Vintage Hot Tele
Vintage Tone & Twang
$120 – $240
Experience the ultimate in clarity and articulation with our era-authentic Fralin Vintage Hot Tele set. Warm, clear lows paired with brilliant highs, our Vintage Hot Tele set will inspire you with all the twang you desire. Built with all USA-Made parts, you can take pride in knowing we made every aspect of your pickups with the highest-quality materials possible.
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The Ultimate in Tele Twang
Want to learn more about our Vintage Hot Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
Features
Are you looking for the cleanest and most transparent tone out of your Tele? We got you! Vintage Hot Tele Pickups: our second best-selling Tele set. This set features a bright, pure sound that allows you to cut through the mix and hear every nuance in your playing. Wound by hand to ’50s specs, you can feel great knowing your pickups were wound by our expert craftsmen, specifically for you.
Features:
- Original Fender specifications, with modern output
- Clean and clear, lots of Fender sparkle and twang
- USA-made Alnico 5 Magnets for optimal tonal balance and output
- Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- Two magnet staggers available for different fingerboard radiuses
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built fiberboard Bobbins for unrivaled quality control
- Backed by our 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
- 6.6K Bridge, 7.4K Neck
Sound
This pickup set is perfect for those looking for the most traditional Tele twang out of their Telecaster. Vintage Hot Tele Pickups excel at cleaner styles of music. Expect a robust and open midrange, clear bass strings, and bright and sharp-sounding plain strings. The break-up is smooth and late, ideal for cleaner players or a softer playing style.
Vintage Hot Tele Pickups are for those who need the most traditional Vintage Telecaster tone. If you’re playing style involves more distortion, or, if you prefer smoother, darker-sounding pickups, you might like our Blues Specials a bit more. However, If your current pickups are too dark, or if you’re looking for some added definition and clarity, you will love these. You’ll wonder why you didn’t make the switch earlier.
Are you looking for a Hum Cancelling Tele pickup that actually sounds like a Tele? Check out the Vintage Output of our Split Blade Tele Pickups
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. These Telecaster pickups consist of local fiberboard and USA-Made Alnico 5 Magnets. We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time. Each pickup is wound using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. This gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics. Rest assured: when you receive this pickup, you’ll know it’s painstakingly made with love.
Sound Samples for Vintage Hot Tele:
About this Sound Clip:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Vintage Hot Tele:
The tonal graph below for our Vintage Hot Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Bright & Sharp
Videos for Vintage Hot Tele:
Tech Specs:
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Vintage Hot Tele.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 7.6K* 1 |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 6.8K 1 |
| Neck Polarity: | Counter Clockwise Coil Direction, North To Strings |
| Bridge Polarity: | Clockwise Coil Direction, South To Strings |
| Magnet: | USA-Made Alnico 5 |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42 / 43 Plain Enamel* |
| 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).
Vintage Hot Tele Dimensions:
All dimensions include a covered Neck pickup to account for the slight increased size from the cover.
Pickup Pairing
Our Vintage Hot Tele pairs well with the following models:
Vintage Hot Strat - Middle
Starting At: $ 105
Pair a Vintage Hot Tele Set with a Vintage Hot Strat Middle for a Twangy Nashville Set!
Real '54s - Middle
Starting At: $ 105
Pair a Vintage Hot Tele Set with a Real '54 Strat Middle for the ultimate "Quack" in positions 2 & 4.
Get it prewired
Go the extra mile and combine our Vintage Hot Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Featured Reviews
Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of
Customer Reviews
162 Genuine Reviews for Vintage Hot Tele
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Hot Tele Vintage, Neck pickup – for my 1963 Tele. Bridge pup is original. I sent Fralin (Jon Brown), the reading, and they matched the neck perfectly. Fantastic pickup! I’m totally stoked – the service, was awesome – friendly, and very professional. Jon Brown was great.
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Excellent pickups. Work very well with Matchless and Vox style amps. My hats off to you Mr. Fralin!!
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These pickups are excellent. The breakup with matchless and vox style amplifiers are awesome. Thank you Mr. Fralin!!
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I love Lindy’s pickups. My first experience with them and him was when he rewound my 1970 tele pickups after they failed. It never sounded better, so I put his pickups on my two Strats and a Les Paul. I have a newer Tele that I just put his Vintage Hot pickups on and it sounds fantastic as I expected it would. Thank you Lindy and your team.
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Perfect pickups for the sound I was looking for. Couldn’t have asked for a better set. Thanks Lindy.
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I recently installed Fralin Vintage Hot Tele pickups on my Mexican-made Fender Telecaster and am truly delighted. The pickups have really transformed the guitar. The pickups definitely lived up to Fralin’s excellent reputation.
