B.S. Tele Bridge

For my first Tele build, I paired with the CC neck pickup. This bridge blade, with tone rolled back, can bring out a crushing dark-yet-clear tone that morphs into at least two different characters as you open the tone—at the far end is the Bakersfield Esquire with a slightly fatter attack. It responds to overdrive and distortion with beautiful clarity and incredible breakup. Every Lollar I’ve played holds its tonal clarity even through the blackest germanium diodes; this bridge pickup seems to take that trait to another level.

I am a huge enthusiast of the Lollar Charlie Christian neck pickup. My search for a bridge pickup brought me here. I had great difficulty in finding a bridge pickup which would happily coexist with the CC neck PU. I had a traditional tele bridge pickup (6.5k) in it first and it was hopeless underpowered paired with the CC neck. I got a British handwinder to do a CC pickup which was marginally better (8.5k) but still couldn't really hold its own. You really need something significantly more powerful than a Broadcaster-type pickup output unless you are willing to balance things out with a boost pedal - which is going to change your tone. The BS pickup is definitely the answer for this. It is definitely well matched with the CC neck pickup in terms of perceivable output volume. ...And this is a tricky thing because utilizing different wire makes the DCR output rating of these different pickups somewhat unhelpful - with a 3.3K CC neck pickup sounding much louder than a 8.5K Broadcaster-style pickup would with different wire. The BS pickup is loud and proud. I was really surprised at how much it still sounds like a telecaster pickup in a traditional pine body tele with brass barrel saddles. I can go from a George Benson approved sound in the neck to a louder version Steve Cropper in the bridge. This pickup has quite a bit of zip to it in this guitar and a biting high end. Looking for more of a jazz sound, I would say that this pickup is not great for fat clean sounds (It tends to be a little harsh in the high end.) - but most people are not going to be looking for that in a bridge pickup anyway. It would be a good choice for country, reggae or perhaps some roots rock requiring either a sharp clean attack or a grittier sound. IMO it does not match the CC neck pickup in terms of bass response or (unlike the description) sustain. Even with pickup set at significantly different heights, the neck pickup has noticeably more sustain with either clean or distorted tones. Does it have more sustain than traditional tele bridge PUs? I am sure it does. The B.S. pickup is a great pickup for a loud bright sound and when paired with a CC neck pickup, it makes for a great variety of tones one can get from just one axe.

This pickup is amazing, I've never heard of a telecaster with this firepower. Even with significant distortions, dynamics and attack remain fabulous and well-defined.