PLEASE NOTE - TO ORDER YOU MUST CHOOSE AN OPTION FROM EVERY DROP DOWN BOX (THEY ARE NEVER UNAVAILABLE)
Solderless setup with all required wiring available here
The Tornado Telecaster pickup set is built on the same principle as the Murky Horizon P90 set - to clean up and brighten the neck position, and to fatten the bridge position to give the guitar better tonal balance between the switch positions.
Telecasters pickups are typically very polarising - many people will consider a Telecaster neck pickup to be too dark, mushy and dull, while many others will consider it to be the perfect level of smoothness. Likewise with the shrillness of the bridge pickup.
The Tornado set is designed to be a departure from the Telecaster norm. There's been a few sets designed around the idea of winding a Telecaster neck pickup like a Stratocaster pickup, but that only gets half way there. As soon as a cover is placed on that pickup, a lot of the Stratty quality is lost. We've taken the concept further - we've designed a neck pickup that's too bright and too powerful to compensate for when a cover is placed over it; which then makes the output and tonality similar to that of a normal Stratocaster pickup. We're using 41 AWG wire and a nickel silver neck cover for this one (you may choose brass in the options, if you want it darker), which has a much lesser effect on the tone than the vintage accurate brass standard covers.
The bridge pickup is loosely based on a Broadcaster bridge pickup. Using the thinner 43 AWG wire that a Broadcaster bridge pickup typically uses rolls off a lot of the piercing treble that some Telecaster pickups can have. The output isn't as high as the resistance suggests so that it balances well with the neck pickup (far better than most normal Telecaster pickup sets). This wind is combined with alnico 2 rods for maximum smoothness on the treble, making this pickup very versatile for heavier styles requiring less spikiness.
The main aim with this pickup set was to design a set of pickups that removed Telecasters from the pigeonhole of 'clean neck, country bridge' and give them a more rounded palette of tones. Along with this, the neck and bridge shouldn't act as 'this or that', but rather be complimenting of each other, picking up from where the other one ends.
Specifications (neck/bridge):
Resistance (ohms): 5k/9k
Magnets: alnico 5 rods/alnico 2 rods
Lead wire: cloth covered push back
Base plate: copper plated steel
Polarity: North up/south up
Wax potted
Supplied with mounting screws & tubing.
Please note the neck pickup is 22mm tall from the top to the bottom.