Tone Specific is known by Pro's around the world for making the Best Tele Pickups. If you are looking for the Best Telecaster Pickups for Country, Blues, Rock o Jazz, you've come to the right place.  

4 Best Tele Pickups

Best Aftermarket Telecaster Pickups

Everyone wants to know about the Best Vintage Style Tele Pickups. The first step in finding the Best Tele Replacement Pickups is to identify the exact type of tone that want your guitar to make. If you are mainly a Country player or want the best vintage Tele Clean tone, then you will want the Telecaster Pickups for Country. If Jazzy, Bluesy or Punchy tone is what you are looking for then you might try one of those sets.

Best Telecaster Pickups for Classic Rock

  1. 1971 Punchy Telecaster Pickups
  2. 1955 Bluesy Telecaster Pickups

1952 Twangy Tele - Best Telecaster Pickups for Country 

1951 Jazzy Tele - Best Telecaster Pickups for Jazz

1955 Blues Tele - Best Telecaster Pickups for Blues

1971 Punchy Tele - Best Telecaster Pickups for Rock

 

Telecaster Pickups Upgrade

Modern Stock pickups often come up way short in terms of tone. The Tone Specific line of Telecaster Pickups are considered by many top pros to be the best Tele Pickups made. Many pros have reported that they replaced their vintage pickups with Tone Specific Tele Pickups. 

Best Telecaster Bridge Pickup

Tone Specific is known for making sets with the Best Telecaster Bridge Pickup. It doesn't stop there. The Tone Specific Neck Pickups also sound great and are specially calibrated to sound great with the Tele Bridge Pickups. Stop trying to mix and match pickups. Get a set made to work great together and deliver Pro Tone.

Telecaster Pickups Review

 

Best Vintage Sounding Tele Pickups

Tone Specific is known for making the Best Vintage Sounding Telecaster Pickups. All of the Tone Specific Tele Sets sound equally vintage. We used some of the best vintage pickups from vintage Fender Telecasters as a starting point for our designs. Check out the comparison below.  

Fender Strat Pickups Comparison

1951 Broadcaster Pickups

The early predecessor to the Telecaster, the Broadcaster was a unique guitar with some very unique pickups. The old Broadcaster pickups we've seen used thinner magnet wire on the bridge pickup. This gives you a higher Ohm reading and tone that is slightly bolder with a little more in the mids. To our ears it was little like those old P-90's. These old Broadcaster pickups are complex in that the are very warm & bold sounding without losing the Tele Twang we all love.    

This is the set that we've based the 1951 Jazzy Tele Pickups on. These are considered the Best Tele Pickups for Jazz due great vintage tone and a few modern improvements including:

  • RWRP for Noise Cancelling Operation.
  • Designed to work great with Tone and Volume Pots.
  • Optimized for Great Jazzy Tele Tone.
  • Pickups are designed to work great with Pedals/Modelers as well as Tube & SS gear.  

Click here to learn about the 1951 Jazzy Tele Set.

1952 Tele Pickups

The Alnico 3 magnets in the early Telecaster delivered that Classic Tele Twang we all lust after. This Twangy Tone really cuts like nothing that came after it without ever being shrill. This has been an elusive tone for most winders to hit.

This is the set that we've based the 1952 Twangy Pickups on. Ask any of the Pros that use these and they will tell you that we nailed it! These are considered the Best Tele Pickups for Country Twang or Clean Tone in general due to great vintage tone and a few modern improvements including:

  • RWRP Noise Cancelling Operation.
  • Designed to work Great with Volume and Tone Pots.
  • Optimized for Great Twangy Tele Tone.
  • Pickups are designed to work great with Pedals/Modelers as well as Tube & SS gear.  

Click Here to Learn About the 1952 Twangy Tele Pickups.

1955 Tele Pickups

By 1955, Alnico 5 magnets seemed to be the norm for Tele pickups. The result was a tone that most would say is more bold and lightly less Twangy. In addition, you get more dynamics and a bigger bottom. In other word, it's the perfect Blues Pickup. They are great for getting into the Muddy Waters realm or even some Texas Blues.

This is the set that we've based the 1955 Blues Tele Pickups on. These are considered the Best Tele Pickups for Blues tone due to great vintage tone and a few modern improvements including:

  • RWRP for Noise Cancelling Operation.
  • Designed to work great with Volume and Tone Pots.
  • Optimized for Great Blues Tone.
  • Pickups are designed to work great with Pedals/Modelers as well as Tube & SS gear.  

Click here to learn about the 1955 Blues Tele Set.

1960's & 70's Tele Pickups

Some of the Tele Pickups after the CBS era of the 1960's sound pretty good and others not so much. We've seen many examples of Brass Covered necks which are interesting to say the least. Some sound really great and others sound the exact opposite.

While some of these pickups from CBS 1960's era sounded pretty good, none of them surpassed the tone of the 1951, 1952 and 1955 models that we've based or core designs on. Having said that we are currently working to develop an amazing sounding 60's set with a Brass Covered neck. We might call this the "Big Brass Set" or the "Bad Brass" set. Your input is welcome regarding the name.

We are not a big fan of the Tele's in the 70's. They tinkered with the design and most people agree the results came up a little short. Considering how well Fender did on their guitars, amps and pickups in the vintage era, they've definitely earned a pass on this.

Hindsight is a valuable tool and we've used it to create the 1971 Punchy Tele Pickup Set. It's not based on anything from the 70's, rather it's our attempt at a "do-over".  Many people consider these to be the best Tele Pickups for Rock or the best Tele Pickup for Classic Rock. They also sound great for funk. They have more output than our other offerings but retain that vintage sweetness that you have come to expect from Tone Specific Pickups. Here are a few other features of the pickups:

  • RWRP Middle or Noise Cancelling Operation.
  • Works Great with Volume and Tone Pots.
  • Optimized for Great Punchy Tone.
  • Pickups are designed to work great with Pedals/Modelers as well as Tue & SS gear.  

Click here to learn about the 1971 Punchy Tele Set.