Tonerider Hot Classics (Set)

When I bought my Fender Lite Ash telecaster the stock pickups were Seymour Duncan APTL-1 (bridge) and ALTR-1 (neck). Both have Alnico II magnets and vintage coil winds. The sound was generally pleasant and balanced in the middle position but the neck pickup alone lacked presence and the bridge was short on midrange. They were good but not great, so I tried a Duncan Broadcaster in the bridge. The Broadcaster was fatter and a lot edgier but also had too much of that infamous "icepick" tone. If I rolled down the treble on my guitar or amp enough to make the bridge tolerable then the middle and neck positions sounded too muffled. I tried a brighter Duncan STR-1 in the neck to be a closer match to the Broadcaster. That neck pickup sounded great on its own but the Broadcaster in the bridge was still too icepicky for my taste. At that point I was tempted to simply sell the guitar and call it a day.Instead, on a whim, I decided to give the Tonerider Hot Classic set a shot. I had heard good things about them, in print and on YouTube. The consensus was that they offered increased output and midrange without sacrificing trebles. The price was right, so I figured that if I didn't like them I wouldn't be out of pocket much.MacDaddy shipped promptly. The pickups arrived in two business days. The packaging and overall construction were impressive. Everything looked as if it had been made and packaged with care. Instructions were clear and straightforward. (Keep in mind, I have plenty of experience installing pickups, so if you've never soldered anything before you might want to practice first before you open up your Tele.)One thing to keep in mind is that the Alnico III magnets in the Hot Classics have less pull than Alnico V or even Alnico II, so you can and should raise the pickups closer to the strings than you might otherwise. The distance on my guitar is roughly the thickness of a nickel on the treble side, a bit lower on the bass side. If you drop them too low they will sound thin and weak.As for how they sound once dialed-in, well, my description in the title says it all. I was surprised at how much louder, fatter in the midrange, and more generally balanced they are than the Duncans. String-to-string balance is excellent, as is sustain. The lower wound strings sound more warm and woody than piano-like, but not at all dead or muffled. You can still hear the bright, sparkling trebles you'd expect from a Tele, but icepick tone is absent. There's also plenty of "chank" in the middle position, plus hum canceling. Crank up the gain and they really start to sing, no matter which position the pickup switch is in. If anything, they sound even better. I can't imagine any type of music these pickups couldn't handle, short of heavy metal or other high-gain styles.These pickups exceeded my expectations. As long as you aren't expecting them to transform you into a Roy Buchanan, Albert Collins, Keith Richards, or Steve Cropper overnight, they could exceed yours too.

I purchased these to put in a home-built Telecaster, and I can not say enough good things about this companies pickups. These are overwound Alnico III magnets (7.3 neck and 9.2 bridge) and they have some great tone. The neck is smooth and rich, very bluesy sounding with plenty of output both clean and distorted, while the bridge keeps that classic Tele twang while keeping the high end nice and level. No Ice-pick to the ear with these pickups. This is my second set of Toneriders (my first being a set of AC4's in my PRS 245) and they never disappoint. Clean, clear and the tone is fantastic. Just an example of how you don't need to spend a fortune to get great tone and quality pickups. Both times I have purchased from Macdaddy Music and they are PHENOMENAL. It seems like they always arrive before the anticipated date and everything is well packaged. If you are looking for something great to put in your Tele that also happens to be reasonably priced, then you will not be disappointed by these. Tonerider does a great job with there pickups and I'm looking forward to trying more of their models.

I just finished installing these Hot Classics, in my mim telecaster. I shielded the cavities and pickguard and replaced all the electronics etc.The pickups came well packaged and look very well made . I have 8 guitars and this telecaster is now my favorite. This is largely due to the great sound these pickups produce . I could have spent a lot more ,but I really don't think the results would be comenerate .

So, I bought a set of these for my Frankenstien Tele and I installed them. This guitar came alive! I have 2 other teles (one is a Player Plus), a standard strat, a Les Paul, an SG and a 339. This is now, by far, my best sounding guitar. The only thing that happened was after two weeks the bridge pickup quit. I contacted the people at Tonerider and they sent me out a replacement immediately. I installed this one and I am completely floored by the sound of this guitar all over again. I give this company and it's product a solid 5 stars because of the quality of the product and the quality of their service. If you have a guitar that is "meh", then get these pickups and your guitar will become everything you wanted it to be. They are really, really quality. And hurry because the price will go up once the demand hits them.

Fantastic sounding pickups. Well balanced. Great tone through my Fender blues jr and Marshall.

I wanted the Fender Custom Shop Texas Specials but since I had great luck with ToneRiders in the past, I bought these and saved a lot of money. The best part? I've played alongside several guitarists with "top shelf" Fender Telecaster ultra and others. I can hang with them all tonewise. ToneRider makes a great product. Good build quality, great tone, at a good price....so what's stopping you?

Great sounding when they worked. My neck pickup developed a short just a few days after installing. The short is inside pickup, not at the controls/solder points. I tried to locate, but failed. Too expensive to return to UK, so I’ll have to purchase a new neck pickup of some type I suppose.

These are really good pickups.