Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele

The main feature is that these pickups are made by the master himself, Semour Duncan, and that they are incredibly toneful. I understand that Duncan actually maintains a low supply a voltage to the pickup wire for an extended period of time before winding. Also, the pickups have an aged look which would be perfect for vintage or relic tele.

I installed the Antiquity set in my 52 RI tele to replace the existing Rio Grande Tallboys. The Tallboys were good pickups but lacked the characteristics I was looking for in a vintage style pickup.

Output is about the same as stock pickups. I agree with another reviewer in that these pickups REALLY shine when played through a cranked low powered tube amp. Upon installation, I took my Tele along with my Clark Lil Bit LTD to a local blues jam. Plugging straight into the amp with the volume set at about 7 o'clock produced an awesome blues tone, especially on the bridge pickup. It was all there. Vintage growl, incredible responsiveness,nice sizzle,and most importantly of all, mind blowing tone. For me this is THE tone for blues. I must say that I was not as impressed with the neck pickup, but I never really cared for the sound of any neck pickup on any tele.

These pickups are not cheap, but if you want the ultimate in vintage sounding pickups, these are for you. I am very satisfied and would buy again.

Pickup features: single coil, passive pups
Impedence or other specs: 6.3k, 6.8k

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Custom '62 Tele
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Tom Anderson single coils
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Artists use pickups????
You musical style(s): Rockabilly, country, blues, rock,
Reason for pickup change: looking for more of a Tele Twang, and I GOT IT!!!!

Perceived output level: The Tom Anderson were fairly high output for single coil, these are about the same
Tone: Sound is organic, very touch sensitive, clean and full, not brittle at all, and not much noise at all.
Sonic evaluation: Recording with either a POD XT or a Deluxe Reverb or a Pro Junior. These pick ups are fantastic, they are the best Tele pups I have ever used, and i have tried ALOT of pups!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: A great match for the styles of music i play (mentioned above)

Comments: I would buy them again,and again, and again!! I have been playing for a long time. I love the sound of these pups. The combination of both pups evokes the spirit of Roy Buchanan and I can choke some Gatton out of them too!

Pickup features: Passive single coils, vintage reproduction
Impedence or other specs: No idea

Model of guitar or bass: Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Lindy Fralin Tele Set
Other pickups on guitar: None
Artists using this pickup: None that I know of
You musical style(s): Blues, Country and original Rock 'n' Roll, (Elvis, Buddy Holly).
Reason for pickup change: See "Other Comments"

Perceived output level: Rather low, just like old Tele pickups
Tone: Neck pickup is warm and smooth, bridge is trebly and twangy
Sonic evaluation: Real Tele character, about as close as you can get to real vintage, (I hate that word), Teles today.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These aren't for metal or slightly heavier rock but they're perfect for blues, country and real 50's rock.

Comments: This is where it get's a bit long winded. The guitar these pickups are fitted to, (Fender '52 reissue Tele), is a replacement for my actual 1952 Blonde Telecaster, (current Butterscotch Blonde is an aged colour, the old Tele's you see today that are that colour were originally much lighter), that was lost in a fire last year and was uninsured leaving the Fender reissue as the closest possible replacement, the only thing I wasn't satisfied with were the stock pickups so I sought more authentic replacements.
I came across Lindy Fralin pickups on the recommendation of a friend of my son, the Fralin website made lofty claims of accurate reproduction of "vintage" sounds so I ordered their Tele set and waited, and waited...and waited for 4 months until I received my pickups and immediately installed them, what a disappointment, they sounded similar to the Fender ones I'd just replaced and nothing like my much missed '52s. I was preparing myself to try and track down some original Tele pickups or an actual 50's Tele if need be until my music store suggested I try Seymour Duncan Antiquities, I assumed that they'd be like the Fralins, some vintage weiner with a hard-on for old Strats misinforming buyers with "vintage" propaganda and selling so-so pickups and passing them off as "vintage" so he could jack up prices. I did a little more research on the internet and my mind was changed by reading the credentials of Seymour Duncan himself and his advertising literature, Seymour came across as a man with a genuine love for his profession and the advertising talks about how accurate the reproduction is, on Fralin's site he just rambled on about how great "vintage" gear was and Seymour actually worked for Fender making the kind of pickups Fralin creams over,he has the skill and "qualifications" to be an authority on "vintage" pickups whereas Fralin is just a self serving con artist who gets wood every time he sees a '54 Strat with no background in his beloved "vintage" world other than having an unhealthy fixation with it.
Having purchased and installed the Duncan Antiquities I can safely say they are the ultimate Tele pickup and about as close a replacement for my lost originals as I'll ever get.

