Disclaimers: I own and use several guitars and basses but I'm a keyboard player by trade. As such I do not consider myself a guitar player nor would I ever want to be.
Asking for pickup recommendations is often fraught with peril. The answers tend to be very subjective and the terminology often vague at best. So one person's idea of 'fat crunchy tone' is another persons idea of sonic dog shit. In addition, you will find that a very common limitation among guitarists, even incredibly talented guitarists, is that they develop 'guitarists ear' where they are no longer able to hear music and guitar from the perspective of a non-guitarist. Which means they will hear things which only 'guitarists' can hear. Which means that they will hear how one brand of strings sounds 'fat and funky' while another brand sounds like an HIV infected cow farting through an unwashed sweat sock while everyone else on the planet couldn't tell the difference if you put a gun to their head.
So all that being said, when I built my parts tele, I read all the forums and asked friends for advice when picking the pickups. I wanted it to be able to produce that trademark tele sound. But I was also going to primarily recording with it so it was critical that it be as noise free as possible. I ended up going with Lace Sensor Tele pickups and I've been very happy with them. Do they accurately reproduce that signature 'tele tone'? I dunno. I can get it to sound like a tele when I want it to and that's good enough for me. And even in a room full of computers and monitors and lights with dimmers, it is absolutely silent until you play a note.
Of course if minimizing noise is your primary goal, there is a lot you can do regardless of pickup choices. The cavities on all of my guitars are completely shielded and I did most of them myself. I did some with copper foil tape and others with metallic shielding paint. Either option is easy to apply and works great.
Asking for pickup recommendations is often fraught with peril. The answers tend to be very subjective and the terminology often vague at best. So one person's idea of 'fat crunchy tone' is another persons idea of sonic dog shit. In addition, you will find that a very common limitation among guitarists, even incredibly talented guitarists, is that they develop 'guitarists ear' where they are no longer able to hear music and guitar from the perspective of a non-guitarist. Which means they will hear things which only 'guitarists' can hear. Which means that they will hear how one brand of strings sounds 'fat and funky' while another brand sounds like an HIV infected cow farting through an unwashed sweat sock while everyone else on the planet couldn't tell the difference if you put a gun to their head.
So all that being said, when I built my parts tele, I read all the forums and asked friends for advice when picking the pickups. I wanted it to be able to produce that trademark tele sound. But I was also going to primarily recording with it so it was critical that it be as noise free as possible. I ended up going with Lace Sensor Tele pickups and I've been very happy with them. Do they accurately reproduce that signature 'tele tone'? I dunno. I can get it to sound like a tele when I want it to and that's good enough for me. And even in a room full of computers and monitors and lights with dimmers, it is absolutely silent until you play a note.
Of course if minimizing noise is your primary goal, there is a lot you can do regardless of pickup choices. The cavities on all of my guitars are completely shielded and I did most of them myself. I did some with copper foil tape and others with metallic shielding paint. Either option is easy to apply and works great.
