I thought I would post a new article on the antiquity pickups because I think they are totally amazing but I would like to hear what you people think are the best pickups for starts and telecasters. For a few years now I have had the bug of getting the ultimate tone from my guitars. Like most people I have bought and sold so many guitars and I have never found the perfect sounding axe. Well I bought this new Fender standard telecaster from Diplomat music in Montreal in 98. I tried every telecaster in there without an amp and they all sucked except for the purple telecaster that I grabbed last. It sounded so woody and had a very nice tone unplugged. I asked the salesman if I can plug in the guitar and when I heard it I said this is it. I paid for it and was so happy I was dancing in the streets. As time went by I started hearing allot of old vintage guitars and there was a particular sound that I was not getting from my tele although it sounded great there was something plastic about the neck pickup and the bridge pickup just never sounded right. I heard so much about these antiquity Texas hot pickups so I said to myself let me buy a couple and try them out. All I can say is that they are totally amazing. It took a while to take the bridge pickup out and put the new one in but it was worth the effort. I plugged the guitar into a Princeton blackface and I was blown away. The guitar sounded like a 50s telecaster. I got this rich fat round and crystal clear tone that was so defined that I couldn't believe it. The bass was allot better then before and the mids and highs where very sweet. Now this is what makes me really think. I read in allot of forums and sites the debate of light guitars, nitro finish and unpainted guitars that are suppose to sound like the old ones. Well I have one thing to say, my tele is quite heavy, it has polyurethane finish and it hasn't aged for 40 years, but this guitar sounds like an old fender. So my conclusion is this, I think that the wood is the most important thing on the guitar, I was lucky, this guitar should have been a custom shop build but even the custom guitars today don't sound that great, I brought a 61 statocaster to a music store and tried every dam custom guitar that they had and nothing sounded like that 61. Besides the hardware and wood and weight etc. the pickups are a very important part of the tone. These antiquity pickups really sound great if the guitar has tone to start of with. A pickup is not the magic ingredient to perfect tone it is part of the ingredient like adding the right amount of spice food, My opinion is if you put these pickups on a good sounding guitar it will only make it sound better. I would really like to know from other users what your favorite pickup are for telecasters and Stratocasters.