Rio Grande Muy Grande Tele Set

Features?.... magnets? coils windings? - They're pickups!!!

Installed into a 72 reissue Fender Tele replacing stock pickups that were just not happening

Even output level. Using with a soon to be replaced crappy Hot Rod Deluxe.
Play blues, country, ragtime, jazz and searing rock style soloing!
People say the bridge pickup is hot, I'm not sure the output is that much hotter to the ear, just better. Nice and twangy and growly!

Originally went for these because I'm a lefty and didn't want right handed pole piece alignment. These pickups are flat pole pieces.
This guitar has literally come alive and now sounds they way a tele should!
Bought from online store REALTONE in New Zealand. I'm in Australia but was happy that a $238 order turned in $187 due to exchange rates!
These pickups are hard to find stocked in OZ

Tele set, neck with exposed poles.
Both pickups read around 3.96K ohnms.

Custom Tele.

Output was ok but not as hot as you would think with quarter inch poles and a fat wind.

I call these "Mud" grande.
The neck was ok on its own but when used with the bridge the sound was so hollow and lifeless, the bridge on it own was terrible, not even a hint of twang just middly, I can't believe how hollow the two together sounded.
I didn't use the tele because I couldn't get a got sound out of it no matter what amp I used.
I put it through my POD XT-Live and it still didn't sound good with loads of EQ.
I have just got some NOS USA Schecter tele pickups and put them in and they are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are tapped, the full coil is much louder than the Rio Grandes and the tapped volume is about the same as the Rio Grandes.
They sound in both cases is MUCH better, they are brighter and sound alot more detailed, both sound much better and with both on it sounds good at last.
The Muy Grandes are complete rubbish muddy.

I wouldn't have bought these if I'd heard them first.

Pickup features: Single coil, passive.
Impedence or other specs: No idea.

Model of guitar or bass: Squier Standard Telecaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: N/A
Artists using this pickup: Doesn't matter
You musical style(s): Blues, rock, a little metal.
Reason for pickup change: Adding good pickups to a cheap, well-made guitar is an inexpensive road to killer tone.

Perceived output level: Neck is much higher output than the stock pickup (which was awful). Bridge is slightly higher output than stock, which was surprisingly good for such a cheap guitar.
Tone: Like those great old Teles; plenty of twang at the bridge, hard as nails at the neck, and very full.
Sonic evaluation: The Squier Standard Tele is a well-made instrument, except for the annoying fact that you have to take the neck off to remove the pickguard! I bought it with the intention of replacing the stock PUPs. I play it through a Tech 21 Trademark 10, which is a versatile and great-sounding amp. I expected the Rios to be good, but the tonal range of these pickups really surprised me. The neck PUP nails SRV tone with ease, and also provides great rhythm sounds - everything from Joe Strummer to Bruce Springsteen. Middle position is surprisingly mellow and lush. And the bridge is pure Tele twang, with some serious beef behind it.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play mostly blues and rock, and occasionally some metal. These PUPs are the best I've had for the blues and rock. They don't do metal so well, but that was never the plan. I have other guitars for that.

Comments: If these pickups were lost or stolen, I'd replace them in a heartbeat. They're exactly what I was looking for. However, I'd find somewhere else to buy them from - Torres Engineering's customer service was terrible. I ordered them from the Torres web site, which said they were in stock. Several promised delivery dates came and went before I finally found out that they weren't in stock and would have to be ordered from Texas. Some more promised delivery dates were then missed before I eventually got my pickups. But it was worth the wait.
I've been playing on and off for a long time, and seriously for about two years. I've always loved great blues and rock tone, and since I started getting serious that's what I've been looking for. Guitar is a hobby for me, which makes it hard to justify shelling out four-figure sums on classic instruments. So I decided to look for good, cheap, well-made copies of the instruments I lust after and put good pickups in them. My Telecaster project is complete. It may not sound quite the same as a classic Tele, but my ear can't tell the difference. I now have exactly the tone I was looking for, and for under $350 in total. Now I'm going to do the same thing with a Les Paul copy...
But back to the Rios. I've tried other brands, but now my search is over. These are simply great pickups, and I would highly recommend them to anyone. Normally I don't give 10s when I rate gear, but for these I'll make an exception.

