Tex Mex vs. Vintage Noiseless

MichaelMcKevin

After 2 months with my nashville tele, I've decided the tone isn't what I'm after. I'm sure it's happened before. I've been considering selling it and getting something different, but before I do, I've been thinking about switching the tex mex pickups for something less bluesey. With my little experience in electric guitar, I'm having trouble determining whether it's the "tex mex" aspect of the tone I'm not liking, or just the overall sound of a tele. What I'm wondering is...

Can anyone tell me if the Tex Mex pickups are really that different from a regular single coil?

who's_pearljam?

Tex Mex pickups are "overwound" or have more windings on them than standard pickups. They're hotter, but they usually have most of the characteristics that the standard wound ones would have.

What kind of sound are you looking for? If you're looking for a more Stratlike sound, you may want to try a Strat guitar then. Those springs and hinges and all the metal stuff in them help to contribute to the boingy ringy strat sound, if that makes any sense.

If you want a fuller sound, then maybe a single coil sized humbucker in there will give you some extra power. They work great in a tele.

Something like a lil 59 or a hot rails can give you a little more, especially to replace the bridge pup.
At the bottom of the page are two:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/telesdescr.shtml#VintageLeadStack

Edit,,,, I pushed submit accidentally!

exhausted

i think i'd avoid the vintage noiseless. listening to lots of live clapton lately (strats with noiseless) and they just don't sound good to me.

SCNs yes, noiseless, no.

are you looking for more output?, more highs? more output and highs? less output?

i had those stacked humbuckers in my tele for a while and liked them quite a bit. but i found that they lack a bit of presence. then i had a little 59 in the bridge for a while and it was great but overwhelmed the neck pickup. grumble.

however, that little 59 by itself with some gain was great.

who's_pearljam?

exhausted wrote:

i think i'd avoid the vintage noiseless. listening to lots of live clapton lately (strats with noiseless) and they just don't sound good to me.

SCNs yes, noiseless, no.

are you looking for more output?, more highs? more output and highs? less output?

i had those stacked humbuckers in my tele for a while and liked them quite a bit. but i found that they lack a bit of presence. then i had a little 59 in the bridge for a while and it was great but overwhelmed the neck pickup. grumble.

however, that little 59 by itself with some gain was great.

You're right about the noiseless. I think that sucked the life right out of Claptons playing. They sound almost like synthesizers to me. Buddy Guy had them for a while and even HE sounded a bit dull, and he's whacko on that guitar! SCN's have some pizzaz to them. (or is that pizazz) (or maybe I'll just get a pizza)

Those little 59's aren't perfect, but maybe we can salvage his guitar, though. They do overpower when you go from bridge to neck pickup, too.

We'll have this whole thing rebuilt before he even responds to tell us what he wants!

exhausted

to be honest, bramhall and trucks are wiping the floor with clapton tone-wise these days.

actually, i don't think i've ever really loved clapton's tone.

except for a few instances on the 24 nights cd. (bad love solo for instance).

who's_pearljam?

exhausted wrote:

to be honest, bramhall and trucks are wiping the floor with clapton tone-wise these days.

actually, i don't think i've ever really loved clapton's tone.

except for a few instances on the 24 nights cd. (bad love solo for instance).

I liked it best on Wheels of Fire. That was without a Strat!

Now Trucks.

I just saw him a few months ago, before I left for India. Amazing treat for the ears. His "in the room" live tone was so satisfying it made my hair bristle even if I don't include how great he plays.

MichaelMcKevin

exhausted wrote:

are you looking for more output?, more highs? more output and highs? less output?

I don't have a great ear or much experience so it's difficult for me to say. All i know is that what I have is not what I'm looking for. I think I'm going to try a new guitar w/ some humbuckers and see how i like that in comparison. One thing that sucks is I play a lot of PJ so when i switch to a "fender" song like "Yellow Ledbetter" or "Nothing As It Seems", I'm gonna wish i had a strat. I need to get over that hump mentally.

exhausted

i could never really get into cream all that much. though i should try again by going through the crossroads box set.

it was a little too "there are flowers coming out of the eyeball of my love" for me.

and i'll be honest, with most songs, i get bored by the 5:00 minute mark.

anyone for tennis was cool though.

exhausted

GivenToCarve wrote:

I don't have a great ear or much experience so it's difficult for me to say. All i know is that what I have is not what I'm looking for. I think I'm going to try a new guitar w/ some humbuckers and see how i like that in comparison. One thing that sucks is I play a lot of PJ so when i switch to a "fender" song like "Yellow Ledbetter" or "Nothing As It Seems", I'm gonna wish i had a strat. I need to get over that hump mentally.

that's the unfortunate thing. they're such different sounds that it's tough to get them in one guitar.

however, if you did put something like a lil 59 in the bridge and more traditional strat like pickups in the middle and neck, you'd be close to both but you wouldn't hit both exactly.

but yeah, go do some test driving and see what you're really after before starting the whole pickup swap thing.

who's_pearljam?

GivenToCarve wrote:

I don't have a great ear or much experience so it's difficult for me to say. All i know is that what I have is not what I'm looking for. I think I'm going to try a new guitar w/ some humbuckers and see how i like that in comparison. One thing that sucks is I play a lot of PJ so when i switch to a "fender" song like "Yellow Ledbetter" or "Nothing As It Seems", I'm gonna wish i had a strat. I need to get over that hump mentally.

