Sunbear Pickups Telecaster BroadFIVE0 Set Aged

The Tele was the commercial birth of the solid-body electric guitar and as evolutionary starting points go, it was so good that it remains largely unchanged to this day. The pickups are a key element of this early genius of guitar design and this set represents our take on the earliest form (pssst: they are our favourites as well). Before the Telecaster name had even graced Leo Fender’s lips, it was first to go through the now legendary “Broadcaster” period and then, following notification from Gretsch that the name was taken, “Nocaster”. The pickups in the very first releases of this design differed from any that were to follow in the upcoming years.

The key point here is that bridge pickup. For starters it was wound with thinner 43gauge wire, flat poles while sporting a tin-plated steel baseplate and a notably high output! This all leads to a fabulously pushed low-mid presence, tightly controlled low end and highs that, while spanky and retaining of the twang are never shrill in the way that some later designs became. The neck unit in those early guitars was finished off with a high-end-robbing brass cover and while this is absolutely a custom option here, we choose to use a thin nickel or open cover as standard as the one concession to modernity.

· BRIDGE AII +/-9.5k: This classic, beefy wind and flat-AII poles give this pickup all the girth and richness characteristic of those very early, lap-steel inflected Broadcaster units. If you love the tele twang but prefer your highs to be that little bit sweeter and your low-midrange a bit more present there’s few things more ideal than this!

· NECK AIII +/- 6.7K: The Tele neck pickup is often neglected but it really can be absolutely glorious. As mentioned above, our preference is to use a thin nickel or a really cool looking open topped cover. This helps to avoid the woolly high end that thicker or brass covers often cause and leads to a pickup that while very much its character has the charm, balanced tonality and playability of a Strat-style neck pickup.