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 52 tele re-issue
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Original pick ups and rio grande tall tele
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): jazz, funk, blues, rock etc
Reason for pickup change: First tried the tall tele set as a replacement to the original pickups that were in the guitar. There was a large improvement but not quite what I was looking for so I switched to the Muy Grandes.

Perceived output level: A little louder than stock
Tone: If Stevie Ray played a tele this is probably how it would have sounded.
Sonic evaluation: I use this guitar either through a crate vc30 or a tone king comet. The guitar sounds excellent through both. What I like about the Muy Grandes compared to the tall tele is the thickness of the tone. The muy Grande seems to made to play leads. The tall tele is much more of a traditional tele sound, and imho is probably better for rhythm guitar styles, especially james brown type stuff were you need that clean cutting tone. I really did like the tall tele for that tone but still was looking for more when soloing as the tone seemed a little too thin for my taste, perhaps if I was in a big band with horns and such it would have been perfect. The Muy Grande set really shines to me. As soon as I put them in and turned on the amp I knew that I was done. The pickups offer excellent string to string definition and really sound nice when using overdrives. The guitar still sounds like a tele but for me works better for soloing. I set the pick ups rather low and that seems to sound good right now maybe later I will try playing around some to see if changes the tone much, but for now I'm really happy with where their at.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: To me this has lead guitar tone written all over it.

Comments: I would buy either set again but I would probably put the tall tele's in rosewood neck/alder guitars and Muy Grande's in maple/ash guitars. I would also buy based on what I was going to use the guitar for.

Pickup features: Singel Coil Passive
Impedence or other specs: RWRP Neck Pickup

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Standard Tele
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Fender pickups.
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Across-the-board, but mostly blues-based rock.
Reason for pickup change: Was looking for a set of pickups to get the tonal range of my guitar beyond the traditional Tele range.

Perceived output level: Much more sensistive and much more ouput than stock,
Tone: Very balanced sound.
Sonic evaluation: Used a Fender Blues Junior, primarily, to evaluate. (Also have a Mesa/Boogie .50 Caliber amp.) This amp is not as bright sounding as the older black face Fenders (I have owned Deluxe and Super Reverb amps), but I like it. The combination of these pickups, my alder body/solid maple neck Telecaster (a 1993 model), and this amp is pleasing to my ears. That what counts. I will concentrate on comparing these Rio pickups to stock Fenders: The Fenders are OK, and better than some other replacements, but these Rios give me a broader tonal spectrum to work with. They have lots more punch, from the bottom to the top. Since they are truly height and angle sensitive, experiment until you dial-in your tone. It's there. The bridge pickup will not produce that ear-splitting, brittle bridge sound that you hear with some Teles, and that's fine with me. It still has plenty of bite for that Tele twang. The neck pickup is very useful for jazz or blues, and has much more string definition when playing chords than with the stock pickup. The stock neck pickup tends to sound muddy. I wanted to make my guitar more tonally versatile, and I have succeeded with these pickups. Listen to Robbie McIntosh's Tele sound on The Pretenders recordings. I like that sound and can duplicate it with these pickups. When installing these, I also added a Fender 4-way pickup selector switch. With this switch you can add a fourth sound - the neck and bridge pickups in series - without resorting to push-pull pots or additional switches. With these Rio pickups you get two humbucking sounds with the combination neck/bridge pickup selections since the neck pickup is RWRP in relation to the bridge pickup. Rios are excellent values in pickups. Duncan's prices, especially, have gotten pretty silly and Duncan's build quality is not near the quality of Rio Grande's pickups, IMHO.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pickups would be great for most any style of music.

