#TeleTuesday: Bridge Pickup Comparison – Part 1: Blind Test

#TeleTuesday is my occasional series where I share my own feelings and experiences with Fender’s original solid-body electric guitar … warts and all.

Do all Telecaster bridge pickups basically sound the same? Can you get the same sound (or close enough) from a non-Telecaster guitar? Let’s find out.

What Are We Doing Today?

This is something I’ve been wanting to do since I got the Bare Knuckle True Grit bridge pickup all the way back in February, and I finally feel confident enough about my recording chain to do it.

Here’s the deal: I’ve recorded seven demos, using just the bridge pickup of each guitar. Not all of them are Telecasters. I want this to be a true blind test, so I’m not going to tell you any more than that.

Can you work out which demos are of Telecasters, and which demos feature something else entirely? Do you hear much difference at all?

In Part 2, I’ll reveal which demo is which pickup, and talk more about what I think about each of them.

The Blind Test

Here you go: seven demos, which I’ve simply labelled A to G.

Final Thoughts

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

• Which guitars are the Telecasters, and which are not? And why do you think that?
• Which demos do you prefer? What is it that you prefer?
• Is there even much difference between each of the pickups? What differences are you hearing?

Let me know in the comments below, or over on the #GuitarTwitter community!

I’ll save my thoughts for Part 2 😉