Fender SCN Telecaster Set

Bill Lawrence designed USA made passive stacked humbucker with a single coil appearance and sound for Telecaster.


I bought a set called Fender "Mod Shop" Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Telecaster pickup set (part # 099-2110-000) in a VHS size metallic colored blue box that lists the impedence as 13.8K (bridge), and 12K (neck).

'06 Fender MIM Classic '50's Esquire.
I put in the bridge only: the neck pu I'll save for later. Kind of a pricey way to buy pickups but I wanted a "noiseless" pu for my Esquire, and got pitched a deal on these ($123+tx).

Replaces the stock classic Tele single coil. Not a bad sounding rig at all as-is, but I have to sit real close to my amp in a particular place I play this guitar, at least once a week, so needed less hum because I don't want to have to dive for my vol knob after every song to turn down the guitar's hum.

I actually tried a SCN equipped AmDlx Tele with a no-load pot at the store through a RI Princeton on the bridge pu so I could hear it, and liked the sound, so I knew it had potential for what I wanted to achieve.

I use a Tech 21 Trademark 60 usually, but might be in the market for a Princeton RI in the future.

When I installed the SCN, I also swapped out the volume pot on the guitar for a 1 meg, and changed the front switch position (bassy sound) to a straight wired (no resistor) .02 capacitor. I may go to a .01 cap sometime in the future. But so far so good.

With the amp set pretty crispy I can pretty much duplicate the previous pickups' sound. The 250K tone pot still works good too and gets plenty bright. Pretty even and extended freq response. A bit more higher fidelity and less rude than some Tele bridge pickups I've heard. My amp adjustments can get a pretty wide swing in tones with this type of pickup it seems.

I figure I gambled and won with this setup now: it totally can get the great Esquire sounds but without the hum.

I set the bottom wafer of the top bobbin about level with the bridge plate for starters. By the time I adjusted my amp a little to get the sound I like it sounded great as-is so I've left the adjustment alone.
It may not be as grainy sounding as the original pickup but it's got lots of character and bite. The output maybe about the same, but it's hard to tell because the 1 meg volume pot is another variable I added to the mix. The taper seems fine on both controls. The tone control is the stock 250K pot and cap.

I play all kinds of different music but my style has a certain Country edge and feel to it usually. I like Rock, Blues, Jazz, you name it: Elvin Bishop to Hank Garland, Brad Paisley to Herb Ellis.

With a lot of distortion the pickup squeals with feedback, but I can dial that out with some tone pot, and getting away from the amp some(fortunately my once a week near-the-amp spot doesn't call for much of that sound, usually).
It sounds a lot like the kind of squeal you get from a loose plate under the bridge pu of some Tele's, but there's no plate under these!
It's livable. Just gotta be aware it's lurking there before I get too "out there," and adjust accordingly.

I use 11's in normal tuning for strings, but decided to use nickel wound over nickel plated steel wound because the DR plated 11 sets were really loud on the bass E and A strings the way I have the pickup set, and I didn't want to change where I had the pu set. It sounds great where it is.
Nickel wound strings gives me the balance I want, which surprized me because I usually find uncompensated polepieces work better with nickel plated steel wound. I guess it may be more important to me on neck pickups than bridge.

This pickup works great for me. Can't think of anything I'm missing that I would want. I've had ruder sounds, but this gives me enough of that rawness without completely dominating every sound. Pretty versatile with the given that it's a one pickup Esquire type set up.

Haven't tried the neck pickup, but sounded a little docile on the AmDlx I tried. Good for Jazz, I'd figure.

I usually love Fender CS '51 Nocaster sets and have used them a lot, but they humbuck when combined. Can't do that on an Esquire.

No, it doesn't replicate a Nocaster bridge pickup, but it does sound real good in my experience, and does not hum.

I once tried a Seymour Duncan Classic Stack on the bridge of an ash Tele and didn't like the sound at all. Too dark and sustain wasn't there. This SCN has much better highs and sustain.

I'm satisfied with the sound of it for this guitar. But I should point out that it's an ash body with a maple neck, steel saddles, and has a 1 meg vol pot. YMMV

I know these are passive pickups, but if I understand correctly, these are actually stacked buckers wound in such a way as to cancel, or buck the hum. I actually checked the ohms of resistance on my set and it read 13.1 for the bridge and 12.2 for the neck. Its amazing they sound so much like their single coil counterparts. Just amazing.

