Steel Pole 43 Tele
Stand out in the mix and transform your Telecaster into a P90 powerhouse with Steel Pole 43s for Tele. You won’t get a traditional Telecaster tone out of these pickups, and that’s the point! Featuring a high-output coil design and an aggressive magnet structure, this is as close to the famous P90 tone as we can get on a Tele. Don’t be afraid to get dirty – experience the expertly-crafted blend of P90 and Tele pickups, and discover what you’ve been missing.
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Steel Pole 43 Tele FEATURES:
Are you searching for the perfect P90 tone, but want to keep your Telecaster looks? We got you right here: Steel Pole 43s are the highest-output Telecaster Pickups we make and feature the thickest midrange and most aggressive attack.
Thicker and louder than our Steel Pole 42’s, The Steel Pole 43 leans even more towards the tone of a traditional P90. They are guaranteed to push your amp hard while still retaining all the definition and clarity you’ve come to expect from Fralin Pickups.
Features:
- Original Fender Size, Lindy Fralin Design
- P90 Tone in a Telecaster size
- 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
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. The Steel Pole 43 for Tele consists of a precision injection mold, USA-Made Steel Screws, and USA-Made magnets to make this model scream. Each bobbin is carefully inspected and cleaned before winding, and checked three times before shipping for unparalleled quality control.
We wind each pickup by hand, one at a time using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique, which gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to prevent microphonics and preserve the pickup for years to come.
Sound
Steel Pole 43s are the closest we can get to a traditional P90 tone, with Telecaster looks. They are the perfect pickups to warm-up a particularly bright and thin-sounding guitar. If you play clean, you can expect a super thick and creamy midrange. You’ll instantly notice the warm tonal quality, round pick attack, and percussive character of the Steel Pole 43s.
When playing with distortion, you can expect a thick, aggressive top-end and midrange and a “chainsaw” grind, similar to P90s. Steel Pole 43s will hit the front-end of your amp hard and break up quickly.
The midrange is prominent on this pickup, which is suitable for all music styles of music, from Rock to Jazz, and sounds excellent on 500K pots. Finally, if you need the most output out of your Tele or are merely looking to give your Telecaster a unique voice, Steel Pole 43s are your go-to choice.
Tonal Graph for Steel Pole 43 Tele:
The tone graph below for our Steel Pole 43 Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Tech Specs
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Steel Pole 43 Tele.
This pickup features a reversible coil direction. We can supply a 3-Wire lead which allows you to reverse the phase easily.
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Neck Ohm Reading: | 8.8K |
| Bridge Reading: | 10.6K |
| Neck Polarity: | North To Strings, Counter-Clockwise Coil Direction |
| Bridge Polarity: | South To Strings, Clockwise Coil Direction |
| Wire: | USA-Made 43-Gauge Single Poly Nylon |
| Pole Pieces: | USA-Made Steel Screws |
| Magnets: | USA-Made Ceramic |
| Recommended Pot Value: | 500K* |
| Recommended Cap Value**: | 0.02mfd |
**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.
* You can experiment with pot values for a different tone. This pickup will sound very dark and warm on 250K pots
Sizing
Steel Pole 43 Tele Questions And Answers:
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Have a question about our Steel Pole 43 Tele? Ask it here. Your Question will be publically visible. If you want to ask a Private Question, please contact us through our Contact Us Form.
If you have multiple questions, please call us at (804) 358-2699.
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does the steel pole 43 bridge pickup have a metal plate on the bottom or do I need a separate ground for the bridge.
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Q does the steel pole 43 bridge pickup have a metal plate on the bottom or do I need a separate gro...... Read moreA
Hey Jeffrey, it has a Nickel Silver Metal Plate on the bottom that will ground out your bridge assembly once installed.
Hey! This pickup is going in a 2010 Mexican made Fender Esquire. Can you confirm which bridge pickup I need in the steel pole 43
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Q Hey! This pickup is going in a 2010 Mexican made Fender Esquire. Can you confirm which bridge pic...... Read moreA
Hey Shane, I'm a bit confused by your question. Since this is a single pickup guitar, are you asking if the Steel Pole 43 will work in your esquire? If so, the answer is yes. If you're asking what pot value, the answer is 500K.
Hello - I purchased a SP43 bridge pickup for my Tele from you guys a while back. I paired it with a p-90 noiseless that I purchased from you guys years ago. I have never really bonded with the p-90 neck, but I love the SP43 bridge. I am planning on buying the SP43 neck pickup from you. But it's asking about a 3-wire option. I'm not sure what to answer for that??
