Steel Pole 43 Tele
P90 Aggression for Telecaster®
$115 – $230
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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Tele Looks, P90 Guts.
Want to learn more about our Steel Pole 43 Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
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.
Sound Samples for Steel Pole 43 Tele:
About this Sound Clip:
All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.
Tonal Graph For Steel Pole 43 Tele:
The tonal graph below for our Steel Pole 43 Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.
Attack: Stiff & Percussive
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 1 |
| 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 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.
* You can experiment with pot values for a different tone. This pickup will sound very dark and warm on 250K pots
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).
Steel Pole 43 Tele Dimensions:
Steel Pole 43 Tele FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
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What Ohm Readings does your Steel Pole 43 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 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.
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What pickup height do you recommend setting your Steel Pole 43 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.
Get it prewired
Go the extra mile and combine our Steel Pole 43 Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
Featured Reviews
Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of
Customer Reviews
71 Genuine Reviews for Steel Pole 43 Tele
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I bought the steel pole 43 tele pick up after trying a few pickups out there. Unless you are playing country, the icepick tele sound from the bridge is like a pothole on the road. You do everything to avoid it. And yet, the Telecaster, in design, is the best guitar design ever created (if you’re reading this – you agree). If you can find a light body with a good neck – the only thing holding it back is you. I favour Esquire models with a single pick up because I never use the other two positions, and an esquire’s appearance screams rock ‘n roll. It leaves nothing to chance. The 43 delivers. Great balance, with some bite and some clarity. I only use two positions in wiring, 1) through the tone pot 2) straight through to the jack. This is the pick up Telecasters should come stock with.
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I put these pickups in a very inexpensive guitar so I could gig with it but not worry about someone stealing it. It sounds so good that now I’m worried that someone will steal it, even though the headstock says “Slick”.
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Great pickup…love the tone. The Schecter PT Special is a great telecaster style but the P90 in the bridge is very warm and the bridge single coil is seriously bright and underpowered. This fit the bill! More output and a much warmer tone that still contrasts and compliments the neck P-90. Not a tele sound but of course that is the point, to make a fully, as much as possible, P-90 with a standard tele tray-style bridge.
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great pickup. nice n rowdy and breaks up. great way to get a tele to rock out a lil mpre. customer service is A1!
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Installed these in a parts caster of mine and was blown away! My favorite sounding telecaster by far now and I own 5.
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I needed a bridge Tele pickup to match a Charlie Christian pickup that I have in the neck position of a Tele. Lindy’s staff was totally helpful in recommending some options and then, after the purchase, helping with installation. Much appreciated and the pickup is stellar — the perfect match!
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Great service! Useful info before delivery and a beautiful pickup at delivery. There’s a little something magic in the Fralin pickups and the Bridge Steel Pole 43 didn’t disappoint! Powerful but nuanced at the same time. Complex harmonics and top end smoothness combined with aggression when you dig in. Much of the same qualities of a regular P90 but a straight drop in on teles. Just what I was looking for. Great pickups.
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Fralin perfection. Playing these through a chambered mahogany Warmoth Jazz Jazzcaster baritone. Beautiful tones. Gorgeous snarl. Not too muddy as a baritone. Very happy with this upgrade.
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These PUs are great for a snarling rock’n’roll tone. Not exactly P90s, but they have the same aggressive attitude. I am using the PUs in a mahogany body tele, with a rosewood fretboard. I could not be more pleased with them.
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I mostly play through a Jose style modded Marshall 2203. These pickups really shine through that amp. Aggressive, spongey goodness. The more you dig in the better it gets. Couldn’t be happier. Thanks!
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Steel Pole 43s are awesome. this is my second tele build. my first one has the Blues Specials which are also amazing, but I wanted some thing with a different profile, and some thing hitting the P90 area, and the 43’s are those pups. More hair, a bit darker. Just awesome. Neck position has more presence and mids? I don’t know. I’m about as good at describing tonal properties, as I am describing wine that I like. I just know when I’ve found something excellent. My other tele might be a bit lonely for a while.
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