Tele with neck humbucker…what’s your pick?

Thanks Larry, that sounds great. Nice playing too.
I hadn’t thought of the mini.

if you can go used, Fender had some nice tele's with humbuckers in the late 90's early 2000's....the California series was made in 1997 and 98, then morphed into the Fat tele from 1998-2002....bigger profile necks, 5 way switching so you can get the split humbucker tone as well.....I have a 2001..I had a 98 California series and sold it...what a dumbass I am!...I'd certainly love to have another.....but that means selling one of the tele's I have.....

Now, I’m looking at a G&L Asat Bluesboy, neck humbucker, single coil bridge.

I think I can get a good deal on it from a music shop about an hour from me.

Years ago I had an asat classic which I thought sounded real good…probably shouldn’t have sold it but I found something else I wanted more. I’m good at that!

Thanks Leftee, that’s a good endorsement.

If you’re nice to him, maybe Barry would buy that for you.

I've had a Seymour Duncan SM-3 in the neck of my tele for a very long time. While I'm a fan of Firebird-style pickups in general, I think they complement a tele bridge pickup quite nicely. In this case it's paired with a Dimarzio Pre B-1 (a very hot pickup), going along with what Mr. Funky says above perhaps...but I've used a full-sized HB with normal tele bridge pup successfully in the past, FWIW.

I don't know about everyone else, but my experience is that Fender HBs are just crappy.

Thanks guys, and funky, I agree. Don’t want that thin bridge pup with the neck humbucker.
I think I’m going to visit the G&L I mentioned on Saturday. 

To clarify, I'm not saying anyone should put a hot rails in the bridge and the lowest wind humbucker size pickup you can find - that would defeat the whole purpose of getting a humbucker tele! More just nudge it in that direction. As sirWheat mentioned, Fender HBs are usually pretty awful, and part of that is they're needlessly hot. Many standard Tele pickups out there are kinda low wound as well. I wouldn't expect a lot of the stock setups to really nail it.

Without giving it too much thought, my ideal spread would be something in the lower wind PAF territory in the neck (The 59 and Jazz models Leftee mentioned would be great) and something more like a Broadcaster pickup in the bridge, where they were kinda closer to a lapsteel pickup than the shrill love letter to the country western guys of the '60s. You won't get a perfect volume match between the pickups, but the tones will match nicely and the volumes will be close enough. When they're REALLY off, you end up having to figure out ways to quickly roll down your volume control or something, and that is just a pain.

I hear what you all are saying. 
The point I’m at now is I won’t be playing out anymore, I resigned from the church band last year, I’m 74, health isn’t great…I just hope I like how this one sounds without modding it. As in, been there, done that. 

My wife thinks I’m nuts for even getting another guitar, and says, I really don’t understand. I say, that’s right you don’t understand. I’m also done trying to explain t to her…again!

Anyway, I’m going Saturday to check it out. I’ll report back.

My newest guitar acquisition is a MIM HH Fender Player Telecaster with a maple fretboard. I like the way it sounds. I play it better than I play my other guitars.

It has coil-splitting, the only downside of which is that the volume drops considerably when the coils are split.

If I were to buy another Tele, which is highly unlikely, it would have the standard single could Tele bridge pickup and a humbucker neck pickup. Although I know there are posts above that oppose such a configuration.

That’s no problem Leftee. I find it interesting to hear what people have tried.
I put gibson p90s in a casino a few years back, and then sold it because I didn’t like the neck.

I went yesterday and came home with the G&L. It’s a nice guitar.
Pine body, Seth Lover neck humbucker, and a nice strong single coil in the bridge. I remember that bridge pickup from the Asat Classic I had years ago.
I was surprised at how balanced the pickups were. Also it weighs in at
7 lbs.

I’ll post a picture later…I need to get out and mow before it gets hot.

flic.kr/p/2oF4cDK

Leftee, I think you may be correct. It sounds real good. Not muddy that’s for sure. Clean and dirty both sound great.

The things you know never cease to amaze me.