Budz Guitars Custom Telecaster Bridge

Single coil telecaster bridge pickup.

This pickup is installed in a custom built telecaster with a hollow ash body and a Fender Japanese made 52 reissue neck. The aim was to build a thinline style guitar with a 50???s feel and sound. Neck pickup is a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover humbucker. I was looking for vintage style telecaster bridge pickup that complemented the neck humbucker. This pickup was not my first choice but it turned out to be much better than several much more expensive alternatives. According to Dave the pickup has A2 magnets for the e&b and A5 for the rest. He described it as having "some drive and some sparkle" and this is a pretty accurate description.

Perfect for what I was looking for. It really complements the neck humbucker in the middle position. It is a little hotter than a vintage pickup but manages to keep a pretty authentic vintage tone. I have compared this pickup to a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquities, a vintage Seymour Duncan quarter pounder and some Kinmans. The Budz pickup is closest in tone to the Antiquity but has some more drive. If I roll back the volume slightly they are very similar. Considering that the Antiquity is a bit more expensive I think the Budz pickup is a better option. I have tried this through a tweed deluxe clone and a JCM 800 and the result have been excellent with both. I use standard 10s on this particular guitar and the balance is just about perfect, but please be aware my preference is to have a fair bit of air between the pickup and the strings. Your mileage may vary.

If you have a good idea of what you want and you cannot find a stock pickup that does what you need then I highly recommend getting in touch with Dave. He has a very good idea on what it takes to get the sound you are after, and he will persist until you are happy. I can also recommend his compensating saddles which I have fitted to two of my teles.