The neck pickup in this respect was surprisingly percussive and open- I love a standard covered Tele (or Strat) neck pickup, but this was something special, better. Read THIS blog, or This one to get a better feel for the validity of this statement. The bridge pickup simply rips. 'Clear' to me means good string and note separation, with lots of color in … Full frontal. It's the PICKUPS folks! As far as tone goes, the PICKUPS are easily the biggest part of your tone, hands down!