Comments: Would buy these again, for sure. The bottom line: These pickups have the high sensitivity of a hot pickup, but don't get muddy in the process. They still have TONE. I like these Muy Grande's so much I am considering the Strat version for another guitar. If you own one Tele, and you want it to be very versatile, tonally, buy these pickups!

Pickup features: single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Tele I made
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): blues, rock
Reason for pickup change: The stock pickups just didnt sound fat and didnt have enough output.

Perceived output level: A lot more than stock
Tone: Very well balanced
Sonic evaluation: I think these pickups sound great. These have great output and the tone is amazing. I never used to play with the tele cause it sounded terrible, but now it sounds like a brand new guitar. i love it. oh and my guitar is a tele and my amp is the piece of shit marshall valvestate 100R combo that breaks whenever you touch it. it sucks(the amp).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play rock and blues. thats pretty much it. these pickups and the setting on my amp make these pickups sound like they came from heaven. you can get any tone you want just by turning the volume and tone controls. these pickups are great.

Comments: I would definitely buy them again. ive been playing 5 years and they sound good to me. i am very satisfied with these pickups. rio grande is the best pickup company out there.

Pickup features: Single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender standard telecaster Ash body, maple neck
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: stock Fender pickups
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Texas blues meets psychobilly country
Reason for pickup change: In seach of the eternal buzz, tone junkie. Stock pickups are limp.

Perceived output level: Slightly more output than stock
Tone: Harmonic rich, warm and tasty, what Tele pickups would sound like if they were made in heaven.
Sonic evaluation: A pair of Hotrod Blues Deluxe ( ala Pete Anderson), Dunlop crybaby and line six effects unit for tremolo and vibroverb sounds. Tonal nirvana baby! Rich and warm on the clean side. Edgy and full when driven and pure warm harmonics when put over the top.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great for all the noise I'm making. Everything from SRV to Dwight Yoakum just drips with tone.

Comments: I've been looking for this sound for 18 years. I've owned at least 25 telecasters and used Duncans, texas specials, B.Lawrences, Dimarzio, fralins by the dozens and NONE of them compare to these pickups. I just came from practice and my band couldn't believe the change in my playing. These are simply the best sounding pickups out there.

Pickup features: single coil passive
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Telecaster American Standard
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: bridge and neck
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): country fueled rock & roll, latin, jazz, all
Reason for pickup change: felt sound could be improved

Perceived output level: a definite overall difference over stock pickups
Tone: balanced in all postions, more bite in bridge postion
Sonic evaluation: using them in a tele and running straight into a Boogie. perfect match with a good tube amp, letting your fingers control more of the grit rather than using the volume on your amp. I love that.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play all styles, and think that these p.u.'s can improve your sound regardless of style

Comments: I've thought about cheking out their humbuckers for another guitar, and the tall boys might be worth a try for more twang. I've tried Seymour, and Dimarzio's, but would rather go for a no-fuss pickup made in Texas.

Pickup features: Single coils
Impedence or other specs: ...

Model of guitar or bass: Korean SQUIER
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: original SQUIER
Other pickups on guitar: -
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Rock/Blues
Reason for pickup change: Not satisfied with the bandwidth and the level of the
original SQUIER, which are VERY poor.

Perceived output level: Pretty high... Probably due to 6mm Magnets. Close to HB
Tone: Very well balanced tone, including low bass and high treble
Sonic evaluation: I am VERY satisfied! I also installed a tonepot with switch to be able
to switch serial/parallel, which adds even more capabilities.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Neck unit is good for blues/rock. Bridge is more for Country.. usual tele stuff, but at higher quality.

Comments: Yes I would buy it again. I love the very broad bandwidth and the
powerfull output level. Hate nothing. Compared to Am Std Tele, the
Muy Grande are better in overall balance, and have a higher output.
I'm satisfied with those PU. The only thing I would like to try is
a set of EMG active units, but for passive, I recommand those ones.
Beside, their ratio Price/Performance is unbeatable!