Split Blade Tele
A Lindy Fralin original design! Split Blade Tele pickups are noiseless pickups for your Telecaster. They feature a noiseless operation, with all the clarity you expect from a single-coil pickup. Split Blades are available in 4 outputs to help you fine-tune your tone and find your sound.
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All Tele, No Hum.
Want to learn more about our Split Blade Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:
Split Blade Tele FEATURES:
Split Blade Tele Pickups: revolutionary design, pure Telecaster tone, no hum. Unlike most pickups, we designed our Split Blades with a left-right coil design, giving you a truer and more balanced single-coil tone. These pickups will drop right into your Telecaster, with no modifications necessary. You’ll get all the single-coil traditional tone, with no hum at all.
Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. Split Blades consist of a precision injection mold and USA-Made Steel Blades. 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. Each pickup is wound using our proprietary “Sectioning” technique. This gives the pickup a sweet, clear tone. Finally, we wax-pot the pickup to preserve the pickup and prevent microphonics.
Features:
- Lindy Fralin Original Design
- Unique 4-Split Blade design for Humbucker and SSS tones
- An interesting and unique look
- Clean and clear, lots of Fender sparkle and twang
- USA-made Magnets for optimal tonal balance and output
- Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
- Three Blade heights available for different fingerboard radiuses
- Hand-wound with our “Sectioning” technique for unique, dynamic tone
- Hand-built for unrivaled quality control
- 10-Year Warranty on manufacturing defects
Sound
SPLIT BLADE TELE SOUND:
Unhappy with Hum-Cancelling Fender Pickups, Lindy designed the Split Blade. It’s a hum-canceling pickup with traditional Fender-type sparkle. They’re unique: they offer a single-coil sound, no hum, and dashingly good looks. Expect fantastic a warm, full-bodied tone with incredible string articulation and enhanced detail. Wound strings sound clear and articulate due to a narrow magnetic field. Plain strings sound thicker than a single-coil with more of a sonic footprint. Chords will sound smooth and buttery, and single notes will sound large and full. Split Blades will not pull the strings out of tune – even if they get close to the strings. Also, adjusting the pickup’s height allows you to fine-tune your tone to your needs. Expect thick, warm, and dynamic tone with distortion.
Pot Value:
Vintage and High Output Split Blades sound great on 250K Pots or 300K pots. We sell 300K Pots here if you need one!
Sizing
Tech Specs
See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Split Blade Tele.
Since we have a few different outputs for Split Blade, we've grouped them by their recommended Pot Value:
| SPECIFICATION | VALUE |
|---|---|
| Vintage Output Ohm Readings: | 4.7K Neck / 5K Bridge* 1 |
| Vintage Output Recommended Pot Value: | 250K or 300K |
| High Output Ohm Readings: | 6.8K Neck / 8.4K Bridge* 1 |
| High Output Recommended Pot Value: | 250K or 300K |
| Blues Output Ohm Readings: | 5K Neck / 5.8K Bridge* 1 |
| Blues Output Recommended Pot Value: | 500K |
| Super High Output Ohm Readings: | 7.2 Neck / 9.5K Bridge* 1 |
| Super High Output Recommended Pot Value: | 500K |
| Wire: | USA-Made 42 / 43 Gauge Single Poly Nylon, Depending On Model |
| Magnet: | Ceramic |
| Polarity: | Hum Cancelling, Request 3 Wire If Buying Single |
| Pole Piece Material: | Steel |
| 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.
* Due to the unique design of this pickup, ohm readings aren't very helpful. Our Vintage Output is close to the a Vintage Strat Pickup output.
Split Blade Tele FAQ's
General FAQs
Here are quick answers to common questions we get:
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What Ohm Readings does your Split Blade 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 Split Blade 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.
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GET IT PREWIRED
Go the extra mile and combine our Split Blade Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:
I am amazed at the difference. I am a hobbyist player and only picked up the guitar in my late forties so most of my equipment is budget. I replaced the Tesla pickups in my Harley Benton Thinline Tele with Fralin noiseless split blade vintage wound. I can’t believe my novice ears. Installation was not nearly as difficult as I thought it would be given I replaced a bride stacked humbucker in conjunction with a push/pull splitting tone pot with standard tone pot. The .02 cap that Fralins staff recommended gives me the exact range of tonal dimension I’m looking for. Incredible when clean and awesome in the fuzzy dirt! Well worth the price!
I bought the black split blade, vintage output, medium radius to replace the stock neck pickup in my MIM tele. I didn’t have a problem with the stock Fender pickup tone wise, but I play thru a 5 watt tube amp and like to use various amounts of dirt sometimes and the fender pickup is just noisy even before I get to 12o’clock on the amp volume with no dirt. The vintage output Fralin pickup sounds, to my ears, just like the fender pickup. Warm and beautiful with the right amount of bite. To my imagination it seems a little bit louder than the Fender pickup. In medium and high gain situations it is dead silent when you aren’t playing so it lives up to its claim of noiseless for me. It pairs literally perfectly with my bridge pickup which is a Duncan vintage lead stack noiseless(which is nice and twangy without the ice pick highs). With this combo my tele sounds like it’s supposed to but is noiseless in all positions. When I’m in the middle position and getting both pickups, IT SOUNDS SO NICE TO ME. So to recap, if you like the tone of your stock fender neck pickup but want a little more output and want it to be noiseless, the split blade is an amazing choice imo. A tad pricey compared to whats out there in the world, but well worth the price and long shipping wait imo.
Split blade Tele bridge is more *dynamic*, better balanced across all frequencies, and dead-quiet as far as any 60 Hz hum or RFI. There is something about playing out of a silent background that adds a special quality to the sound. It has made a “pretty good” instrument into something first-rate, and I enjoy playing this guitar now whenever I can.
I spent too much time overanalyzing my pickup choices, when I could have been playing the superior instrument that I now have. If you are on the fence, don’t hesitate – you will be VERY glad you made the move. No worries, Lindy stands behind everything he sells – if for any reason you aren’t totally satisfied, he will make it right. One of the single best investments I’ve made in bettering my tone.
My favorite noisless singles ever made. Nothing comes close.
Pickups sounded great. My customer is very happy.