They're two differnt guitars.

The neck and middle pickups can give you close to a Strat, especially the inbetween. And the lil 59 or something like that can give you a good crunch sound.

Do you like your neck and middle pickups at all?

MichaelMcKevin

exhausted wrote:

that's the unfortunate thing. they're such different sounds that it's tough to get them in one guitar.

however, if you did put something like a lil 59 in the bridge and more traditional strat like pickups in the middle and neck, you'd be close to both but you wouldn't hit both exactly.

but yeah, go do some test driving and see what you're really after before starting the whole pickup swap thing.

Thanks for the advice... and check your myspace. I added you. The songs sound awesome!

exhausted

oh sweet. thanks. i constantly vacillate on the whole myspace thing.

but i want to put up some new songs soon so i thought i'd give it another try.

MichaelMcKevin

who's_pearljam? wrote:

They're two differnt guitars.

The neck and middle pickups can give you close to a Strat, especially the inbetween. And the lil 59 or something like that can give you a good crunch sound.

Do you like your neck and middle pickups at all?

Which are two different guitars?


Yeah i mean i don't dislike the pickups, I've just gotten used to the sound and i feel like i'm in a rut with them and very limited to what I can play and still have it sound alright. If you rememeber, it's a tele with a strat pickup in the center, and I generally play everything with it in the middle position (strat pup only) because I feel the other tones are inapplicable to the sounds I'm after (not that a strat pickup covers all my needs). It just sounds better through the solo strat pickup than the rest of the positions. I think my best bet is going to be to get a humbucking guitar, because i'll be able to play my Phish and whatnot where i think the humbuckers are essential. Later down the road I could pick up a cheap strat since it won't get as much use anyway.

who's_pearljam?

GivenToCarve wrote:

Which are two different guitars?


Yeah i mean i don't dislike the pickups, I've just gotten used to the sound and i feel like i'm in a rut with them and very limited to what I can play and still have it sound alright. If you rememeber, it's a tele with a strat pickup in the center, and I generally play everything with it in the middle position (strat pup only) because I feel the other tones are inapplicable to the sounds I'm after (not that a strat pickup covers all my needs). It just sounds better through the solo strat pickup than the rest of the positions. I think my best bet is going to be to get a humbucking guitar, because i'll be able to play my Phish and whatnot where i think the humbuckers are essential. Later down the road I could pick up a cheap strat since it won't get as much use anyway.

I guess when I said two different guitars I meant two different guitars, but only in my own head.
I guess I meant the humbucker sound and that Yellow Ledbetter/ Little Wing sound are two different..... uhhh,,,, animals!!

Getting a humbucker guitar might be your best option.
I guess a possibility could be putting a lil 59 in the bridge AND the neck and splitting the coils so that you get a single coil sound, OR humbucker out of each of them. It still won't be a true Strat though, but it does get a single coil sound. I had one like that and in single coil mode it sounded good in the in between neck and middle position.

exhausted

another idea:

check the routing underneath the pickguard. perhaps the neck is already routed for a humbucker. one pickup and one new pickguard and you can try a full sized HB in there.

might look kind of funny with the single in the middle though.

who's_pearljam?

exhausted wrote:

another idea:

check the routing underneath the pickguard. perhaps the neck is already routed for a humbucker. one pickup and one new pickguard and you can try a full sized HB in there.

might look kind of funny with the single in the middle though.

Nice!

Maybe under the neck, too. It wouldn't be hard to route it for a full size anyway. They're tough ones. I have an old PRS Humbucker Single Humbucker and it's a great guitar. They're Fralins in there.


I'll get the pic. I think it's on the gear sharing thread.

This is a great guitar. It was Paul Reed's try at a bolt-on neck Strat Style in the late 80's and early 90's
You can split either neck or bridge coils.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v39/mynamehere/Guitars%20and%20amps/DSC04180.jpg

exhausted

ok, we have to stop talking about this. i'll end up buying an MIM tele body and a warmoth neck and making a nashville of my own.

who's_pearljam?

exhausted wrote:

ok, we have to stop talking about this. i'll end up buying an MIM tele body and a warmoth neck and making a nashville of my own.

haha,,,, I have to go, too. This little interlude probably cost us each a few hundred bucks in parts and pickups!
Good to see you, man! All the best to your family, too!

exhausted

cheers, man.

lucylespian

exhausted wrote:

i could never really get into cream all that much. though i should try again by going through the crossroads box set.

it was a little too "there are flowers coming out of the eyeball of my love" for me.

and i'll be honest, with most songs, i get bored by the 5:00 minute mark.

anyone for tennis was cool though.

That would be because although Clapton might be "great", he is boring as snot, and can't write a decent song, wth the exception of LAyla, and teh Unplugged album. I found the rest of his stuff to be a yawn. Most of his big hits were written by JJ CAle, of course.

exhausted

well, i'm not going to go quite that far though i do thing that a lot of his pop stuff has been pretty weak. but he'd probably say the same thing.

"help me up" off the rush soundtrack is a great tune though.

jerry lynn williams wrote some great tracks for him too.