊 I'm a rocker and need a darker rockier sound. not metal, just classic rock would be fine. Think Keef and the Rolling Stones. I want to make this guitar usable ... can I do this with a pickup change? I'm willing to put a humbucker in the neck and change the bridge pickup too although the Lollar ("special" I think it is) is a really good pickup. Also is there a darker Tele bridge available or are all the ashtray style bridges going to be basically the same as far as dark/bright go? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BubbaVO Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Cap value? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Which lollar pickups? They make several different varieties of tele pickups. Have you tried rolling off the tone just a bit to get a darker bridge pickup sound? I have a much easier time getting a Tele bridge rock tone than getting a Strat bridge rock tone. The tele bridge pickups are usually pretty beefy sounding. You will need to EQ the amp differently for a single coil Tele bridge pickup. Usually I think of Georgia Satellites "Hands to Yourself" as the typical Tele Bridge Rock tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Teles are bright. Use your tone controls on the guitar/amp. You can't make an Oxford into a hiking boot, try as one may. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 3 minutes ago, RobB said: Teles are bright. Use your tone controls on the guitar/amp. You can't make an Oxford into a hiking boot, try as one may. I have another Tele with the same wood and pickups and its not near as bright as this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 18 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said: Which lollar pickups? They make several different varieties of tele pickups. Have you tried rolling off the tone just a bit to get a darker bridge pickup sound? I have a much easier time getting a Tele bridge rock tone than getting a Strat bridge rock tone. The tele bridge pickups are usually pretty beefy sounding. You will need to EQ the amp differently for a single coil Tele bridge pickup. Usually I think of Georgia Satellites "Hands to Yourself" as the typical Tele Bridge Rock tone. Yes exactly, my other Teles are great with the rock tone. With the same pickups, ash body and maple neck. Lollar vintage neck and Lollar special bridge. Pretty standard goodness. And yes, I know what a tone knob is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Scepter Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Cough, cough~ Seymour Duncan Little 59 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 17 minutes ago, Dave Scepter said: Cough, cough~ Seymour Duncan Little 59 I live in Santa Barbara and I am so sick of people trying to push Seymour Duncan pickups on me. LOL. It just happened the other day when someone suggested a 59 in the neck of a LP style guitar I have. ARRRRGHH! They almost always sound muddy. Antiquities are good though. Anyway ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 So it turns out both Bill Nash AND Lollars tech were wrong. These are ???? unknown possibly custom shop pickups. Anyone want some bright Tele pickups? haha So maybe the guitar might just need a pickup change. Let me send these pics to Lollar first to see what we have here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobB Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 52 minutes ago, Punkavenger said: I have another Tele with the same wood and pickups and its not near as bright as this one All the more reason to leave it alone. Vive la difference, mais non? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 1 minute ago, RobB said: All the more reason to leave it alone. Vive la difference, mais non? yeah but I'm no Roy Clark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Scepter Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 22 minutes ago, Punkavenger said: Antiquities are good though. Anyway ... Agreed Antiquities are great!.. I was just trying to save you some cash... I have a LP with a JB in the bridge and a P90 in the neck and it sounds wonderful... and since you already have other Tele's, I would put a humbucker in there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 55 minutes ago, 0054 said: Talk to Josh Gravelin Josh is the best Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aknapp Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 A 500k pot for the tone and/or volume should tame the treble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbonesullivan Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 4 hours ago, Punkavenger said: So it turns out both Bill Nash AND Lollars tech were wrong. These are ???? unknown possibly custom shop pickups. Anyone want some bright Tele pickups? haha So maybe the guitar might just need a pickup change. Let me send these pics to Lollar first to see what we have here. Oooo. Mystery pickups. In that case, I'd say go with your usual stuff, and see if that changes things around. Probably should. I guess someone really wanted a guitar great for chicken pickn' . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disturber Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Tilt the pickup forward using the front screw on the pickup. Screw it down to angle the pickup so that the side of the pickup that is facing the neck is lower than the side that is facing the bridge. This will tame the brightness. Experiment with the angle until it sounds right to your ears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomerang~Junkie Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 . . . Paging Fretshack Jeff . . . . Paging Fretshack Jeff . . