Who's it for? Seymour Duncan Hot Rails Telecaster Bridge Pick up

[@trevorstine5732]

I’ve been wanting to put one in a tele for years. I love the one I put in my strat

[@ronnierazor4302]

Thanks for this video, Adam. Another thing comes to my mind when installing a Humbucker type in a Tele is with the stock pots (most likely 250K) it will sound a little dull, with the RAT and Tumnus engaged I don't think that's a big problem, but for cleaner parts it's losing too much clarity, if you change the pot to a 500K the neck pickup will lose its sound. I found out that if you still want to use the stock pots, the Dimarzio Chopper T (like Richie Kotzen uses) works very well with the 250K pots.

[@theadamreynolds]

You are 100% correct on the 500k pots! I think a lot of people get excited for their new single coil sized humbuckers and don't realize it's not normally a 1:1 swap, then they get disappointed about the sound. Also the battle to balance a single coil with a HB is a story as old time itself ha! I took the Tele apart this morning and to the person who did the swap's credit, they did change out the volume pot for a 500k. It's a cheap push/pull but it is the right ohm. However, the kept the 250k tone pot, and the wiring was.... interesting. So it's possible I didn't get the full Hot rail experience but I got the gist I think. I will say listening back to the video, the boosted and distorted sound was really great! This pick up could turn just about any Tele into a punk rock machine!

[@ronnierazor4302]

@theadamreynolds that's interesting that the volume pot was changed to a 500k, I thought based on the clean sounds that it was still a 250K pot. as I said, the tone with the RAT and Tumnus were great. But the clean sound lacked clarity IMO, maybe this could be the nature of the pickup. Thx for the reply. I have a Tele with a neck humbucker and a standard Tele bridge pickup, but the person who I've bought it from wired it with an extra resistor to make the pickup in the neck see a 500K pot and the bridge pickup a 250K pot.

[@theadamreynolds]

Yeah, I think that Hot Rail is just a really thick sounding pickup. Your setup on that Tele is one of the best ways to go if you’re mixing pickups I think. I had a Strat with a humbucker in the bridge and Fender used a stacked volume pot and that was the most balanced version I’ve owned.

[@rinkydinky-ob9pe]

a frankie in a tele !! thats what i want

[@theadamreynolds]

If that’s what you’re looking for this pickup will get ya there!

[@rickbelden2319]

I put a set of the tele hot rails in a build that I did with a series parallel pot in the bridge. I didn’t really want the twangy tele sound so much but I was pleasantly surprised how it sounds in single coil mode. I would agree that you should really do the set rather than just swapping the bridge.

[@theadamreynolds]

I think a matched pair would be a must. It’s just too dang hot to pair with a regular single coil. Putting a coil tap or a parallel setting like you did is a really good idea and makes them cover a ton of ground. Makes for a really good “do it all” guitar.

[@ltxr9973]

The bridge having a lot more output sure is annoying in front of a clean amp but it can be quite useful when you're playing into something like a JCM 800

[@theadamreynolds]

Oh yeah that’s a good point! If you have your amp pushed to the edge it’s like hitting a boost with the flip of the switch.

[@TheFlippy1]

Weird. You tune to the same frequency as my window fan. See, I've got this fan running to filter air, and it hums 60 cycle AC power. It's Impossible for me to keep the guitar tuned to 440, cause the fan keeps telling my ear I'm out of tune, so little by little I find myself tuning to the fan again. So now I just tune to the fan. Turns out it sounds more natural anyhow. I'm guessing you have a window fan.