Vintage Hot Tele

Vintage Tone & Twang

$120$240

  • Single Coil
  • Clean & Articulate
  • Traditional Appearance
  • Vintage Output

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( 160 genuine reviews)

Experience the ultimate in clarity and articulation with our era-authentic Fralin Vintage Hot Tele set. Warm, clear lows paired with brilliant highs, our Vintage Hot Tele set will inspire you with all the twang you desire. Built with all USA-Made parts, you can take pride in knowing we made every aspect of your pickups with the highest-quality materials possible.

Options

Customize your Vintage Hot Tele:

Selection Needed

Select Options Above To Display Add-Ons

Neck Cover: *

Neck Options:

If performing a 4-Way Switching Mod, please select this box below:

Bridge Options *

Specify if you want White Cloth String or Black Cloth String on your bridge. If no option is chosen, you will receive White String.

Nashville Tele Info:

Are you buying pickups for a Nashville Telecaster Setup? Make sure you check this box to let us know. Make sure you add a middle pickup as well. Our Nashville Polarity will cancel hum in positions 2 & 4, like a Strat.

Left Handed

Need a Left-Handed Vintage Hot Tele? No problem! Check the box below.

SPEED UP YOUR ORDER

Since you're buying a single pickup, we might need more information from you. To avoid unnecessary delays in your order, please choose one of the options below:



Be sure to read our article on Pickup Polarity here.
Notice

Due to the nature of Raw Nickel, Raw Nickel may contain slight cosemetic defects or abrasions.

Recommendation:

We recommend using 2-Conductor With Shield Lead when purchasing a single pickup. 2-Conductor lead allows you to reverse the phase should you have phase issues. Learn About Lead Choice

Note:
Upgrade To A Prewired Pickguard

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Fralin Warranty Stamp

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Our commitment to quality is unwavering. We build our products to last and stand by our products and manufacturing process—period. We're so confident in the quality of our pickups that we offer a 10-year warranty against manufacturing defects. This warranty is our promise to you that you're investing in a high-quality, durable product that will stand the test of time.
Fralin Handmade Stamp

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Our commitment to quality extends to the materials we use. We make all our pickups by hand, one at a time, in our small, humble shop in Richmond, VA, using 100% USA-made parts. This ensures we can build, wind, and assemble all our pickups with great care. We use only the best materials we can.
Fralin Exchange Stamp

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Experience our exclusive 30-Day Exchange Program, designed to give you the peace of mind you deserve. It allows you to thoroughly test your pickups in your preferred environment, whether it's on stage or on the road. If you have doubts about your choice, just contact us. We will make it easy to exchange for a better set of pickups.

The Ultimate in Tele Twang

Want to learn more about our Vintage Hot Tele? Here's all the information you'll need:

Features

Are you looking for the cleanest and most transparent tone out of your Tele? We got you! Vintage Hot Tele Pickups: our second best-selling Tele set. This set features a bright, pure sound that allows you to cut through the mix and hear every nuance in your playing. Wound by hand to ’50s specs, you can feel great knowing your pickups were wound by our expert craftsmen, specifically for you.

Features:

  • Original Fender specifications, with modern output
  • Clean and clear, lots of Fender sparkle and twang
  • USA-made Alnico 5 Magnets for optimal tonal balance and output
  • Compensated Bridge for even volume across all pickups
  • Two magnet staggers available for different fingerboard radiuses
  • 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
  • 6.6K Bridge, 7.4K Neck

Sound

This pickup set is perfect for those looking for the most traditional Tele twang out of their Telecaster. Vintage Hot Tele Pickups excel at cleaner styles of music. Expect a robust and open midrange, clear bass strings, and bright and sharp-sounding plain strings. The break-up is smooth and late, ideal for cleaner players or a softer playing style.

Vintage Hot Tele Pickups are for those who need the most traditional Vintage Telecaster tone. If you’re playing style involves more distortion, or, if you prefer smoother, darker-sounding pickups, you might like our Blues Specials a bit more. However, If your current pickups are too dark, or if you’re looking for some added definition and clarity, you will love these. 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 Vintage Output of our Split Blade Tele Pickups

Our manufacturing process allows us to achieve unparalleled quality control. These Telecaster pickups consist of local fiberboard and USA-Made Alnico 5 Magnets. 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. Rest assured: when you receive this pickup, you’ll know it’s painstakingly made with love.

