OC Duff Special Stock Tele

Pickup features: single coil tele pickups
Impedence or other specs: 7.0k neck and bridge

Model of guitar or bass: MIM Fender Telecaster Standard
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Fender Texas Special
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): country, blues, jazz
Reason for pickup change: Wanted a more traditional, "open" sounding tele tone and more TWANG.

Perceived output level: slightly hotter than stock pups...at 7.0k these pups are notch above typical stock and "vintage" output
Tone: Extremely balanced tone on both neck and bridge pups. This is critical to my ears, I want a pup that has balance, clarity and depth. Using the tone knob you can get a smooth, rich jazz tone, bold out of phase twang and finally on the bridge pure tele country twang. These pickups were Alnico 5, flatpoles with a chrome cover on the neck.
Sonic evaluation: Modified '03 MIM Standard Telecaster (vintage bridge and brass saddles) into a tricked out Blues Junior (Alltone 1250 speaker and JJ/Tesla tubes, 12at7 in the V1 slot...smooth and rich!). These pups are SO sweet, I'll never change them out of this guitar. This is the forth set of pups I've tried starting with Fender Nocasters (too much mids with EL84 amp), SD Broadcaster (too harsh), Rio Grande Muy Grandes (one trick pony...rock tones and fat with no definition or twang), Fender TX Specials (neck was nice for jazz/blues but the bridge was too hot...harsh and no twang - but great for ZZ Top rock). I love the way OC Duff listens to your tonal needs, he build these pups to exactly what I wanted...Brad Paisley's contemporary tele twang meets Redd Volkaert's vintage tele country blues...these pups do both. Smooth jazz or pure Bakersfield chickin' pickin' twang without the ice pick treble, then up the amps gain and roll the tone down on the bridge and I've got Paisley's rev'd up country tones. These pups retain such clarity and pick up the slightest nuance in your picking, they are amazing. The clarity and touch sensitive nature of these pickups really demand that your playing is right on or they'll project your picking flaws.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great for country, jazz or blues...excellent for plug and play guys where you aren't using heavy gain to hide your playing <g>

Comments: I'm very pleased with these pickups...I recommend everyone contact Owen Duff and let him custom wind you a set. He really listens and makes his stuff of high quality parts and the assembly was top notch. He gives you a choice of magnet types (Alnico 2, 3 or 5) and output...this is a custom shop for the working man, not those boutique snob prices of $250 plus for a set of tele pups. Hum ? Sure they're single coils, but that's the beauty...I've heard those fancy "imported" Oz hum free pups...blah...sterile and too humbucker like...this is a tele, that are supposed to be mean, rawdy and tuff to tame, but when you do...it's like makin' love...Umm...good !