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I want to upgrade to tonerider pickups eventually but would like to stick with stock at first to keep initial costs down. I'm assuming from all that I've read, changing them out won't be a big deal.
Does anyone use the stock pickups from the tele kits? How are they?
Cheers,
Derek.
Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk
Can't help with the standard Tele pups because I swapped them out in all three Teles ( including my CVC Thinline ) but the kit Strat pups are quite acceptable depending on the sound you are looking for.
The kit Teles have Schaller vintage HBs, Tonerider Hot Classic & the CVC has custom wound 52 Blackguard spec pups.
My PB Strat has now had three different sets, the stock, Seymour stacked HB and now Tonerider Pure Vintage.
I recorded with the stock pups and got a nice Hank Marvin tone which was exactly what I wanted, hated the SDs they were a one trick pony that ultimately didn't suit my needs and the TRs give me the Hank sounds but also get a nice Rory Gallagher sound when doing the blues thing with some jam mates.
The GTL-1 is a pretty new kit so there won't be a lot of experience around with them. Adam has mentioned that the hardware and pickups appear to be somewhat better than the older kits, so that bodes well for the quality/sound of the pups. Swapping them out shouldn't be an issue, so it won't hurt to try them and you may be surprised.
+1 for Weirdbits above - that said - love my Toneriders in my PB bass.
No Tele kit experience here, but from another thread, it looks like the 'non-G' TL kits have a bridge pickup with a ceramic bar magnet stuck underneath and with steel slug pole pieces. A real Tele bridge pickup will have magnets as the pole pieces - no bar magnet stuck underneath. So if yours has a a bar magnet stuck underneath the bridge pickup, I'd be tempted to swap at least that one out straight away. It's a pickup, but it will never sound quite like a real Tele (though it may sound like the very cheapest of the Squires). But that's not to say that it might sound OK in its own right.
If there's no bar magnet and so the pole pieces are magnets, then I'd give it a go. The GTL bodies are certainly a a step above the TL bodies, so hopefully the electrics are as well. But it's your money and your choice.