A higher wind on Alnico III magnets makes our Hot Classics a must for the rock and blues player who wants more edge from their Telecasters. Hot Classics have a stronger midrange, thicker bass response and a raunchy upper register. The Alnico III magnets offer great note separation, even for chord work using boost and overdrive pedals. The neck pickup features a Nickel-silver cover for incredible tonal transparency (no more muddy sounds) whilst the bridge pickup mimics some of the best hot Broadcaster pickups of yesteryear. These have been our best-selling pickup sets over the last few years, and now power thousands of Telecasters around the world. A grounded full size copper plated baseplate and black string wrap adds to the tone and completes the look and feel.
Installing this set with a four way switch? We are happy to install a separate ground wire for the neck – just check the box above the “Add to Cart” button above. This will give you three wires – a coil start (yellow), a coil finish (black) and a ground wire (black wire from cover tab).
Dimensions
Telecaster Neck (Metric)
Telecaster Bridge (Metric)
Telecaster Neck (Imperial)
Telecaster Bridge (Imperial)
Wiring
2 Single Coils / 1 Vol / 1 Tone / 3-Way Blade
Nick –
The neck pickup in particular has brought my Tele back to life. Louder, more responsive. Very pleased.
Terry Johinke –
Got introduced to thee by Kelvin Ho n Sigapore years ago . I’m an Aussie musician.He made no doubt that the A111 pickups were good. So I bought a set and they shat all ver the Fenders in my 2004 Hwy. 1. Tuned to G and you are hearing Keith Richatds- guranteed. Better than my Seymour Duncans in another Telecaster.
Jason (verified owner) –
These gave my second hand Squier classic vibe tele a new lease of life for under £75! I had never been happy with the sound of the guitar, but was intimidated by the idea of soldering and possibly messing my guitar up. The instructions for soldering were very easy to follow and – providing you take your time – there’s no reason it cannot be done by beginners.
The pickups sound excellent compared to any stock ones I have heard, and easily put my guitar on par with the mim Fender models which cost much more. Amazing value for money, and I’ll definitely be looking at Tonerider again if I need more pickups!
Len –
Fitted the Hot Classic set in my 2019 MIM Fender Player Telecaster with maple fingerboard. The neck pickup is outstanding when played clean and also performs nice with overdrive, distortion or fuzz. Very clear and smooth rounded tone with a tight base response. Not at all muddy. The neck pickup is the star of the show here. The bridge is bright and brash with a tight base that drives a valve amp front end quite hard when required. The Alnico 3 bridge is very 50s like tone wise and will not disapoint if that’s what your are into. My other Tele has the Alnico 2 Blues set installed. They are a little warmer with a more prominent, but very tight base and are my favourite Tonerider Tele set but the Hot classic tele gets the the most playtime. Go figure. It is hard to go wrong with Tonerider pickups. I used to be a Seymour Duncan guy but these days I have come to realise that the tonerider pickups are tonaly better and cheaper. These pickups are great pickups and stack up to boutique pickups that cost many times more. These are not just good at the price point. It’s a no brainer.
AJ –
Really clean and clear sound from the neck. I put these in an inexpensive squier and along with wiring they transformed the guitar into a blues machine.
marijan.fofonjka –
Sounds
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– Great blues/rock sounds with 250K pots and 0.047 cap
– Output is more vintage like due to the Alnico 3 magnets so pickups should be put closer to the strings than usual Alnico 5 magnets to get the same output
– Bridge sound is more rounded and fat but it has plenty of treble and is not shrill at all, it sounds really great on overdrive/distortion
– Neck pickup has beautiful airy sound more even across the strings but it is of lower output, so it should be put closer to the strings than usual neck pickups to match output of bridge
Construction
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– Amazing build quality
– Vintage cloth wire, nicely waxed (no noise) and bridge pickup is wrapped in cloth wire (not some cheap tape)
– Alnico 3 magnets like Fender used to do it in the 50s
– Correct screws and spacers
– Overwound bridge pickup for Keith sound 🙂
Tonerider support
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– I would recommend anyone Tonerider as a company because they have great customer relationship
– Their response and help is the best in the industry always trying their best to have satisfied customer
– Due to my own fault I had to replace existing set of pickups and they were super helpful and process was super fast (thank you Glenn)
Colin M (verified owner) –
Excellent! I put a set of the hot classics in my Squier paranormal offset Tele. Pickups are well balanced with plenty of output. It’s easy to match loudness between the pick ups. All 3 positions sound amazing. I set pickup height to about 1.5MM below the strings when fretted at the last fret. This seems to work perfectly and balances volume between pickups. Tone is classic Tele in every way. These pickups are very dynamic and improves string sustain greatly over the stock Squier pups. They sound great clean and with anything from slight over drive to full on distortion. String to string clarity and definition with gain is spectacular over other pickups. There is no mud or nasty frequencies like so many other so called quality pickups on the market. Tone Rider customer service is second to none. There was excellent and immediate communication right from the time I placed the order. I’m totally satisfied with these hot classics and won’t hesitate to buy more Tone Rider pickups for my other guitars moving forward. Even with currency exchange and shipping, these were much cheaper for me to buy in Canada than any of the other major pickup makers. These pickups totally live up to what people say about them.
