Question for the experts here (not about Joe, sorry)

sounds like you have some crappy pickups....maybe one is microphonic and picks up any contact with the pickguard. What happens if you just have the bridge pickup selected? It could be just a bad neck PUP.  You might also try wrapping some thin foam around the bottom and up the sides of the  pickups in the cavaties and see if that cuts down on the noise.  There are all kinds of great replacement pickups.  A lot of tele guys in N-ville like Lindy Fralin. I use Bill Lawrence in my tele and they're super quiet.

http://www.billlawrence.com/index.html

yeah man,  ive heard amazing things about bardens.   Now heres my concern.  I cant seem to find any pickups that have a smooth meaty tone.  all the pickups today advertise there hot texas tone,  like the texas specials.  Those are too honky for me,  anyone have any suggestions?  Ive heard amazing things about fralins,  but some say there in the same category as the texas specials and are too midrangy. 
Peace all,
Conner

Hey Nick...two questions...what year is your Lester and what is that weirdazz bass you bud's playin'??

the nice thing about bardens or RAIL pickups is that they are hum cancelling like a humbucker, but they still sing like a strat.  The "texas" tone I do believe comes from the overwound wrappings and the staggered pole pieces.  The Rails serve as even pole pieces so they can be balanced and meaty without being muddy or super-jangle.  My buddy put hot rails in his tele, and he simply loves it...gets really good smooth and meaty tone.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

i have a the feeling of luxory when i play gibsons, and the feeling of 'sporty' when I play Fenders. Its like the car industry to me.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping.

I was lucky enough to find a 1976 Ibanez artist in a local trade paper for a mere $250 back in the mid-90s. They built those guitars very similar to Pauls...the only downfall were the crappy stock pups on it. But the guy I bought it from had already put a Seymour in the bridge position and I went out and got a Gibson Classic '57 pup for the neck. It also had locking tuners installed. That guitar helped ease the loss of my Paul.

I also have an '81 strat and a '97 b-bender Tele. I rotate all three on gigs depending on my mood that day and what the other guitarist is playing.

I was rather jealous when I saw Joe owned over 157 guitars.....choices choices!

Kyle...you're confusing the two. Hotrails are made by Seymour Duncan and Joe Bardens are custom shop type pickups which are very highly regarded....they have the same look as the Hotrails. Barden's website doesn't identify them as being humbuckers but maybe someone else here can tell you for sure. Here's the musician's friend link for the Hotrails...they are basically a high powered humbucking in a single coil casing. 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ … sku=300300

here's the Barden link. You'll notice that the Bardens are more than twice the price of the Duncans.

http://www.joebarden.com/main.php

and here's the link to Bill Lawrence. I use these and they're dead quiet...hand-crafted and dirt cheap to boot.

http://www.billlawrence.com/Pages/Picku … uction.htm

I believe the pickup to be metal.  The pickup thats causing the problems is just a standard Telecaster pickup.  Silver cover, no visible pole pieces.

Do you think there is a big enough difference between the Seymour Duncan and the Joe Barden to be worth the larger difference?