Beautiful sounding Strat pickup in a telecaster neck pickup bobbin. Construction cannot be faulted. Does exactly what it says on the box.
I have never been a big fan of Telecaster neck pickups due to the eddy currents imparted by the conductive metal cover, which is traditionally made out of brass. The cover sucks all of the higher end out of the tone, making the pickup sound muted and dark.
Removing the area of the cover on the top of the pickups virtually completely eliminates this eddy current effect. And what little is left of the cover on the Royal T being made out nickel silver, which again reduces the eddy current effect significantly compared to brass.
The Alnico 5 rod magnets are a logical choice, as Alnico 5, aside from being a traditional magnet type for old strat pickups, has a lower inductance than Alnico 2 or 3 due to having less permeability. A lower inductance means a higher resonant peak, resulting a brighter-sounding pickup.
Although a Tele neck pickup can never 100% match the tone of a Strat neck pickup (all else being equal) due to the physically smaller bobbin, the Royal T is about as close as it gets. And deliver it does.
