Jazz On A Fender Telecaster With A Charlie Christian Pickup
Unusual shape of the LollarCharlie Christian neck pickup for Fender Telecaster . Fender Road-worn '50s Telecaster, before the Charlie Christian was installed Ever since I heard jazz guitarist Ed Bickert play his Telecaster, and marveled at his tone, I have been obsessed with the idea of playing jazz on a Telecaster as opposed to a traditional jazz archtop. Ed uses a Tele with humbuckers, and although I have in the past tried the semi-hollow Tele Thinline with neck humbucker, the tone doesn't quite cut it. The tone was too airy. It's still possible to play jazz on the standard pickup of a Tele, and many have done it. But recently I heard about Jason Lollar's hand-wound neck pickup for the Tele based on the one used by Charlie Christian, the grand daddy of all jazz guitarists. Sound Alchemy in Singapore ordered one for me, and they also did the modifications for the installation of the pickup. The pickguard had to be cut due to the Charlie Christian's unusual shape,...