Seymour Duncan Telecaster Hot Rails

Humbucking "rail-style" pickup for the bridge position in standard Telecasters.

I installed the Hot Rails in my '99 Standard Telecaster as I loved the tone of the Tele and needed a guitar to play big band jazz and death metal on.

This is not a pickup for low levels of gain or clean tones. It sounds terrible on a clean setting but that it not the purpose of the pickup so I will judge it on its purpose - metal. And for that purpose it excels - It is incredibly high output and the distored tone just roars. It makes the Tele as suitable for metal as any Jackson or BC Rich but with the versatility of a Telecaster. My only complaint would be that it can get a bit middy but this is easily fixed by knocking the mids on the amp down a little - a standard practice for metal playing anyway.

Great pickup if you use it for its intended purpose. Recommended for any metal player.

high output "humbucking" pickup to fit a standard tele.

fender highway-one telecaster (american)

i love the look of a telecaster, but not the tinny twangy sound that comes out of the stock pickup.

i am 100% stisfied with this pickup, if i ever buy another telecaster i will buy another one of those p-ups.
with the right amp you can create a large pallet of tones, i played this through my 5150, set the pre-gain to about 6, played with the e.q for a while and found some great sounds.
i recommend this to anyone who plays aggressive styles of music, anywhere from melodic hardcore, to punk rock, to thrash and metal/metalcore.

You know the drill by now folks.

Installed in Mexican Tele. I just wanted something to emulate the sound of my Gibsons (Pauls. Explorers, V's etc.)I didn't need to do this. I just did it out of boredom I guess.

I play hard classic. Humbuckers, Marshalls and powerchords, get the picture?

Lets face it. If you're in the market for the sound that this pickup produce you should ask yourself what you are doig with a Telecaster in the first place. It sounds a lot more like an EMG than a passive humbucker, and it is VERY dull when played clean. Also, if you plan on installing a pickup this powerful in your Tele you should make sure that you also upgrade your guitar with a modern thick brass saddle. Otherwise you may risk some horrible microphonic feedback.
Of course you can buy a noisegate and thereby screw up all the natural dynamics of your guitar. However, if you've installed this pickup that ship has already sailed I'm afraid.

Pickup features: Humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: USA Telecaster and a 90's model Fotoflame Telecaster made in Japan
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Stock
Artists using this pickup: John 5 (Marilyn Manson)
You musical style(s): All
Reason for pickup change: It doesn't matter if I'm playing 80's metal, classic rock, pop, or country, I want plenty of sustain, and I want a good cut-through. It must be clear, but cranking.

Perceived output level: Both of my teles now have that Les Paul sustain, but not muddy like a Les Paul.
Tone: Perfectly balanced for a Tele. No more twangy bite. I know die hard tele players like that "tele bite", but now mine have more of a tele snarle with the bite of a great white shark!
Sonic evaluation: I have always used Marshall Amps. I currently own a JCM 2000 TSL60. I also play 2 Ibanez guitars straight out of the 80s. My Telecaster can now compete with them. On my clean channel, I get that amazing Telecaster sparkling clean. When I go to my drive channel, it's amazing chunch. When I go to my lead channel, it's in your face soloing.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: All music styles.

Comments: I love the pickup. I don't give anything a 10. I have been playing guitar for 22 years now. I was on the road, and I have played in more clubs and bars than people have hair folicles. This combination can do it all, and I mean all! I give it a 9.75. If something happens I will definatley purchase another one. This is my first Seymour Duncan Pickup. Before I have only used Dimarzio. I am very impressed. I feel that you will be also.

Pickup features: Single Coil, Passive
Impedence or other specs: effing high output

Model of guitar or bass: Squier Telecaster
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: shit bridge pickup,
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: dont know
You musical style(s): metal, hardcore, anything with gnarly breakdowns and indie/emo stuff.
Reason for pickup change: Of course the orginal pickup was a squier pickup and it sucked horribly but the guitar was damn good for a squier other than that.

Perceived output level: hot damn
Tone: awesome chugging, has really good bass to it but doesnt lack highs a bit. harmonics sound gnarly
Sonic evaluation: Im using a Peavey Triple X amp with a behringer 410. When using the Ultra channel it sounds being shot in the face. Clean sound is excellent 2.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play hardcore/metal and emo/indie stuff but i really only use this pickup for metal. This pickups sounds amazing for anything.

Comments: Love this pickups, im completely satisfyied. i didnt buy this guitar so i only had to pay 85$ the pickup replaced, damn good deal if you ask me.

Pickup features: Passive single coil sized humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: American Standard Telecaster
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Telecaster stock bridge pickup
Other pickups on guitar: telecaster stock neck pickup
Artists using this pickup: ???
You musical style(s): Metal, Classic rock, Blues
Reason for pickup change: needed a more distorted fatter sound

Perceived output level: Strong mids
Tone: Balanced
Sonic evaluation: I have this pickup on an american telecaster and the amp I use is a fender champion 300.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Good for anything from blues to metal

Comments: This is a great versitile pickup. If you have a tele and want a more distorted humbucker sound, this is probably as close as youll come to a true humbucker sound.

