Steel Pole 42 Tele
Perfect Balance of P90 and Tele Tone
$130 – $260
Enter the world of the almighty P90 pickup, and discover what you’ve been missing with our Steel Pole 42’s. Featuring the perfect balance of a traditional Tele pickup and the P90 tone, we’ve achieved hybrid tonal bliss! Expertly crafted by hand, we guarantee this tone will inspire you for years to come.
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Telecaster, Meet P90.
Want to learn more about our Steel Pole 42 Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features
Steel Pole 42 Tele pickups are an exciting blend of a P90 and a traditional Tele pickup. Thicken up your Telecaster’s tone with a snarly and warm midrange and a stiffer, percussive treble. Hand-built with USA-Made Steel Pole Pieces, Ceramic Magnets, and a low-output wind, we guarantee the unique tone produced by this set will inspire you.
Featuring a thicker and warmer tone than our Stock Teles, you’ll be impressed by the unique pick attack and versatile nature of this set. Hand-built with Steel Pole Pieces and Ceramic Magnets, Steel Pole 42s feature a stiffer top-end and midrange snarl. If you play with distortion, you can expect a faster break up and a “chainsaw” grind.
Perfectly fusing the clarity and dynamics of a Tele pickup and the midrange aggression and bark of a P90, we’re sure that this is one of the most versatile and unique-sounding pickups on the market today.
Features:
- Original Fender Size, Lindy Fralin Design
- Strong and bold – lots of midrange and snarl
- USA-made Ceramic Magnets for aggressive tone and output
- Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- RW/RP Neck pickup for a hum-canceling middle position.
- Adjustable Steel Pole pieces for fine-tuning string balance
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- Backed by our 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
Sound
Steel Pole 42’s sound larger and richer than traditional Tele pickups. You’ll notice more midrange, especially in the lows and highs when played clean. The midrange is prominent on this pickup, and it sounds great on 250K pots. These pickups are not as dark as a P90 but have a beautiful openness and clarity. Steel Pole 42’s sound thicker in the midrange with more of a “chainsaw” grind. For musicians looking for more of a traditional P-90 sound, we recommend our Steel Pole 43 Pickups.
Finally, Steel Pole 42 Pickups are for those who need more output from their stock pickups. If you’re looking for something different, these may be right for you. Also, if your current pickups are too bright or thin, you will love these. These tend to be warmer-sounding, and a bit aggressive.
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. Steel Pole Pickups consist of a precision injection mold and USA-Made Steel Screws. We use aggressive USA-Made magnets to make this model scream. Each bobbin is carefully inspected and cleaned before winding.
We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time, using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. Winding pickups this way gives each pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics.
Sound Samples for Steel Pole 42 Tele:
About this Sound Clip:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Steel Pole 42 Tele:
The tonal graph below for our Steel Pole 42 Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Stiff & Percussive
Tech Specs:
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Steel Pole 42 Tele.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 7.7K* 1 |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 6.7K 1 |
| Neck Polarity: | Counter Clockwise Coil Direction, North To Strings |
| Bridge Polarity: | Clockwise Coil Direction, South To Strings |
| Magnet: | Ceramic |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42-Gauge / 43-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 250K |
| Recommended Cap Value: | 0.02mfd 2 |
Additional Technical Info:
1 Ohm Readings can vary due to a multitude of factors, including ambient temperature, multimeter calibration, different wire batches, and other factors. Due to this, ohm readings are approximate. Learn more about Ohm Readings here.
2 We recommend a 0.02mfd Cap Value on most guitar and bass pickups. The exception is a Magic Cap, which Lindy prefers on the Bridge Pickup of Fender® guitars only. Learn More about Caps Here.
*The Neck reads higher due to the use of 43 Gauge Wire, outputs are compensated
Polarity Information:
Here's how we wind and magnetize our pickups:
Note: We depict all our coil directions from Ground (Black Wire, or Start Wire) to Hot (White Wire, or Finish Wire).
Steel Pole 42 Tele Dimensions:
Pickup Pairing
Our Steel Pole 42 Tele pairs well with the following models:
Steel Pole 42 Strat - Middle
Starting At: $ 115
Pair with a Steel Pole 42 Reverse Middle for a Smokin' Nashville Tele tone.
Split Steel Poled Tele - Bridge
Starting At: $ 150
Our Split Steel Pole Tele Bridge is the perfect noiseless companion for our Steel Pole 42.
Get it prewired
Go the extra mile and combine our Steel Pole 42 Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Customer Reviews
54 Genuine Reviews for Steel Pole 42 Tele
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Fralin pickups are Flippin’ Awesome! Never disappointed with the pickups form Fralin! We’ve installed many sets and have very satisfied customers
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Smooth silk. I’m down to 2 pickup companies. I don’t buy assembled guitars anymore. Fralin hands down are the best single coils around. Glad ya’ll are still innovating. Keep that up. 50+ year player
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Customer added no additional comments
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Another satisfied customer at Florio Guitars thanks to Lindy Fralin. The perfect Tele upgrade with a twist. Thanks again!
