DiMarzio Area T Neck DP 417 Chrome

I purchased this pickup to use in a Fender Mexican Standard Telecaster (Alder body, Rosewood fret board, Maple neck, and modern style 6 saddle bridge). I often use high gain sounds and also have noisy wiring in my house, so traditional style single coils can be problematic for me especially when it comes to recording. As far as I am concerned this pickup is a tonal upgrade from the stock pickups in the Fender Mexican Telecaster, and not only that it is very quiet too. Most importantly it sounds like a Telecaster pickup with considerably less noise. I purchased this along with the regular Area T bridge pickup and the set balances very well in my instrument. I would recommend this to any rock guitarists who like traditional single coil tones but would like an improved signal to noise ratio.

This great little pickup was an ideal companion for the super distortion pick up in my Telecaster project, I combined it with a fender twin pole 5 way super switch, as this gives a multitude of combinations for wiring up the twin humbuckers. On it's own it gives a very bluesy tone (check out the samples on the Dimarzio site).
Great build quality and you would never tell that it was a humbucker. So it will not spoil the look of your telecaster.
Checked out a lot of sites selling these, but Thomann gave the best price and the best service so I would recommend them whole heartedly!
Go on treat yourself!

The springs are strong, which makes them a little difficult to place but once it's done the pickup is held firmly for ever, and adjustment is smooth and positive. The wires are on the thin side but tough nonetheless, and soldering was quick and trouble-free. Coupled with copper foil shielding and an extra ground wire from the pickup cavity to the pots cavity, hum is very low.

Now the tone: like the Telecaster neck pickups that I already have from Fender and Duncan, this one has both the heavy and shimmering virtues, and takes strong distortion very well. It is a simple and worthy change to my Tele clone that had a nice-souding but not hum-free neck pickup. The clarity from the top brand pickup maker is also an audible bonus.

By the way, the humbucker bridge pickup on the clone is even quieter than the Di Marzio, and its sound is very, very pretty and full. So don't rush to change all the pickups on your clones just because they are not top brand, listen carefully with an open mind and you might find a "cheap" stock pickup doesn't necessarily have to be replaced.

Edit: the Duncan sounds the softer, the Fender from the Gen 4 set is a little hotter, and the Di Marzio is hotter still, very much on the hard rock territory.