replaced the bridge pup in the bluesboy

[louis cyfer]

it was squealing badly. need to wax pot it. so had to take it out anyway. i decided to try a fralin steel pole 43 pup in there for now. same basic design really, but with alnico magnet on the bottom instead of ceramic. and flat head screws instead of allen screws for the pole pieces. similar output. i am so happy with g&l though, i could replace the bridge pup without having to mess up the intonation or action on the bridge. impossible on a fender bridge. only had to take the bridge of halfway as it is.
results: oh my god. what sweet singing goodness. still has the tele bite, but with a more singing like quality. not piercing at all on the high end. by the time i got the amp dialed in to sound good with the seth lover, the bridge pup was a little ice picky and i used it with the tone rolled back to 5-6 or so. not anymore. the humbucker with the 250k pot is a pretty silky darkish sounding pup, so a bit less high end in the bridge pup actually worked. i do love the sound of the mfd pups, but this really fits this guitar better. a better match with the neck pup. sounds kinda like a p90, and that is a nice combo with the neck humbucker. after i wax pot the mfd, i might put it in one of my teles with a callaham bridge in it. i think it will work there very well. that one had a neck pup without the nickel cover.

[NickHorne]

Interesting! Always wondered about Lindy's steel-poles...
And would you expect the Callaham to round-off some highs from the MFD, in a good way, or is it fairly similar to a regular bridge tone-wise?

[louis cyfer]

Interesting! Always wondered about Lindy's steel-poles...
And would you expect the Callaham to round-off some highs from the MFD, in a good way, or is it fairly similar to a regular bridge tone-wise?

it is more beefy, the high end is still there. but the guitar is a bit darker, and the neck pup is brighter, so it will be a better match i recon.

[NickHorne]

Thanks for that Louis - excellent news!
I have been thinking of using a Callaham on a new Asat Classic, to get a picking cutaway on the treble side, + I would drill its tail for the b-string to go through to a bender, and I also expected it to expand the tone a bit on account of the extra mass and better contact with the body; also perhaps because of the extra thickness of steel in the magnetic scheme of things around the pup.
These all seem positive gains, but I have only been guessing about the sound in a very general way.
You're description of "beefier" sounds very encouraging.

[NickHorne]

Would you say that the back pup's "snarl" character remains with the Callaham?
I'm having to guess it all a bit from England, not many G&L's here. This guitar's going to be one of my maybe 2 or 3 best-friend instruments of older age, just want to be as informed as I can before I specify!

[louis cyfer]

it definitely does. it still snarls.

[NickHorne]

Louis, thank you very much!
Confidence-inspiring (I like that).
V. good to get your confirmation of my gut feeling about the Callaham.
Sounds like the one improvement I would wish to make to the back end of a tele.