I'm using Fender's Nocaster bridge pickup and their standard Reissue neck pickup. The Nocaster has a very ballsy lead sound, and it really snarls with some overdrive. Yes you can play rock with a Tele! On the other hand, it is smooth enough with a clean Fender-style amp that you can do some cool jazz tones. A 5-way switch adds a series combination to the mix which gives the tele a more humbucker-ish sound.

Extra benefit - the Nocaster is RWRP to the '52 Reissue neck pickup, so in the combination settings, you get hum-canceling. Overall, a really versatile guitar! 

Finishing this was a lot of work - filling the swamp ash for a smooth texture, sealing, then lacquer. Awful stuff. Poisonous fumes, and bad for the environment. So for the neck, I used shellac - Kremer's blonde wax-free, and it is a GREAT finish. Highly recommended. I'll never use lacquer again. However, the lacquer does look good: .

I used a little amber shellac under the lacquer on the body (the top was all clear) to give the swamp ash some color. You can see it well in the image to the right. 

Here is a trick - to bring out the figure of your nice maple, use a layer of Homer Formby's Tung Oil finish first, before any other sealer - it really 'pops' the figure of the wood. Don't you think it came out well?  BTW, my reference was Great Wood Finishes by Jeff Jewitt.