Sound Samples for Vintage Hot Tele:

About this Sound Clip:

All sound samples are played from Neck Position First and Bridge Position Last.

Tonal Graph For Vintage Hot Tele:

The tonal graph below for our Vintage Hot Tele features Lows, Midrange, Highs, and general Output.

HIGHS
MIDS
LOWS
OUTPUT

Attack: Bright & Sharp

Videos for Vintage Hot Tele:

Tech Specs:

See below for the estimated DCR and Polarity Information for our Vintage Hot Tele.

SPECIFICATION VALUE
Neck Ohm Reading:7.6K* 1
Bridge Ohm Reading:6.8K 1
Neck Polarity:Counter Clockwise Coil Direction, North To Strings
Bridge Polarity:Clockwise Coil Direction, South To Strings
Magnet:USA-Made Alnico 5
Wire:USA-Made 42 / 43 Plain Enamel*
Recommended Pot Value:250K
Recommended Cap Value:0.02mfd 2

Additional Technical Info:

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:

Fralin Telecaster Polarity

Note: We depict all our coil directions from Ground (Black Wire, or Start Wire) to Hot (White Wire, or Finish Wire).

Vintage Hot Tele Dimensions:

Telecaster Dimensions - Fralin

All dimensions include a covered Neck pickup to account for the slight increased size from the cover.

Pickup Pairing

Our Vintage Hot Tele pairs well with the following models:

Final Vintage Hot

Vintage Hot Strat - Middle

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Starting At: $ 105

Pair a Vintage Hot Tele Set with a Vintage Hot Strat Middle for a Twangy Nashville Set!

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Lindy Fralin Real '54 Strat Pickup

Real '54s - Middle

( 49)

Starting At: $ 105

Pair a Vintage Hot Tele Set with a Real '54 Strat Middle for the ultimate "Quack" in positions 2 & 4.

View Product

Get it prewired

Go the extra mile and combine our Vintage Hot Tele with a Telecaster Control Plate!:

Get your Telecaster Pickups Prewired with a Telecaster Control Plate

Customer Reviews

160 Genuine Reviews for Vintage Hot Tele

  1. Keith Lentin

    Verified Purchase

    Hot Tele Vintage, Neck pickup – for my 1963 Tele. Bridge pup is original. I sent Fralin (Jon Brown), the reading, and they matched the neck perfectly. Fantastic pickup! I’m totally stoked – the service, was awesome – friendly, and very professional. Jon Brown was great.

  2. Brandon Busby

    Verified Purchase

    Excellent pickups. Work very well with Matchless and Vox style amps. My hats off to you Mr. Fralin!!

  3. Brandon Busby

    Verified Purchase

    These pickups are excellent. The breakup with matchless and vox style amplifiers are awesome. Thank you Mr. Fralin!!

  4. Bob Helfant

    I love Lindy’s pickups. My first experience with them and him was when he rewound my 1970 tele pickups after they failed. It never sounded better, so I put his pickups on my two Strats and a Les Paul. I have a newer Tele that I just put his Vintage Hot pickups on and it sounds fantastic as I expected it would. Thank you Lindy and your team.

  5. Corey Brown

    Verified Purchase

    Perfect pickups for the sound I was looking for. Couldn’t have asked for a better set. Thanks Lindy.

  6. Avelino Pérez

    Verified Purchase

    I recently installed Fralin Vintage Hot Tele pickups on my Mexican-made Fender Telecaster and am truly delighted. The pickups have really transformed the guitar. The pickups definitely lived up to Fralin’s excellent reputation.

  7. Richard Wilson

    Verified Purchase

    This is my favorite Tele neck pickup – excellent clarity for string to string separation.
    I love that I can play clean at high volume without breakup – as this suits my soulful jazz and blues.
    Its a winner!

  8. David

    Verified Purchase

    Incredible. That’s all needs being said.

  9. Tony Parks

    Verified Purchase

    I really like these pickups.

