Blues Special Tele
Love playing your Telecaster again and know it finally has the voice it was always meant to with our Blues Specials. Wound with a 5% overwind from our Stock Teles, Blues Specials feature a punchy, warm tone that tames the harsh top-end from most Telecasters and helps you hear every nuance in your playing. Lastly, customize your appearance with our neck options and make your Telecaster a real eye-catcher with a look that suits you.
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Jump to Sound Clips and Product Info:
100% Tele, Just a Bit Meaner.
Want to learn more about our Blues Special Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
Blues Special Tele FEATURES:
Discover what you’ve been missing with our best-selling Telecaster pickups. Blues Specials feature a 5% overwind that emphasizes the midrange while taming the high-end for a warmer, thicker Telecaster tone that still sounds like a Tele. Built with all USA-Made parts, you can take pride knowing Lindy designed his Blues Specials with the highest quality materials available.
It starts here: Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. Blues Specials consist of local fiberboard and USA-Made Alnico 5 Magnets. We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time, using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique for a sweet, unique tone. You can feel great knowing that we wound your pickups specifically for you. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to prevent microphonics and preserve the pickup for years to come.
Features:
- 5% more coil than our Stock Tele set for a warmer, thicker tone
- Modified Fender specifications, optimized for output
- High output, but still has Fender sparkle
- Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- USA-made Alnico 5 Magnets for optimal tonal balance and output
- Two different magnet staggers for optimizing pickups for your instrument
- 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
Sound
Tonal Graph for Blues Special Tele:
The tone graph below for our Blues Special Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Dynamic & Full
If you’re looking for balance – not too bright, not too dark, this set is for you. While playing clean, Blues Specials sound thick and creamy with open and clear highs and a thicker midrange. The overwound coil tames your highs and bumps your midrange – more than the Stock Tele Pickups, while you can expect more of a traditional Tele Tone than our Steel Pole 42s.
With distortion, you can expect a light compression, low-end growl, and a medium attack. Single notes sound thick and round, while chords have a full tone with an early breakup. Finally, Blues Special Pickups are for you if you’re looking for more output from your current pickups, but still want to keep that traditional Tele tone.
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 Blues Output of our Split Blade Tele Pickups
Sizing
Tech Specs
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Blues Special Tele.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 7.8K* 1 |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 7.3K 1 |
| Neck Polarity: | Counter Clockwise Coil Direction, North To Strings |
| Bridge Polarity: | Clockwise Coil Direction, South To Strings |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42 / 43-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Magnet: | USA-Made Alnico 5 |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 250K |
| Recommended Cap Value: | 0.02mfd 2 |
More Information:
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
Blues Special Tele FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
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What Ohm Readings does your Blues Special Tele have?
Navigate to our Tech Specs tab for complete Ohm Readings and more useful information.
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Will this pickup fit my instrument?
Check our "Sizing" tab for the size of the pickup. No Sizing tab? Check under the product image gallery for dimensions.
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Is your Lead Time of 1 Week accurate?
It really depends on the shop capacity at the moment, and the size of your order. Feel free to give us a call for an accurate lead time. We always try to underpromise and overdeliver.
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What pickup height do you recommend setting your Blues Special Teles to?
Our recommended Pickup Height is 1/8" (3.175mm) on the Bass Side and 1/16"( 1.5875mm) on the Treble Side. Measure by holding the corresponding side down at its highest fret and measure from the bottom of the string to the top of the pole piece.
Product FAQ's
These are frequently asked questions about our Blues Special Tele. If you have a question that you don't see listed here, click "Ask A Question" in the Quick Links section above.
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How does the cover affect the tone of the Neck pickup?
It doesn’t – we use USA-made nickel Silver, the most sonically-transparent metal for covers. We also compensate the winding technique to make sure the Neck pickup sounds like we want it to.
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What is 4-Way Switching?
4-Way Switching adds a fourth position to your Telecaster’s switch to put both pickups in Series and Parallel. The 4th Position sounds like a big humbucker as a result. Read more on the topic here.
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What is required for my pickups to work with 4-Way Switching?
We apply tape to the magnets before winding to isolate the coil wire and the magnets. If you select a cover, we add a separate ground wire to permanently ground the cover instead of grounding the cover through the coil.
Pairing
Our Blues Special Tele pairs well with the following models:
Big Single® - Neck
Starting At: $165
Pair A Blues Special Bridge with a Big Single 42 in the Neck for a killer combination.