I had a newer American Fender Deluxe Tele that I loved, but it was almost too nice to play out and get dinged up, so I sold it. I kept my 50s mim Tele which I paid less than $400 for used and it played so nice I decided to upgrade the electronics. Those 50s Teles come with vintage Tele pickups, which already sound good, but I have a Baja Tele that I like better & wanted to keep stock . . . I love the pickups in the Baja and am not going to replace them. Soooo, I decided to hotrod that mim Tele by replacing the 3 way switch with a 4 way so I could have the neck & bridge in series, a nice thick sound. My bass player had commented on how clean that American Deluxe Tele sounded, so I bought a set of SCNs (neck & bridge) and popped them in (Actually, one of my buddies did it for me when I wasn't lookin' and said it only took a few minutes). In other words, I replaced a perfectly good set of pickups with these, but I kept the stock pickups in case I ever get the urge to switch back. Its so easy to do on a Tele, especially if someone else does it for you! Thanks Mike!

Output level is considerably higher than stock WHEN PROPERLY ADJUSTED; a lot punchier. In other words, it was just what I wanted. I have a Dr.Z Z28 amp that I could hardly overdrive with the original pickups. With the SCNs, I've got plenty of nice overdrive with clarity. The bridge pickup isn't quite as bright as the original, but the neck pickup has a nice mellow tone, somewhat darker than the original. Mind you, the original was nice and warm, but this one is a little darker, still warm . . . and NO (zero) HUM or noise. They are dead quiet. Whoever said they are noisey is wrong; sorry. That much is a matter of fact, not subjective opinion. I've had these right next to my 60 watt tube amp, trying to get noise and nothing; NOTHING! If I do that with my Baja Tele, forget it, its going to hum like that's what it was designed to do. Don't get me wrong, I love that Baja in spite of the noise.

I play most popular genres - rock, country, blues, r&b, jazz, chickin' pickin'. These pickups are fine for all of them, but there again, so were the original vintage pickups. So, its a toss up. I have more gain with these with enough twang to boot, and no noise. I'll likely keep them in for a good while because I still have my Baja and an older American Deluxe with the factory 3 pickup configuration.

OK, suppose someone did the unthinkable and snuck in my house and stole these suckers right out of the guitar . . . what would I do? If I could find a good price on another set like I did these, I would probably go for it. Then again, I might want to try a set of the new Bill Lawrence rails. On the other hand, if this was my ONLY Tele, I would leave the stock pickups in. Its cool to have a hotrod guitar if you don't have to spend your life savings on it and I'm having a blast with this.

I don't get any squeal with these pickups and I'm playing through either a 22 watt Dr Z, a 60 watt boutique tube amp, or a 135 watt Fender Twin. The guy who mentioned the 'pig squeal' syndrome may have been able to tame it by adjusting the height. More on that later. These high output pickups will also make a microphonic tube problem manifest by producing a loud squeal on certain notes. Check your preamp and phase inverter tubes for microphonics by tapping them lightly with the eraser side of a pencil with the amp slightly turned up.

These pickups are no more microphonic than any other pickups I've seen on a Tele. The bridge on all Teles is microphonic -that's the nature of the beast and part of their unique sound. You gotta love Teles! I've been playing for about 42 years, a good many of those years solely on a Tele. I still have pretty good ears and can detect minor variances in tones. Having said that, these pickups sound more or less like other Fender pickups when adjusted properly. If I recorded this guitar and played it back for another guitar player, he would recognize it as a Tele right off. I just can't understand anyone rating them at 1.

"What do you love about these pickups?" The magnetic field on these pickups is unusual. My friend that installed them pointed that out. They don't pull the strings down, creating an intonation problem that alnico pickups can often create if they're raised too high (not a slam to alnicos which I love, but I have seen it happen). The field on these is on the sides, not the top. Put a small screwdriver blade on one of the poles and you will detect very little magnetic pull. Put it on the side of one of the poles or on the side of the neck pickup and it grips. As a result, you can get these very close to the strings with no problems. They are very sensitive to height and respond well to minor height adjustments. You have to tinker with them a bit. When I first installed them, I seemed to get a volume drop in the series position of my 4 way switch. This should have produced a significant INCREASE in volume, so I thought "hmmmm???". I raised the neck pickup slightly and the volume almost equalized. I raised the bridge slightly and it increased the volume in that position, plus I got the humbucker effect I wanted. This is an unusual property which can be used to your advantage. So if you get a set, try different height settings; spend some time with them and you'll like them. You should drill small holes in your pickguard above and below the neck pickup to access the height adjustment screws. On stock Tele pickups, you would actually have to REMOVE the pickguard to adjust the height, and if you didn't get it right, remove it again, readjust, and so on. Height adjustment on these is way more crucial than on stock pickups; that's why the Deluxe series Teles have the screws exposed for easy adjustment. If you can't stand the thought of doing that to your stock pickguard, by another pickguard to use for these pickups. If you don't, you'll probably hate these things. I think a lot of people are buying these thinking they can set them like the stock pickups and wind up yanking them back out. They don't know what they're missing. This is my second set of these and I think they're great pickups overall, but like anything else, they aren't for everbody. Nothing is. This is MY rating for them . . . just a subjective opinion like the other reviews on this forum.