  10. David Boileau

    Verified Purchase

    Well Lindy, they’re a perfect fit for my build, but I’d need to get back to you re; “how awesome they sound” ! (…as i’m sure they will 😛 ! Thanks again and for sure will be ordering again ! Be safe…

  11. Sebastian Deledda

    Verified Purchase

    The trick is to make sure you know what you’re looking for. I got a set of the Vintage Hot Tele pickups – not overwound – for a ’69 Telecaster Thinline that needed all new electronics. I’ve got guitars from every decade from the 60’s till now, so I’m familiar with what stuff should sound like. These pickups make this guitar sound better that it ever had before – and it was pretty awesome to begin with. There’s a transparent clarity – brightness without the ice-pick-in-the-forehead sharpness from the bridge, a beautiful scooped spongy balanced tone with bridge and neck, and a round, sweet, full-throated tone from the neck that stays articulate. The bridge pickup is more useable than any other I’ve played (Lollar, Lambertone, La Brea, stock ’52 AVRI, stock ’69, stock ’78, DiMarzio Twang King, stock American and Mexican, and more). With 250k pots and .047 caps the tone knob makes the bridge pickup so versatile – which is kinda tricky on a lot of Telecasters. Again, don’t expect them to be something they aren’t; these are quite versatile, yes, but best suited for styles from the 50’s and 60’s (everything from classic country to Motown), and cleaner stuff from then till now. There is a definite twang in every position, but no harsh clangy, barky tones. If you want your Telecaster to sound like a Telecaster (not everyone does, unfortunately) these can’t be beat at any price.
    I also really enjoyed the “tips and tricks” email drip while I waited. I don’t usually review anything – but I really am impressed with these pickups. If you’re on the fence… go for it. You won’t be disappointed.

  12. Garry Cuthbertson

    This is my 3rd set of Fralin pickups two Telecaster sets and one Stratocaster, Needless to say I like them?

  13. Bosse Guitars

    Verified Purchase

    The Vintage Hot Tele pickups are awesome!
    Warm with clarity like a true 60’s Tele!
    Support from Fralin was second to none.
    I will go nowhere else for pickups!
    This build was a commission for Bailen who is currently on tour.
    5 stars all the way!!!!

  14. Scott Curry

    Verified Purchase

    These are terrific pickups. I ordered the Vintage Hot tele pickups with 2 over for the neck and 5 for the bridge. I have an ash telecaster body and wanted the guitar to sound a bit different than my ash strat with Vintage Hot Strat pickups. They did not disappoint! They have that nice telecaster twang but are slightly warmer with no shrill high end. I don’t feel the need to use the tone controls at all. Just perfect.

    In addition, I got a prewired control plate that had a series push-pull volume pot. Wow! I’ve never heard a telecaster sound like this. In series, it’s a fatter sound without being too dark like a humbucker. With higher gain settings on my amp or with an overdrive pedal I get really creamy distortion. Just terrific. I don’t want to stop playing on any setting.

    I highly recommend these pickups.

    Scott

  15. Richard Wilson

    Verified Purchase

    Really love this Vintage Hot Tele neck pickup so much, that I bought another one for another single pickup (neck) Tele that I had built!
    Great even sonics across all strings and some good bite to cut through too.
    Excellent pickup!

  16. Jeff

    Verified Purchase

    Great pickups from a great company. I bought a set of vintage hot pickups for my Godin Stadium guitar. I was about to sell the guitar because I could never get the tones I wanted. After putting in the Fralin pickups, the guitar was transformed. It’s just a beautiful sounding instrument now. Beautiful clean tones with shimmering highs and tons of harmonic detail. I love the way it sounds now and it’s a keeper!

    I also wanted to say that Lindy is a great person to do business with. He was very accommodating and answered any and all questions I had. Just a class act. Highly recommended!

  17. Sid Jay

    Verified Purchase

    The Fralin VINTAGE HOT pickups for my tele are outstanding. They are hot, on full volume- nice. But they mellow down on softer, lower output- very nice! Thanks for a great product and super support.

  18. Andy

    Verified Purchase

    Upgraded my Squier tele from barely passable to really pleasing to play. I rewired the whole thing, which was a task, but the wiring diagrams from Fralin were super helpful. I even did a 4-way switch and they sound fantastic

  19. Richard Wilson

    Verified Purchase

    A lovely mellow Strat neck pickup sound that works great in my Tele build.
    Its got all the vibe of Hendrix “Little Wing”/ “Wind Cries Mary” etc.
    It gives great even sonics across all the strings and is extremely useable!
    Its a one pickup guitar (neck p/u only) I have it in -and it gives me everything I need for my soulful jazz and blues.
    Lovely job!

  20. Joseph scherder

    Verified Purchase

    Got the Nashville Tele set along with the pre wired control plate. Beautiful sound and the installation was simple with the tagged wires. My customer is going to love it.

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