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This is my favorite Tele neck pickup – excellent clarity for string to string separation.
I love that I can play clean at high volume without breakup – as this suits my soulful jazz and blues.
Its a winner! -
Incredible. That’s all needs being said.
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I really like these pickups.
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Well Lindy, they’re a perfect fit for my build, but I’d need to get back to you re; “how awesome they sound” ! (…as i’m sure they will 😛 ! Thanks again and for sure will be ordering again ! Be safe…
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The trick is to make sure you know what you’re looking for. I got a set of the Vintage Hot Tele pickups – not overwound – for a ’69 Telecaster Thinline that needed all new electronics. I’ve got guitars from every decade from the 60’s till now, so I’m familiar with what stuff should sound like. These pickups make this guitar sound better that it ever had before – and it was pretty awesome to begin with. There’s a transparent clarity – brightness without the ice-pick-in-the-forehead sharpness from the bridge, a beautiful scooped spongy balanced tone with bridge and neck, and a round, sweet, full-throated tone from the neck that stays articulate. The bridge pickup is more useable than any other I’ve played (Lollar, Lambertone, La Brea, stock ’52 AVRI, stock ’69, stock ’78, DiMarzio Twang King, stock American and Mexican, and more). With 250k pots and .047 caps the tone knob makes the bridge pickup so versatile – which is kinda tricky on a lot of Telecasters. Again, don’t expect them to be something they aren’t; these are quite versatile, yes, but best suited for styles from the 50’s and 60’s (everything from classic country to Motown), and cleaner stuff from then till now. There is a definite twang in every position, but no harsh clangy, barky tones. If you want your Telecaster to sound like a Telecaster (not everyone does, unfortunately) these can’t be beat at any price.
I also really enjoyed the “tips and tricks” email drip while I waited. I don’t usually review anything – but I really am impressed with these pickups. If you’re on the fence… go for it. You won’t be disappointed. -
This is my 3rd set of Fralin pickups two Telecaster sets and one Stratocaster, Needless to say I like them?
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The Vintage Hot Tele pickups are awesome!
Warm with clarity like a true 60’s Tele!
Support from Fralin was second to none.
I will go nowhere else for pickups!
This build was a commission for Bailen who is currently on tour.
5 stars all the way!!!! -
These are terrific pickups. I ordered the Vintage Hot tele pickups with 2 over for the neck and 5 for the bridge. I have an ash telecaster body and wanted the guitar to sound a bit different than my ash strat with Vintage Hot Strat pickups. They did not disappoint! They have that nice telecaster twang but are slightly warmer with no shrill high end. I don’t feel the need to use the tone controls at all. Just perfect.
In addition, I got a prewired control plate that had a series push-pull volume pot. Wow! I’ve never heard a telecaster sound like this. In series, it’s a fatter sound without being too dark like a humbucker. With higher gain settings on my amp or with an overdrive pedal I get really creamy distortion. Just terrific. I don’t want to stop playing on any setting.
I highly recommend these pickups.
Scott
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Really love this Vintage Hot Tele neck pickup so much, that I bought another one for another single pickup (neck) Tele that I had built!
Great even sonics across all strings and some good bite to cut through too.
Excellent pickup! -
Great pickups from a great company. I bought a set of vintage hot pickups for my Godin Stadium guitar. I was about to sell the guitar because I could never get the tones I wanted. After putting in the Fralin pickups, the guitar was transformed. It’s just a beautiful sounding instrument now. Beautiful clean tones with shimmering highs and tons of harmonic detail. I love the way it sounds now and it’s a keeper!
I also wanted to say that Lindy is a great person to do business with. He was very accommodating and answered any and all questions I had. Just a class act. Highly recommended!
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The Fralin VINTAGE HOT pickups for my tele are outstanding. They are hot, on full volume- nice. But they mellow down on softer, lower output- very nice! Thanks for a great product and super support.
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Upgraded my Squier tele from barely passable to really pleasing to play. I rewired the whole thing, which was a task, but the wiring diagrams from Fralin were super helpful. I even did a 4-way switch and they sound fantastic
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A lovely mellow Strat neck pickup sound that works great in my Tele build.
Its got all the vibe of Hendrix “Little Wing”/ “Wind Cries Mary” etc.
It gives great even sonics across all the strings and is extremely useable!
Its a one pickup guitar (neck p/u only) I have it in -and it gives me everything I need for my soulful jazz and blues.
Lovely job! -
Got the Nashville Tele set along with the pre wired control plate. Beautiful sound and the installation was simple with the tagged wires. My customer is going to love it.
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