Currently I've got Fender 4th generation Noiseless in the neck and bridge, 4-way switch mod. They're nice but nothing spectacular. The idea is to fit a Seymour Duncan 'lil 59 neck Tele sized humbucker in the bridge with a push-pull coil split and a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder in the neck. 3-way switch. What say you lot?
Consider wiring in a 5 position strat selector switch and using 2 dpdt push-pulls for phase reversal.
I have never test driven or owned a tele with a neck humbucker but sure would like to someday. In fact, for my next guitar I have been considering picking up an Fender American Performer with a neck humbucker. If you do that let me know how it sounds.
If you do try the mod I have an older Duncan stacked tele pup that I’m about to take out of one of my other teles. If you want it let me know.
My $0.02: Leave the noiseless in the neck and put the Lil ‘59 in the bridge, then coil split the bridge with either a push-pull pot or a four-way Switch. That way, you still get that beautiful Tele neck sound and you can kinda swap between the meatiness of a humbucker and the clarity of a single-coil on the bridge. That’s what I would do, at least.
When I do "phase reversal" , I reverse the polarity of ONE coil on each humbucker individually. On SG HP-II's, you can set their dip switches to make the pull-up pots do that. That's where I got it from. It really does sound killer !
I reverse the polarity of ONE coil on each humbucker individually. Selectively, on the fly, with the push-pull pots.
I didn't do the 4 way switch on this one, but it was a DiMarzio 36th Anniversary neck pickup and a Lil '59 in the bridge. I had the tone knob wired with a pull switch to tap the coil on the '59. I think I messed around with different pot values and dropped the tone cap to 0.022uF (maybe 0.015uF but I forget). I used it for a few open mic/jam sessions but eventually put it back to standard and traded it for my SG. I missed the brighter bridge pickup sound that I get from my other Telecaster, but didn't care so much for the two options on the Lil '59. Anyway, just to give you an idea of how it might look (depending if yours is a sunburst too I guess). I cut the humbucker hole as I bought an Esquire 'guard in Bakelite as I like the look. Based on a MIM Classic 50s Telecaster: I just 'finished' this Partscaster Tele. It started off as an Esquire, but I decided I didn't need it and my other Tele (a White Classic 50s) so I put a neck pickup in it. What you can't see is that I put an Eric Clapton mid boost under the 'guard. Gives an extra range of sounds that fatten the tone, going back to a twangy tone if you turn the mid boost down (it's in place of the tone knob): The hidden mid boost (not very clean routing, but it doesn't show once the 'guard is fitted), before I converted it to a Tele:
Update: The MIM Tele got its Fender Gen 4 noiseless pickups back, plus a 5- way Fender Super-Switch. I now have: 1 - bridge only 2 - bridge plus neck in series with neck phase inverted 3- bridge plus neck parallel 4 - bridge plus neck in series but in phase 5 - neck only. I'm working on a DIY Tele-type also, which will get the Seymour Duncan stacked neck and the S-D Little '59 bridge humbucker. It too is getting a 5-way Super Switch plus a push-push to coil split the humbucker.
Clariying: one push-pull would have been to coil split the humbucker, a second to do the phase inversion. it turned out there isn't "room under the hood" for a second push-pull anyway, as the MIM has a step half-way along the control cavity and right where a push-pull volume would sit. Room for one at the tone? Yes. Volume? No. Instead I refitted the Fender Gen 4 noiseless pickups and a 5-way Super Switch and get the phase inversion that way. The DIY Tele I'm working on is getting the S-D stack and humbucker, a 5-way switch and a single push-push to coil split the humbucker.