View Product
Blues Special Strat - Middle
Starting At: $99
Nashville Tele? Our Blues Special Reverse Middle is the perfect match
View ProductYou may also like…
GET IT PREWIRED
Go the extra mile and combine our Blues Special Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Featured Reviews
Reviews we worked hard for, and are proud of
Installed a 4-way switch, CTS linear volume pot, no load tone pot, 0.02 mfd cap and overwound Blues Specials on my Squier Offset Telecaster. Compared to the tone to my Fender Limited Edition Offset Telecaster, the Squier tone is fuller with a wider range, bell ringing (not ice pick sharp) and I love the series position for an immediate volume and fullness of tone increase. Also with the tone knob rolled all the way back, there is a noticeable difference in tone between the switch positions with the Blues Specials (not so evident on my stock Fender Tele). A great upgrade!
Pick ups sound great but the best part of my experience with fralin pick ups was being able to call and talk to someone in person and ask my questions about ordering the pick ups and the installation i got the humbucker in the neck and the tele bridge pick up and a pre wired control plate everything worked out great
4th or 5th set.
Part of my list of preferred tele parts for quite a while.
Fralin products are all great, I’ve had B.S. Tele, B.S. Strat, SP43 Strat, Dog-ear P90.
Thank You Lindy Fralin for all the great tones I’ve gotten.
My 62 Re-issue Tele is almost 30 years old. The copper plate on the bottom of the bridge pick up had fallen off, a repair was made but the pick up never sounded the same after that. Living in Richmond, I have heard of Fralin pick ups for some time. Nothing but praise! So while shopping for a new bridge pick up I decided to check out the Fralin website. I figured a bridge pick up would be in my price range, man was I pleasantly suppressed that an entire set was with in my range. So I popped on a set of the Blues Special Tele’s. The whole experience was nothing but Top Notch. I had a few questions, which were answered quickly, the price was great, and they were finished and delivered ahead of schedule. The installation was easy, I have changed pick ups before, but the notes and emails from Fralin pick ups were great, and helpful. Once installed I fired up the old amp and Holy Smoke, nothing but that Sweet Tele Twang came out of the bridge pick up. I forgot how good the twang could be on a Tele, but these are better than the original pick ups! The neck pick up was awesome also, great for chords and rhythm and anything else. I now play the Tele daily, where before I played it a couple of times a week. A big thanks to Fralin Pick Ups for getting my Tele back to me!
Unbelievable!
I didn’t know what to expect with the mahogany tele body but these blues specials are unbelievable!! Like butter!!
Great pickups, cannot say anything bad about them. Replaced my 2000’s American Standard Tele, and I recommend them to everyone. Although I own a 1965 Custom Shop Strat with Ybarra pups in it, I typically grab the tele….that says a lot!
Incredible pickup, unmatched clarity and tone, brought my guitar to life
The Tele I have was already pretty sweet sounding. But the pickups were lacking a “bit of beef” if you will. Since I put a set of Fralin’s in my Les Paul and was completely happy with the switch, I ordered a set of Blues Specials for my Tele. What an amazing difference!! They are so 3D sounding! Very responsive to touch and volume control, Bright and punchy yet tight in the bottom end. DO NOT HESITATE to get a set of these pickups. There is no downside to these pickups, Fralin pickups are THE BEST!
The bridge pick up on my ’96 Tele was in bad shape, the bottom copper plate had detached and the even after having it repaired it was sounding a little weak, A good friend recommended Fralin Pick Ups, so I ordered the Blues Special. The Pick Ups breathed new life in to the old Tele. Holy Smoke I had forgotten how good a Tele could sound. The bridge is snappy and has the Tele twang but with a nice warm tone. The neck pick up was a nice surprise! The stock pick up was OK, but was a little muddy, basically a Tele neck pick up. The Blues Special has more punch than the stock one, bit retains a neck pick up tone. I have actually been playing through it a lot. Which is something new for me. And the middle switch position, with both pick ups is Fantastic! The balance is perfect with enough twang shining through but a bit darker than the bridge alone.
The customer service was great and the pick ups were ready much earlier than expected. The next time I’m in the market for oick ups, Fralin Pick Ups is at the top of the list!
I ordered these pickups as a Nashville set for a knockoff Telecaster that I essentially got for free as part of a trade. I figured since I didn’t pay for the guitar, I’d spend a decent amount of time and money on upgrades to make owning it worthwhile. I really wanted to convert it into a Nashville Tele, and found that Fralin is pretty much the only company that makes it straightforward to order a Nashville set, aside from getting the stock Fenders (also I hate how all 3 pickups look different on actual Nashville Telecasters). After routing and installation, I plugged in and these pickups blew my mind. Along with a couple minor hardware upgrades and some fit & finish work the guitar needed, they turned a sub $200 knockoff Tele into a serious workhorse instrument that looks, sounds, and plays like $1200 easy. Worth every cent, and I’d buy them again in a heartbeat.