Blues Special Tele
Versatile & Thick Tele Tone
$110 – $220
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.
Quick Links
Jump to Sound Clips and more Info:
100% Tele, Just a Bit Meaner.
Want to learn more about our Blues Special Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
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
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
Sound Samples for Blues Special Tele:
Compare Outputs
We have 2 outputs of our Blues Special Tele. Compare them below.
About these Sound Clips:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Blues Special Tele:
The tonal graph below for our Blues Special Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Dynamic & Full
Videos for Blues Special Tele:
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
Polarity Information:
Here's how we wind and magnetize our pickups:
Note: All of our coil directions are depicted from Ground (Black Wire, or Start Wire) to Hot (White Wire, or Finish Wire).
Blues Special Tele Dimensions:
Blues Special Tele FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
-
What Ohm Readings does your Blues Special Tele have?
Navigate to our Tech Specs Tab for complete Ohm Readings and more useful information.
-
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.
-
Is your Lead Time of 2-3 Weeks 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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Pickup 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 ProductGet 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
Customer Reviews
347 Genuine Reviews for Blues Special Tele
-
Fantastic pickups, money well spent. Bridge tone is expansive and bright without sounding shrill, the neck is fat and warm without being muddy, and both PUs blend together really well. Both are pretty noiseless as well. The stock pickups really sounded dead and boxy by comparison. Looking forward to trying some different wiring mods with these.
Packaging during shipping though- I would suggest wrapping the screw pack in a few layers of tape. PUs were packed securely, but a few screws poked through the dimebag during shipping and gouged the neck PU cover. Opening the box I as worried the screws might have skewered the windings, but they just did some cosmetic damage.
-
The stock bridge pickup on my Fender Vintera 50’s Modified Tele died, so after a lot of researching I settled on getting the set and replacing both bridge and neck. Couldn’t be happier with the Blues Specials. A little more output and bite and a whole lot more tone than the stock pickups from the factory – and those weren’t bad at all, these are just better.
The bridge pickup actually has more top end sparkle the the Fender Custom Shop Vintage that it replaced, but it’s well balanced by a more pronounced but extremely smooth midrange. The neck pickup is warm and smooooth with very clear bass response, really lives up the name, because it’s blues tone with some special sauce for days. Most surprising to me is how much better the middle position sounds, so well balanced, spanky and tough sounding, perfect for classic funk and r&b rhythm playing. Makes me so glad I bought the set instead of just replacing the bad bridge pickup. Finally the fourth position (both pickups is series) seems a whole lot louder than the stock set in that position and sounds great, fat and more aggressive.
So far, I’m loving these and looking forward to loading some of my other guitars with Fralins. Their customer service was really good also, they quickly answered two pre-order emails with questions about different models and options with great info that helped me make the right decision. And they finished and shipped my pickups faster than the estimated lead time to boot. Totally satisfied with my purchase
-
Awesome Tele Neck Tone
Have dealt with Lindy for many years. Not only is he a gentleman and sincere honest business man he also understands tone. You can just tell him what you like and he’ll probably send you the perfect pickup. -
My first ever pickup installation
Rarely played my Tele, so I thought I’d try replacing the stock bridge pickup to see if it would add a little zing. What it did was wake the guitar up, making it sound MORE like a Tele than before. Almost never use the bridge pickup, but will probably put a Blues Special there too. -
What I dig most about Fralin pickups is the balance/”even-ness” (is that a word?) between the strings. Lots of people are making good sounding pickups these days – and these sound great (in all the ways other folks have mentioned) – but Fralin seems to have figured out how to balance things out in a way that nobody else has. Play the high E open. Play it on the 5th fret of the B string. It’s the same. Do it up and down the neck. Maybe “consistency” is the right word? Anyway, it’s something I haven’t seen mentioned in the comments, but it’s what – to my mind/ear – set Fralin pickups apart.
-
Blues specials stock stagger stock wind
Put these in my 1999 Fender American Standard Ash Telecaster Replaced the Duncan five two’s. What a difference!!! Brought this guitar to life! Even with the thick poly, the clarity is amazing. Bought a second set for one on my other American Teles. Great Pickups! Thanks Lindy! -
Superb Sound
I Used this pickup with a Fralin Humbucker on the Neck Position and this at the Bridge, we took the advice from Lindy to add a 500K so the Bridge Pickup would Not Have a Drop off from the Humbucker, it was so right. These are premier Pickups, buy them!!! -
I purchased two sets of Fralin Blues for my telecasters. The neck pickups are amazing and are super inspiring. I highly recommend them. The bridge pickups not so much. I anticipated a more overwound bite. They are more of a traditional Tele sound. I removed them and replaced them with a Seymour Duncan 5/2 and Lil 59.
-
Hey Buddy,
We’re sorry to hear that your Bridge wasn’t hot enough to your liking – did you want to exchange to a High Output Tele? They still sound great on 250K and will definitely provide that overwind bite you’re seeking for.
-
-
You can’t go wrong here folks! Installed with a 4-way switch in a double-bound Alder body with a nice fat maple neck…tone out the ying-yang all day and night.
-
Awesome! Nuff said
-
Excellent pups!
These puppies are similar to the standard tele (in that they are bright and clean), but with more volume. Love them!
-
I dig the pickups, they are darker than I thought and a bit more compressed than I would have thought. I have a very light alder stat. 6.8 lbs. playing through a 66 Fender Princeton, the pickups have some bite but they are not overly hot by any means.
-
Fantastic this was the tone I was looking for in my head for my Tele. I have become a customer for life in any Fender guitar I buy. Thank you so much. David
-
Blues Special on a homemade thin line tele.
I have been playing this guitar with these pickups and I like the tone that comes out. It has a slightly darker sound with a good bottom end. It is not too high pitched, trebly, or just all twang. Kinda bluesy yet can still play country licks too. Great to have these options. Overall I would just say they play low and high notes with great range and tone
-
Bridge blues tone: just what I wanted
-
Sweet tone. Great sound/tone. Perfect for my custom build!
-
Exceeded all expectations. Great pickups. Easier than most to balance.
-
Customer added no additional comments
-
Flippin great pickups. Another awesome set!
-
Awesome Fralin Blues Specials tele pickups
“Awesome” might be a slightly overused word, but it’s the best description for these Fralin Blues tele pickups. They’re a huge improvement over the stock Fender V-Mod pickups — which didn’t sound bad, by the way. But the Fralin Blues Specials are really something special. Briefly, the bridge pickup is gutsy and powerful but still retains that Bakersfield twang that I have to have on a telecaster. The neck pickup is well balanced with the bridge pickup, and there’s some great rhythm and jazz tones — and lead tones as well in that neck position. The two middle positions — series and parallel — offer two distinct tones and sound terrific. I have a lot of experimenting to do with this new setup. I would highly recommend the Blues Specials to anyone thinking to upgrade their telecaster pickups, wanting to retain the basic character of the telecaster, but with more guts. I’m more than 100% satisfied with my choice and highly recommend adding a four-way switch as well. It makes a world of difference over the stock 3-way switch and I think will help me get the most out of these great pickups. Thanks!
More Reviews:
STAY IN TOUCH
Add a review
Leave a review for our Blues Special Tele