I'm thinking of getting a new guitar - a fender Telecaster. While I like the "twang" that it delivers, I also like a little "crunch" as well. A friend of mine who works in our local music store (where I take lessons), suggested that what I might want to do is put a humbucker pickup at the bridge, and keep the single coil pickup at the neck (to retain the "twang"). Any thoughts, ideas, recommended humbucker brands? Thanks.
I myself wouldn't do it. If you already have another guitar, try to find one to complement it. So if you have an LP now, get an SS tele. On the other hand, maybe you can look into getting a splittable bucker, or one like Yamaha has developped (two real SCs forming a bucker, resulting in a pure SC sound when split). But I myself wouldn't go for a non-splittable bucker.
As for brands: really up to your taste. The biggest brands are probably EMG, Seymour ducann and Dimarzio. Cheaper brands like Bill Lawrence are supposedly quite good as well, but I'm not really into this kind of stuff.
You could purchase a Tele that comes with a humbucker, I belive it would be a Fat-tele. Or put in a 'stacked' humbucker which takes up a single coil space. But I would hesitate to 'cut' a Tele, since they are classics in my opinion. Or so as stated above and get a split pickup model.
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I think a Telecaster is not the shape of the guitar, but the combination of that shape and those two pickups. Guitars shaped like a Telecaster, like the Schecter PT's with humbuckers are nice guitars, but they aren't Teles. If you want something that sounds like a Tele, don't put a HB in the bridge, or you'll lose one of the 3 best sounds you can get from a Tele.
Also, there is already a tremendous variability in sound available from the two pickups on a Tele. From the growl and twang of the bridge to the smooth blues from the neck, as well as that wonderful sound in the middle.
I say buy a proper Tele if that's what you want; later, you can buy a guitar with humbuckers to get that sound. But that's just my opinion.
