TV Jones Releases New Strat Pickups

Long known for taking vintage-style Gretsch Filtertron pickups to new heights, boutique American pickup manufacturer TV Jones has expanded into new territory in 2016 with the release of single-coil sizes. Musikmesse 2016 in Frankfurt saw the release of the brand-new TV Jones Strat pickups. TV Jones founder Tom Jones took the Bbop team through his new line.

"We took our T-Armond magnet wires (based on the original Gretsch Dearmond pickups) and incorporated them into the Strat pickup design. The same feel and sound of a Strat, but just a little over the top! I was going after a little more punch in the bridge, more of that TV Jones signature sound, with nice balance between all three pickups."

The sound of these pickups didn’t disappoint: as Tom suggested there was very nice balance in volume and tone between all the pickups, with positions 2 and 4 offering very usable and melodic tones. It helps to have a great player to demonstrate:

New Tele pickups, too

Guitarists have been upgrading their Telecasters with TV Jones Filtertrons for years, and custom builders have also used them extensively on Tele-style guitars. Fender has produced various custom-shop models with TV Jones pickups, and even the Mexican-made Cabronita Tele. Now, TV Jones is offering a Telecaster pickup in the original single-coil size. They made their debut at NAMM 2016.

"The concept behind these was similar: a hybrid of the T-Armond magnet wires incorporated into the Tele shape. I was after more dynamics and a bolder, wider quality factor with more on the bottom. And a neck pickup that balances really well with the bridge. It debuted at NAMM 2016 in January.”

The real star of these was the neck pickup, which provides a cool blend of Tele and Gretsch sound. The bridge pickup is pretty faithful to that Tele bridge tone which didn’t really need changing. This combination makes for a much better middle position tone too, and offers an easy upgrade over standard Telecaster pickups overall.

The mounting on both pickups are the same as the traditional Stratocaster or Telecaster mounting, with 250k pots, meaning you can drop them right in to any Strat or Tele. The telecaster pickups are already for sale on www.tvjones.com, while the Strat pickups are already in production and will be available very soon.

TV Jones was founded in 1993 and quickly became known for its collaboration with Brian Setzer and Gretsch guitars, among others. All of their pickups are made by hand in Washington, USA.