These pickups are passive single-coils. I'm not sure what the exact impedance or other specifications are, though they are listed on the box. There are three leads coming from each pickup, but wiring diagrams are included with the set.

I dropped these pickups into a mid-eighties Japanese vintage-style telecaster. The tele played great but the stock pickups were crap. These new SCN pickups, however, are excellent.

The neck pickup (rhythm) has a relatively low output (like most tele neck pickups). It has a very warm sound without being muddy. The bridge pickup (lead) is hot with a high output. It has a mid-ranged voice common in vintage-style tele bridge pickups. When used together (in parallel) they blend to form a rich, balanced tone. The main difference found in these pickups is that they're noiseless. I haven't heard any other noiseless pickups that sound as clear and transparent as these. It's definately nice to use a bridge pickup that can handle a lot of gain without the noise. The only problem with these pickups is that they lack some of the low-end found in other tele pickups. The noiseless factor, however, more than makes up for this.

Although there are other single-coil pickups such as Duncan Antiquities and Custom Shop Nocasters which may have a more authentic tele sound, these are the best sounding noiseless tele pickups I have heard. I like to use a lot of drive with my tele and it's really nice to get rid of the noise. They're a bit spendy, but a good guitar deserves good pickups.

Passive "Noiseless" single coil sized replacement set. I bought the Telecaster Mod Shop packaged set.

Installed on a Dean Nash Vegas that I picked up new for $85.00 at a going out of business sale when Guitar Center took over our local dealer.
Replaced the Chinese single coils that came on it.
Reason for change: I intended to play the thing in public. The stock single coils sounded like cheap Chinese single coils.

The output level is normal. They sounded great on my 5 watt Kalamazoo amp which I keep next to the bed. When I took it to the club Friday night, plugged it into my POD and a 1600 watt PA system, the bridge pickup squealed like a scared pig. I grew up on a farm, believe me, they got the most authentic pig squeal that I ever heard come out of a guitar. You??d have to go to Guymon, OK and visit a hog farm with 1100 head under one roof to hear more squealing than I got out of that SCN "noiseless" pickup. I had to swap guitars to finish the set. The bridge pickup would squeal as soon as you opened up the volume.

OK, I thought. So it??s microphonic. No problem, I??ll just wax pot it. So the following Friday night, after wax potting it again (it was potted at the factory) I was able to play the bridge pickup almost all the way up to "5" on the volume knob. At five, it began to squeal like a pig again.

Man do I feel ripped off. Still, if your amp is five watts or less, it??s a nice sounding Tele pickup. It works great with headphone amps too. Until I get a replacement bridge pickup, this will be my bedroom guitar. I really hate to say anything good about these pickups, because I don??t want to mislead you. But, the neck pickup is decent. It sounds like a Tele neck pickup. It has a nice round sound, dial the tone down it will work on jazz standards. But, I bought a replacement SET, and the bridge pickup is so totally worthless that I??m angry about wasting my money on the set. Man did Fender ever rip me off good on that one. I just read one of the other reviews where they were telling the guy it??s the guitar, not the pickup. That??s utter BS. The pickup I replaced wasn??t microphonic. The SCN is! I bought this piece of junk in December, before anybody had reviewed them for a Tele. Tele owners beware of the SCN bridge pickup! As we say here along the border, "esas pastillas no valen ni verga".

Would I buy it again, Hell No!
I??ve been playing since summer, 1975.
Other gear I??ve owned: too much to list. The keepers have been a 78 Les Paul Deluxe, a 79 Strat, A Squier Strat made in India that I waited 7 years to buy before the owner would sell it to me, a Ramirez classical, and an early 70??s Ibanez 000 size acoustic (plywood guitars DO improve with age, no matter what the salesman on commision tries to tell you).