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Q Hello - I purchased a SP43 bridge pickup for my Tele from you guys a while back. I paired it with...... Read moreA
Hey Rick, you don't need the 3-Wire option for this model as you're matching two Fralin pickups together. If you were to do the Series Parallel (4-way switching) mod (which I don't recommend on higher-output models), you would need the 3-wire option for that modification.
Hello- I have the 3 wire steel pole 43- where do I connect the blue wire from the neck and the blue wire from bridge?
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Q Hello- I have the 3 wire steel pole 43- where do I connect the blue wire from the neck and the bl...... Read moreA
Hey Fernando, both Blue wires are permanent grounds. Solder them to the casing of the volume pot. - Tyler
How well does the steel pole 43 pickup handle extremely high/loud volumes with a big muff style fuzz as far as feedback is concerned. I’ve built a backup tele to my 1974 telecaster (which has no trouble with feedback at high volumes) but every pickup I’ve put put in this new build feeds back horribly. I’ve tried silicone tubing instead of springs and I’ve put foam under the pickups but it makes no difference. Also, if the steel pole 43’...
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Q How well does the steel pole 43 pickup handle extremely high/loud volumes with a big muff style f...... Read moreA
Hey Eric, that's a tough question to answer. All else things being equal, our Steel Pole series will not feedback more or less than any of our other pickups. So, I would definitely take a look at your gain stages and see which one is making the most difference, and start tweaking that. Furthermore, to test if your guitar is microphonic, you can tap on different parts of your instrument to see if a specific part makes the feedback come...
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Featured Reviews
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62 Genuine Reviews for Steel Pole 43 Tele
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Woah!
These pickups are breathtaking! I could not have imagined how great these sound in my American Tele! Thank you!
Steel Pole 43 Tele – Bridge
My FAVORITE of all the high-powered Tele Bridge P/U’s… It does exactly what I was looking for….make a Tele Squawk like a LP Jr. yet stay a Tele. I could NOT be more satisfied with this P/U.
Sound! My second Set of SP 43. Wonderful sounding, full of character. Especially with lighter-sounding teles, like thinlines.
Very Nice! I installed these pickups in my made in Mexico Strat. They have a much better tone/sound than the original pickups. They are brighter, crisper, and more defined.
Bought a Steel Pole 43 bridge pickup to match a gold foil in the neck of a Tele I use for slide. Perfect match! P90 tone for sure and just screams for slide. Love this pickup. Thanks for the advice guys!
WOW!!!! I put the Steel Pole 43 Set in my Rock n Roll Relics Richards and this guitar has some serious growl and grit!! I am blown away!!
Just got a Michael kelly cc50 telecaster with the sp43 in it
I must say they are very well balanced pickups and give this tele some more grit above my stock 92 fender tele
There’s DefinAtely great note articulation across the board in all positions
I have to agree with what’s been said about the adjustable pole heights, it is an extra bonus to dial in the strings with height adjustment
Also they are super quiet playing through my fender 57 deluxe twin
AWESOME !!!!
These pickups are great. I am totally in love with the bridge. Mean and gritty but articulate at the same time. Totally transformed my American Performer Tele! I wasn’t as in love with the neck so I switched back to the Fender stock pickup. It was then I realized that the neck was better than I thought. I’m not in love (I do like it better than the stock and switched back again!), but it does mix really well with the bridge when both are engaged. It’s more of a preference than anything really. I might have been better off opting for a 42 neck and 43 bridge honestly. If I had to do it over again I would most definitely go 43 in the bridge as I couldn’t imagine anything being better , but maybe something different in the neck. I wish I had the money to try the 42 in the neck, but the 43 ain’t bad.
I’m very happy with these pickups. I wanted a unique sound and I got it. Thanks to Jon at Fralin for helping me through some grounding issues (my fault). The sound is awesome!
Perfect match
I called looking for a different option for a bridge p/u in a Tele I was building. I already had a vintage style PAF for the neck. They steered me to this Steel Pole 43 to match what I had and helped me decide on 500k pots. Lindy & crew are an absolute pleasure to deal with. They always come through with a great product and friendly knowledgeable service. Every time I have to call with a question they leave me feeling so much more confidant and with an understanding of what I did not understand. They are rooting for you and it shows ! Once again, great products…. you can’t go wrong here.