Tonerider Hot Classics (set)

All the specs have already been done, but I got the Gold neck pick-up, standard bridge.

I put these into a Czech Tele copy made by a company called Fokus. All I used from the original guitar was the wood. It looked beautiful and had a fantastic neck. The pick ups weren't bad (Kent Armstrong allegedly), but a long way from great.

I've held off posting this review for three months because these pick ups are pretty complex (or maybe it's the way I use them). As previously mentioned "Hot" definitely does not mean screaming. The bridge pu is clear and incisive, without setting your teeth on edge. The neck (which I've never had a lot of use for on a Tele), is a revelation. Used clean it is truly beautiful for rhythm, picking or lead. It's made five of my guitars redundant. I could go on about tone, note separation etc. for ever and still not describe it, it's just got something different. Both pu's together, weirdest sound I've ever heard and a massive drop in output. Could be my wiring. I've been using this setting for lead, fast becoming my signature sound.

If this guitar were lost or stolen I don't know what I'd do. This guitar is figuring more and more in my music and becoming something of a trademark. What I will say is that these are not pu's that you can just throw into your guitar and bash through your whole set using loads of effects, and expect everything to be the same as before only with more tone or whatever it is you're looking for. You'll need to experiment to get the best out of them, and when you do........ These pick ups will not suit all types of music, they prefer to be clean in my experience. But if you spend some time choosing your overdrive settings, there's some awesome sounds to be made.

Single Coil Passive
Resistance, impedance blah...doesn't mean a whole lot. Good output, not too hot and not too whimpy.

MIM Tele (another bit of astonishingly good value if you get a good one)
Neck and Bridge set
Replacing Stock MIM Pickups
Don't know any artists using these, but they should be
Replaced Fender Stock pickups which are usually rubbish

Mild output, nice...
Using a Roland Cube - with a bit of reverb and distortion sometimes.
Excellent balance between pickups, clear and lots of attitude.
Country, blues, folk, doesn't matter, these can do most everything
Would like a fatter bridge pickup, but that's just personal preference

Definitely would buy these again...but would like to try some of the Tonerider rails coming soon.
Been playing for about 23 years (ooh, sounds like a long time). I avoid effects apart from distortion.
Love the tone and clarity, nothing harsh. Nothing to hate really.
Bought these as a quick (cheap) upgrade to the usual cruddy fender stock pickups, looked at Dimarzio and Duncan's first, but they are priced in Australia at nearly twice what they are in the US (get a friend to mail them out) - a total rip-off. The whole set cost me $99 AUD. A single Duncan here is RRP'd at nearly twice that.
Fatter bridge would be nice - personal preference.
Always searching for a new sound....love these but would like something a bit fatter and noiseless, but with the same outstanding tone - but that's just my restlessness....
Good customer service too.

Single coil Alnico III Tele Pickups. Rated DC Resistance: 7.2k (neck), 9.1k (bridge). My old meter was a little lower, but not enough to fuss about.

These were installed in a Nashville Deluxe Telecaster (3 pickups) along with a Tonerider City Limits RW single in the middle (reviewed separately). I replaced the stock Tex-Mex neck and bridge. I wanted more articulate and balanced pickups; what I got surprised the hell out me: Tone, tone and tone! Oh, and the former, too. It took about an hour or so of experimenting with height, angle, etc, but it it then it hit me. These damn things sound great! I was hearing a quality of tone from the guitar I'd never heard before. The string balance is startling for any pickup. At this price? fugetabout it. Got a MIM Tele? Grab these. Don't think about it, because for this price you'll laugh your butt off once you hear them and think you have a new guitar to boot.

Output level was the one oddity. I thought with the higher DC and the word "Hot" in the name that these would be the Texas Specials of budget Tele pickups. These are, to my ears, no "hotter" than the Tex-mex they replaced. What they are is head and shoulders above the stock pickups in terms of articulation, attack and balance. The bridge is strong but without the ice pick, and you hear every string evenly. The neck, same deal. Play a slow open G chord and then bar straight across the 12th fret. You'll say F*%k! - what did I pay for these? Lead work is so much more defined now that I have to be careful or the slop that the Tex-mex disguised as acceptable mud is now crystal clear (and embarrassing). The price still makes me laugh when I think of what folks pay for boutique pickups. Amazing. I was going to buy Keystones, but the wait was too long so I bought one of two remaining Strat Keystone sets available. I'll review those when I've had more time with them - they mounted a bit crooked in my FMT top-routed strat, and I'm playing the Tele much, much more now. I will say that for $75, those are growing on me too.

These are keepers. Ebay a decent MIM Tele and install a set of these and watch your buddy with an American Tele get a case of the red-ass. Drop dead great deal. Remember what you're paying here. And you'd better pay now, because I've no doubt these are going up in price. I'd also hang onto your old pickups; you'll want to pull these back out and drop the old in if you sell, trust me.

Passive single coils

I installed this set in a cheap Squier tele from Indonesia (with string through body). The stock pickups weren't horrible, but were about what you would expect from a $130 guitar. The reviews for these Toneriders have been amazingly good and they're cheap, so I figure it was a low-risk choice for upgrading a cheap guitar

These were for my backup guitar and I play through a '68 Deluxe and a Fulltone Fulldrive. My main guitar is a very fine early 90's MIJ Esquire reissue refitted with Bardens.

I am mainly in a garage rock/punk band, but I moonlight in an alt country band and sporadically in blues band.

I am mighty impressed with these pickups. They are bit hotter than regular Tele pickups but more Tele-like to my ears than the Bardens (which are really their own kind of thing). It's a bit tough to compare to the Bardens which are in a much nicer guitar (the Esquire's unplugged sound is WAY better than the Squier), but in comparison I would say the Toneriders have more "snap," while the Barden's have more "oomph" (how's that for technical terms?). I wanted something that had more of a traditional tele sound and these fill the bill. The neck pickup has a kind of Robben Ford sound.

Like I said, I am very impressed with these pickups. Really amazing for the price. I think I am going to replace my Tex-Mex pickups in my California Strat with Toneriders. The Squier now sounds a lot better -- now all I have to do is replace the neck, the hardware, and the body and I'll be ready to go!