Pickup features: passive single coil
Impedence or other specs: 6.91k (bridge)

Model of guitar or bass: Peavy Reactor (US made Tele copy)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: SD Vintage stacks
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Blues, rock
Reason for pickup change: I put the stacks in a few years ago to get rid of the hum, but it really didn't get the good Tele sounds I was looking for.
After putting Fralins and VZ's into two of my strats and being very pleased with the sound and response I figured it was time to see if I could get some better sounds out of this tele.

Perceived output level: Same as vintage
Tone: Bridge: great highs and mids- harmonics to die for / Neck: a bit bassy
Sonic evaluation: I've been using a modified Pignose G40V (tweed bassman/early Marshall design with added gain stage) and my own ProManiac design which adds a G40V-ish preamp to a BF Pro amp. When adding the Antiquities to my Peavy Reactor I used a Fender #099-2250-000 4-way Tele selector switch ; the 4th position is both pickups in series for a fuller, thicker sound. Since the neck pu is RWRP in relation to the bridge pu, both the parallel and series linkages are hum-cancelling. I used a Fender TBX control for the tone pot and a 500k push-pull pot for volume (the switch reverses the neck pickup leads for out-of-phase sounds). Between the hot terminals of the volume pot I added a 220k resistor and 180pF mica cap to smooth out the response and to retain the highs at lower pot settings (the stock 0.001uF "bright" cap Fender uses is WAY too bright). When rewiring my guitar I went ahead and shielded the cavities with copper foil tape and used the grounding procedures developed by John Atcheley. I also repotted the bridge pickup by suspending it in paraffin melted over a double boiler for an hour (since other posts here mentioned a problem with microphonics).
Sonic evaluation: As other reviews here have mentioned, I have had a hard time putting my guitar down because it sounds so great! I'd tried the SD Broadcaster and Vintage Tele bridge pickups in another Tele years ago and was never very impressed with the sound (although the amps I was using may have had a lot to do with that). They were better than the stock Fender pickup, but did not nail the early Roy Buchanan sound I was looking for. The Antiquity bridge pickup is incredible; with the amp gain turned up I get a very clear sound that will sustain as long as I want it to. The harmonics are thick enough to slice. With the gain turned down, you get a really nice twang which should please the C&W pickers. The neck pickup isn't quite as remarkable as the bridge, but it works well in the two blend positions (with the 4-way switch). For a totally KILLER guitar, I may eventually rout out the neck pickup cavity and trim the pickguard to mount a Lindy Fralin Vintage Blues strat pickup in the neck position (the Fralins have the best sound of any single coil neck pickup I've tried, but for the bridge position you can't beat the Antiquity Tele- at least for my own playing style). Maybe I'm missing something but I don't understand why the new 3 pickup Teles use a strat pickup for the MIDDLE position- why not use strat pickups for both the neck and middle position? You'd get some great Strat sounds along with some great Tele sounds. Of course, maybe the Tele neck pickup is popular because of the shielding from the metal cover...

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: These pickups are great for the blues and rock I play, and for the c&w that I don't! Jazz players would like them, too. Metal players would think that the bridge pickup is too bright and that the neck pickup is too wimpy.

Comments: I had thought that the idea of "Antiquity pickups" was all hype- heck, I'll make my own vintage pickups by burying them in a cat box for 6 months! I could care less what the pickups look like as long as I like the sound and response. These are evidentally hand-wound on the old fashioned coil winders used in the 50's- possibly by Seymour Duncan himself (well, he autographed the pickups!) After putting Van Zandts and Lindy Fralins in my strats I didn't think I'd buy another pickup from SD. But the boutique pickup winders don't make as many pickups for teles as they do for strats and even with an exchange policy you might get locked into a sound that you don't like. (Guitar Center offered a full refund if I didn't like the Antiquities. And they gave me a 45% discount off retail which is unheard of with boutique pickups. To be honest, I really didn't expect to keep the pickups, and just wanted to see for myself if there was anything behind the hype.) After mounting the bridge pickup and restringing the guitar I soldered the ends of the leads to the output jack to get some idea what they would sound like (and whether or not they'd be going back). I was totally blown away with the bridge pickup- not just the tone but especially the response. I like to shape the sound of my notes by the "english" I put on the strings by scraping the side of my thumb along with the thick pick I use. By moving up and down along the strings you can bring out different harmonics- octaves, fifths, fourths. With the Antiquities all of those harmonics are there- even if your right hand isn't where you'd normally expect harmonics! As for the clean sounds, they really sing with the stock Normal preamp in my '65 Pro (nee ProManiac).
Question: has anyone out there compared other varieties of Antiquities to Lindy Fralins, Van Zandts and the other boutique winders? How do their strat pickups compare to Lindy Fralins? How do the humbuckers compare to my favorite: SD JB and Jazz neck? E-mail me if you have the time. Thanks!