From the early days, designing volume pedals and preamplifiers, the characteristics of the pickup was a hot topic. This led Telonics to explore, develop and manufacture their own range of pickups for steel guitar. The first production pickup released was the Type 84 (10 string). As part of the team of testers, Mark played the famous ‘Telonics Test Guitar’ that help select the Type 84 design. The Telonics Test Guitar is a D10 8×8 pedal steel, built by ace steel guitar builder Frank Carter (Infinity Steel Guitars), that allows a pickup types to be changed in seconds. Note, early Telonics literature shows a range of pole designs. The pickups discussed here are the established production variants that proved to be most popular.

With some great feedback from customers using the Type 84 and 128 (12 string version) pickups, Teloincs further developed the design and settled on the Type 409 (10 string) and 427 (12 String) pickups. These replaced the previous types. The 409/427 had a similar overall characteristic to the previous design, with less sensitivity to pole settings. Note, the poles are adjustable to optimise tone and volume.

Type 409 and 427 pickups had great reviews, but Telonics CEO Dave Beaty wanted to push development even further. Enter the new X10 (10 string) and X12 (12 strings) pickups. Building on the success and feedback of the previous pickups, and a lot of R&D, these pickups extract a new level of tone from a guitar. In blind tests using the Telonics Test Guitar, top steel guitar professionals selected this pickup.

Mark – The X10 and X12 pickups are truly incredible sounding pickups. Why? Because every pickup goes through an unbelievable number of checks before leaving the factory. It’s this attention to detail that ensures every X10 has the X-factor; as players unanimously agreed when they heard the first prototype.