Pickup features: Single coil size humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: mexican tele
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: stock
Artists using this pickup: dunno
You musical style(s): punck rock/hardcore/noise
Reason for pickup change: needed more output and middle and bass frequencies

Perceived output level: sounds like an EMG 81 but bassier
Tone: as I said above
Sonic evaluation: I always liked Teles but didn't like the sound. I own an Epiphone Les paul with a EMG 81 on it and play on various amps (peawy,marshall,mesa boogie etc.). I don't use any pedals or zooms because they all suck major ass. Exept digital delay and a chromatic tuner maybe haha.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play in a punk band and the pu is great for it as well for noise. It farts when played clean exept if u use a push pull pot

Comments: i would certainly buy it again cause it does everything I need. I've been playing giutar for 12 years now. I put a 500k push pull pot and removed the tone pot so I got a volume pot for the neck pu and a push pull for Hot rails and it works brilliantly. I own an Epiphone Les paul with a EMG 81 on it and Tele sounds way better. The tone is smoother than the EMG but with same output. The split mode works also well for me when playing noise as it's mildly microphonic which I like cause I can control it and make beautifull sounds. I think I now have THE sound, definitely. If anyone has a question just send an email. bye.

Pickup features: humbucker made to fit in single coil spot
Impedence or other specs: good

Model of guitar or bass: 72 fender tele custom
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock
Other pickups on guitar: stock (neck)
Artists using this pickup: derek from dear screaming check out www.dearscreaming.com
You musical style(s): rock
Reason for pickup change: the stock was way to twangy, it hurt my ears and was very thin sounding

Perceived output level: sounds like a humbucker.
Tone: tone is very powerfull sounding. a good balance of bass and treble
Sonic evaluation: im using this in my 72 tele custom with a '82 marshall jcm 800 head and a celestion 2x12 cabinet.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play rock, this is an excellent pick up for that. it doesnt have that country twang but it could still be used for county if wanted. i think it would work for any style

Comments: i would replace it if anything happened to it. ive been playing for about 10 years. this pickup has totally improved the sound of my set up. there isnt one thing i dont like about it. i got a coil tap put into it so i can still have a single coil sound if i want. even with it spit it sounds stronger than the stock p.u that was in it. like i said im using this in my 72 tele custom with a '82 marshall jcm 800 head and a celestion 2x12 cabinet. i am also running a few effects. mrx phase 90, electro harmonix pulser tremelo, mxr blue box, line 6 dl4 delay and a boss d2-1 distortion for a real nasty sounding boost. i love my set up. i also have an 80's reissue of a 62 tele custom which i put my old pickup from the 72 into. its better than the one that was originally in it. the hot rails demolishes it. if anyone is wanting to put a humbucker in replace of a single coil, this is the way to go if you dont want to chop up your guitar.

Pickup features: Power of humbucker in a single coil
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Fender USA Telecaster
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Bridge
Other pickups on guitar: Stock Neck
Artists using this pickup: Unsure
You musical style(s): Metallica metal.....Classic Rock........Alternative
Reason for pickup change: Stock pickup is great if you want that classic jangle tele sound. I needed a more metal sound.

Perceived output level: Hot! - Not quite hot as EMG's but ultimately this has tone!
Tone: More on the bassier side which i totally love. Sustain is immence
Sonic evaluation: Fender Tele USA > Digitech Multi FX > Marshall AVT

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great For Classic Rock to Metal....Unsuitable for Country or Jazz but if you wanted that sounds then why would you replace the pickup with a Hot Rail:)

Comments: I would buy it again is if were stolen because it's just such a great pick-up. If you are considering this pick up , go for it because it just gives you THE tone

Pickup features: nasty humbucker !
Impedence or other specs: f***ing hot !

Model of guitar or bass: Mexican Tele
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Seymour Broadcaster
Other pickups on guitar: Seymour vintage 54 neck
Artists using this pickup: Johnny 5 from Marilyn Manson ... and me !
You musical style(s): Rock, pop, with a lot of evil distortion when I try to solo
Reason for pickup change: I still don't understand why I bought a Telecaster... a moment of weakness ? So, I had to put some muscle and make it a killer !

Perceived output level: So not, the wall paper will fall , the neighbours won't never complained about your music : they'll become definitely death.. uh... deaf
Tone: Bassy, middy, but desn't lack so much treble
Sonic evaluation: I'm using a Korg AX1500G straight thru the console.
It works well, and gives me the big heavy sound I wanted
The coil-splitted position is not so loud, but it's not as clear as a single coil. Anyway, besides the Jeff Beck, I don't know any humbucker that sounds good when splitted.
Doesn't sound like a tele no more, but it was the purpose !!!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: As I said before, I play a lot of rock, pop, blues with a killer instinct

Comments: If a moron would just stole the PU and leave the guitar, I would start to laugh !
I would not buy a Tele again, and better choose something with true humbuckers, a PRS Tremonti-SE, for example.
I play since 1980, and I have a nice travel guitar : Hohner GT3, a good american strat with Texas PU, a cheap acoustic Yamaha, a fretless bass Yamaha. For the moment, I chose to set the Tele for slide, I'm tryin' to get a BIG sound with slide. Funny !
Except the tele shape (looks good for a country boy with a stetson), it's okay with the sound