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Love these in my Tele.
Wanted a little more bite and gain from my Tele and these work perfectly. Thank you Lindy for talking to me personally to see what I was looking for.
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Glad I went with SP 42 in bridge and SP43 in neck
This pickup is also better than I expected, especially when mixed with the SP 43 neck pickup. Sweet sounding and versatile. I love how they nailed the mix of P90 while keeping that classic Tele bridge pickup sound. I love both sounds and this captures that great mix. And, again, like I mention in my SP 43 review, the unexpected increase in sustain that seems exponentially improved from the stock pickups, which were pretty good. I have owned, and currently own, guitars with Barden’s, Fender Custom Shop, Lollar’s, EMG, Seymour Duncan and they’re all great. I kept hearing about how good Fralin’s are and now I know why for real. Seriously considering an SP43 set for my Strat now, when/if the budget works. Thank you!
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Flawless and balanced
For a rich velvety tone, especially on the neck, these were just what I was looking for.
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Flawless and balanced. For a rich velvety tone, especially on the neck, these were just what I was looking for.
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Customer added no additional comments
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My 2 cents
The p90 is my favorite pickup as mentioned in my review of the split poled Tele bridge pickup. I’m very happy with this combination I love the nature of the telecaster and I have a road-worn that Larry Cragg set up with his LC Special Fralins but I can’t always play at the volume I need to achieve the overdrive tone I crave and want, though I can use a pedal and have plenty I prefer to just plug and play most of the time. It’s great to just have a good setup great pickups a cord and a good amp with a little reverb turned up to smooth out my mistakes. So pure and raw. With these in my other Tele, I can get that all-day at low volume. The neck pickup is punchy crisp and if I were to call it a bass pickup as some do it’s clear with drive. The lead tone I get sounds like the blistering clear notes that Dickey Betts rolls out. Thanks, Lindy and the helpful staff, I love your products I have them in teles strats and few Gibson’s too.
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Not your Granddad’s Tele Pickup!
I received my Steel Pole 42 to put in the bridge of my mid 80’s ESP Series 400 version of a ‘62 Telecaster. I decided to make it into an Esquire. And replaced the cheap old Japanese electronics with a whole rewire kit, especially useful as I really use the volume and tone controls. This beast really delivers Fralin’s claim of a P-90/Telecaster hybrid. Especially the chainsaw grind, which is beautifully full of glorious midrange. But it’ll clean up nicely easing of the volume and retains the much-loved Twang Factor. If you only have one Tele and want to go traditional, Fralin has better models. But if you want something a bit more Rockin’, this is your choice. I’m forming a CowPunk band right now, this is filling the bill nicely. I bought my first Fralin in the mid ’90s, a P-90, and it’s served me well. Never had, or heard of any quality issues from anyone that bought a Fralin. Great pickup winder, one of the first boutique cats, still going strong
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These sound just as advertised. I’m gonna have them for a long time.
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Best quality, as always. Love this pickup in my Tele, sounds even better than the Blues Special in my other guitar.
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I never thought my 2007 American Series Tele could sound this good… beefy, fabulous mids and low end. I’m at a loss. I actually like the bridge pickup more than the neck. I always have a hard time describing what I hear. The low end is not boomy, and the high end is not twangy, but it still has a lot of Tele flavor. With stock pickups, I preferred the neck pickup because I tend to gravitate toward a warmer, Jazzier sound. With these pickups, I prefer the bridge and middle positions just because they sound so damn good!
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Love the Neck, not sold on the bridge
I love the warm fat and loud sound out of the Neck pickup. just what I had hoped for. I think I am going to look for something different for the bridge position though. a bit too mid focused for me. -
Absolutely perfect! We installed these into Tim Armstrong’s telecaster that is his ska and reggae beast and he loves them! Great set Of pickups we love lindy over here at Ugly Guitars!!
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I love the warm fat and loud sound out of the Neck pickup. just what I had hoped for. I think I am going to look for something different for the bridge position though. a bit too mid focused for me.
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Replaced the N3 noiseless pickups in my American Deluxe with steel pole 42’s and couldn’t be happier. Much fuller sound and no spikiness. Bridge pick up is sweet with the tone rolled back a little. It took a while trying to figure out just what pickups I wanted …but these are perfect ! They really do fit in between stock tele sound and P-90 sound. Very pleased !
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I just installed a set of these in my Telecaster. They sound phenomenal. Great full Tele sound when playing clean, and a little more bite when overdriven than stock Tele pickups. No lack of twang, but definitely a fuller sound over all. I couldn’t be happier with these.
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Just installed the Steel Pole 42 bridge in my stock early ’67 Tele and it really adds body while keeping plenty of twang and treble for clean country – a very good solution for thinner sounding Telecasters. The Blues Special was great too but this particular piece of ash seemed to need the Steel Pole 42 to get body. Thanks again as always. One could have a nervous breakdown reading all the mojo out there while shopping for pickups. I like Fralins – staightforward, simple, and natural sounding.
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