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 13 hours ago, aknapp said: A 500k pot for the tone and/or volume should tame the treble. A 500k volume pot will sound brighter than a 250k volume pot. Stratocasters have 250k pots as a standard, tele's vary, but most have 500k volume pots. The tone pot value does not matter as much. Gabe 😀 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff R Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 5 hours ago, Boomerang~Junkie said: . . . Paging Fretshack Jeff . . . . Paging Fretshack Jeff . . . . I'm here You want a 250K volume pot for sure, not a 500K. I'd put a set of Rio Grande Muy Grandes in an inherently bright, acoustically bright, telecaster platform. They have a creamy midrange that's an effective thickener - tame the excessive high with a bigger mid band. MGs get into P-90 territory when pushed too. Great grit to distorted pickup for a tele too. I'm pretty sure they are potted, which is very nice for a bridge tele pickup and practically a necessity when you hit them with gain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 3 hours ago, Jeff R said: I'm here You want a 250K volume pot for sure, not a 500K. I'd put a set of Rio Grande Muy Grandes in an inherently bright, acoustically bright, telecaster platform. They have a creamy midrange that's an effective thickener - tame the excessive high with a bigger mid band. MGs get into P-90 territory when pushed too. Great grit to distorted pickup for a tele too. I'm pretty sure they are potted, which is very nice for a bridge tele pickup and practically a necessity when you hit them with gain. Ok, found some used on Reverb for good price ... Lets see how that works out! Thanks! (i bought the muy grande for the bridge, vintage tallboy for the neck. Only because I had heard the tallboys were great. Then I saw where thats a thing that lots of people do intentionally. fingers crossed ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGravelin Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Keith used a converted 50s Fender Champ lapsteel pickup in his tele on many of those recordings. Fender was monkeying around and changing things up often back then as far as pickups were concerned and there are 2 versions that emerged from that: one at around 8k (42g wire/A5) and one at 9.5k (43g wire/A5). I believe his was one of the 9.5k versions and I've made a number of these for people with excellent results! As an aside, I recently rewound one of those Lollar Nash neck pickups for a customer who said it sounded too dark for his tastes. I have a great, great respect for Jason Lollar and in stripping his pickup down and measuring the coil wire gauge and tpl (turns per layer) as well as the magnet gauss it was clear that the pickup was not at all like a classic, vintage example and understood how and why the customer took issue with the sound of it. Gutted and rewound to a 1958 specification taken from a real '58 tele and a hot, full charge on the magnets - the customer was amazed and thrilled with the transformation. Punk, I'd be happy to convert that bridge pickup if you like. I know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Punkavenger Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 59 minutes ago, JGravelin said: Keith used a converted 50s Fender Champ lapsteel pickup in his tele on many of those recordings. Fender was monkeying around and changing things up often back then as far as pickups were concerned and there are 2 versions that emerged from that: one at around 8k (42g wire/A5) and one at 9.5k (43g wire/A5). I believe his was one of the 9.5k versions and I've made a number of these for people with excellent results! As an aside, I recently rewound one of those Lollar Nash neck pickups for a customer who said it sounded too dark for his tastes. I have a great, great respect for Jason Lollar and in stripping his pickup down and measuring the coil wire gauge and tpl (turns per layer) as well as the magnet gauss it was clear that the pickup was not at all like a classic, vintage example and understood how and why the customer took issue with the sound of it. Gutted and rewound to a 1958 specification taken from a real '58 tele and a hot, full charge on the magnets - the customer was amazed and thrilled with the transformation. Punk, I'd be happy to convert that bridge pickup if you like. I know what to do. Thanks man, but i found some Rios used on Reverb for a good price. I wish this option had come up sooner. Maybe Ill send the bridge pickup to you To be rewound anyway. Let me think about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGravelin Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 In my 18 years total of messing with pickups, repairing, rewinding, building top to bottom, etc: I've never had a Rio Grande pickup on my bench so as far as build quality is concerned they are doing it RIGHT. If you're still not satisfied: this is where I've made my mark in the pickup world. Just sayin', yo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aknapp Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 9 hours ago, Gabe said: A 500k volume pot will sound brighter than a 250k volume pot. Stratocasters have 250k pots as a standard, tele's vary, but most have 500k volume pots. The tone pot value does not matter as much. Gabe 😀 Don’t let me post after my first glass of wine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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