Jonathan (verified owner) –
These pickups really impressed me. I was gonna go down the route of “these are really great for the money…” but they’re actually just really great full stop.
Considering how much you’d fork out for a single one of some other brands pickups let alone a set it’s bonkers what you get from these. They feel extremely well made and the braided wire is nice to work with. I dropped these into a Squier Classic Vibe as I wanted something a bit hotter and more full bodied and these were exactly what I was after.
I’m also very impressed with how quiet they are. I like to play with a solid helping of gain and they absolutely thrive on it. They’re perfect for playing post rock big riffs but with that nice single coil string articulation without making a fuss.
They also react really nicely to big reverbs and delays and don’t get lost, they chime through very well and sound rich and lush playing cleans.
I can’t wait to get these into a recording, they’re going to sound excellent.
If you want a pickup set that goes just hard enough for you to get some big riffs from it but don’t want to feel like things are out of control or unrefined then these should absolutely be on your buying list.
Terry Johinke –
I have used these since Kelvin Ho of the basement of the Peninsula Excelior Hotel on Hill street Singapore recommended them to me, unequivically.
They are great, from twang to Keith Rischard’s sound. Simple as can be to install and have Never let me down ( have used at least 3 sets for myself and another for maestro, Carmine Russo, hom i built an Ash Telecaster for. His comment ” phenomenal”. I have tried the SD types but they are dark, too dark, whereas the A3 Toneriders are spot on. Also, good value at the price. Kelvin gave me good advice without hesitation as he was building a LPB Telecaster for a customer. Glad I tried them
sebastian porstner –
Great Pickups for a bit more Rockstyle Telecaster Sond but still very Versatile!!!Not just good for the Price,they are Great at all!!!
Reece –
I put these into my 2010 Gaskell Allrounder (left handed Telecaster) recently after having tried the Rocksong pickups in my Gaskell lefty Explorer (see my other review.) The stock pickups in the Allrounder were already very good but for less money than overpriced Seymour Duncans, it was worth taking a chance on these. Man, do these Toneriders deliver! The bridge pickup is on a par with the OEM Gaskell, but the neck pickup is where the Tonerider really stands out and sings. It’s clear and clean and very punchy. The bridge has a sort of ’50s vibe to it but it is definitely more punchy and fatter than your usual ’50s sound. The Gaskell originals are for more of a traditional Tele sound and obviously made to appeal to a wider audience, best played clean. But with the Toneriders, you can really punch out a great overdriven sound for rock and hard rock on top of the great cleans you can get out of them. They have that extra oomph. I highly recommend Tonerider Hot Classics for a punchier, clearer modern pop and rock sound. Save your money, don’t buy Seymour Duncans. I’ve used Seymour Duncans in other guitars and yes, they are good. But, for the price of one SD you can get a set of Toneriders that sound as good! It’s a no brainer! … Oh, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a LEFT HAND guitar or right hand guitar
neeko_mo (verified owner) –
These are great sounding pickups. Put it in my tele with treble bleed and grease bucket wirings and it blows my mind. It’s my 3rd set of Tonerider and it never disappoint. Don’t hesitate! Try them!
Nicolas Morin –
Put a set in a MIJ 60 reissue Telecaster made in the 80’s. The tele was a wreck when I got it. The pickups brought the guitar back to life. They sound warm and full and they shine in a blues context. Very SRV like, if SRV had played a telecaster. if you are into Texas blues and are after that crispy sound, go for them.
simone.arienti –
The Hot Classic are pickups of incredible value, I have mounted them on my latest telecaster relic project with spectacular results. In my opinion the best telecaster set at a price that would be an understatement to define as honest. The customer service from this company is the best I have had in many years. I can only recommend them.