NECK AND NECK
I read Raising The Tone article in Issue 445 with some interest as I felt it contains some serious inaccuracies. I would like to point out that I have no affiliation with or connection to Fender other than owning a Strat and a Tele. The article concerns itself with the inherent weakness of the Tele neck pickup and the possible ways to improve this situation. Tim Mills of Bare Knuckle advocates the use of thicker 42 gauge wire in windings rather than the thinner 43 gauge traditionally used. He says that in the first six months of production Fender used 42 gauge, then reverted to the thinner 43 gauge for subsequent production. Fender Custom Shop developed the Twisted Tele neck pickup some years ago. It uses 42 gauge wire wound onto larger pole-pieces from a Jazz Bass to accommodate the thicker wire and a nickel-silver cover rather than the traditional brass one. This was used initially on their Custom Shop models and then introduced on the Baja Tele in 2006 and is now used on the majority of American Teles. They have already sought to overcome the inherent weakness of the Tele bridge pickup in a similar way to that advocated by Tim Mills. Dave Redfern, via email Thanks for writing in Dave, we’ll plead guilty to the lesser charge of ‘omission’ rather than inaccuracy as the article was prompted by the old chestnut that traditional Tele neck pickups are considered weak by some players. That’s why we wanted to show how varied the options are these days if you can’t get no satisfaction – although we’d have to add that we love the sound of a vintage Tele neck just as it is. You’re quite right to say, however, Fender itself has produced numerous tweaked versions of the Tele neck pickup that offer an alternative vision of what that iconic silver oblong can sound like. As we’ve said before, we’re living in a golden age of choice when it comes to getting great tone.