Steel Pole 42 Tele
Enter the world of the almighty P90 pickup, and discover what you’ve been missing with our Steel Pole 42’s. Featuring the perfect balance of a traditional Tele pickup and the P90 tone, we’ve achieved hybrid tonal bliss! Expertly crafted by hand, we guarantee this tone will inspire you for years to come.
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Telecaster, Meet P90.
Want to learn more about our Steel Pole 42 Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
Steel Pole 42 Tele FEATURES:
- Original Fender Size, Lindy Fralin Design
- Strong and bold – lots of midrange and snarl
- USA-made Ceramic Magnets for aggressive tone and output
- Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- RW/RP Neck pickup for a hum-canceling middle position.
- Adjustable Steel Pole pieces for fine-tuning string balance
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- Backed by our 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
OVERVIEW
Steel Pole 42 Tele pickups are an exciting blend of a P90 and a traditional Tele pickup. Thicken up your Telecaster’s tone with a snarly and warm midrange and a stiffer, percussive treble. Hand-built with USA-Made Steel Pole Pieces, Ceramic Magnets, and a low-output wind, we guarantee the unique tone produced by this set will inspire you.
Featuring a thicker and warmer tone than our Stock Teles, you’ll be impressed by the unique pick attack and versatile nature of this set. Hand-built with Steel Pole Pieces and Ceramic Magnets, Steel Pole 42s feature a stiffer top-end and midrange snarl. If you play with distortion, you can expect a faster break up and a “chainsaw” grind.
Perfectly fusing the clarity and dynamics of a Tele pickup and the midrange aggression and bark of a P90, we’re sure that this is one of the most versatile and unique-sounding pickups on the market today.
Sound
Steel Pole 42’s sound larger and richer than traditional Tele pickups. You’ll notice more midrange, especially in the lows and highs when played clean. The midrange is prominent on this pickup, and it sounds great on 250K pots. These pickups are not as dark as a P90 but have a beautiful openness and clarity. Steel Pole 42’s sound thicker in the midrange with more of a “chainsaw” grind. For musicians looking for more of a traditional P-90 sound, we recommend our Steel Pole 43 Pickups.
Finally, Steel Pole 42 Pickups are for those who need more output from their stock pickups. If you’re looking for something different, these may be right for you. Also, if your current pickups are too bright or thin, you will love these. These tend to be warmer-sounding, and a bit aggressive.
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. Steel Pole Pickups consist of a precision injection mold and USA-Made Steel Screws. We use aggressive USA-Made magnets to make this model scream. Each bobbin is carefully inspected and cleaned before winding.
We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time, using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. Winding pickups this way gives each pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics.
Tech Specs
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Steel Pole 42 Tele.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 7.7K* |
| Bridge Ohm Reading: | 6.7K |
| Neck Polarity: | Counter Clockwise Coil Direction, North To Strings |
| Bridge Polarity: | Clockwise Coil Direction, South To Strings |
| Magnet: | Ceramic |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42-Gauge / 43-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 250K |
*The Neck reads higher due to the use of 43 Gauge Wire, outputs are compensated
FAQs
- How will this pickup differ from a standard Tele pickup? Because of the Ceramic, the Steel Pole pickups have a harder and more aggressive treble than the softer, more sparkly treble of a normal Tele pickup with Alnico magnets. The Ceramic will cause this pickup to sound slightly more aggressive in the midrange and will be darker.
- How far away from the strings does the pickup need to be? Push your Low E String down at the highest fret. Measure from the top of the pole piece to the bottom of the string. The ideal starting location should be 1/8? on the bass string, and 1/16? on the treble string, when the High E string is pushed down at highest fret. You can adjust the stagger from there with the pole pieces.
- Wiring Diagrams? Here!
Sizing
Steel Pole 42 Tele Questions And Answers:
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1 Questions about Steel Pole 42 Tele
GET IT PREWIRED:
Go the extra mile and combine our Steel Pole 42 Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Replaced the neck pickup in my 2010 Acoustasonic Tele, and turned a very ordinary guitar into a great one. Thank you!
Without doubt the absolute best ever, pickups. So fat and sweet and all the good quack!
I installed these pickups in a costumers 2012 telly and he is thrilled with them thanks much Jim
Amazing pickup! Strong, clear, and quiet, with incredible detail. Every nuance of the pick/finger to string contact is reproduced. Superb. Surpassed my expectations, which were high.
Fralins Steel Pole 42’s: Fender Offset Tele and a 68 Princeton Reverb, 0 pedals required
There’s a beach in a glacial lagoon in Iceland of coarse pure black volcanic sand littered by chunks of glacial ice – The Diamond Beach ….and I’ve seen the Northern lights pouring color like vitriol on asphalt there …. Black sky, black beach, light through ice washing and grinding against sand …. Total balance and harmony between cold and clarity and rugged texture, so perfect and rare it feels alien …. When I plugged in my custom offset Tele newly equipped with Fralin’s Steel Pole 42s I had that experience again —- the grit, the color, the clarity, and the awe. Fralins customer service responded almost immediately to my initial email inquiries and made helpful tips and suggestions to get the best experience out of my order and set-up —– once I placed my order, they kept me up-to-date with its status and processing times …. Once it was shipped, they emailed tips and schematics for installation. It was nothing short of the peak of customer service, prioritizing quality control every step along the way. I am absolutely thrilled with my purchase —- and will definitely look to them again in the future. Thank-you Fralin!
Love this pickup!
Sounds exactly as described: between a Tele bridge and P90. I use 13s with a wound G, the adjustable pole pieces are as important to me (for adjusting individual string volume) as the tone. Only improvement is if I would’ve bought the neck pickup too! If you’ve never done bought a Fralin and are a lil nervous, DON’T BE! Fralin and crew are incredibly helpful, insightful and make a very well thought out pickup and company. Just fuggin do it!
Great product, amazing service!
I was looking for a darker and beefier tone on my TC neck and I found it. I was contacted by a Fralin representative to ask exactly how I wanted the guitar set up so they could wire the pickup properly. I didn’t hesitate to order more parts from Fralin and haven’t been disappointed.