Tele Neck pickup cutting in and out

ICBM

The number on the end of the neck is a production part number, not a date. The date is the 'S7' serial number. Later, these numbers weren't used up quickly enough so you see S8 and in particular S9 number on guitars made well after those years, but I would expect a S7 to have been made in '77 or very early '78 at the latest. The pot codes would help, but they're gone - those pots are 80s Schecter ones (not sure of the actual manufacturer).

The neck pickup could be a pre-67 Fender one. I can't remember exactly when they changed from black to grey fibre pieces, but they changed from cloth to plastic wire around then. The black and white plastic wires were snipped from the original neck pickup. I don't think old Tele neck pickups are worth silly money - unlike old Strat pickups, or possibly Tele bridge ones - but it's certainly not worth less than a top-quality replacement, so don't wreck it!

The bridge pickup is most likely original to the guitar unless it has the same sort of snip and join on the wiring. I don't know for sure that the bridge isn't, either - I didn't think they put 6-saddle bridge on them (mine had a 3-saddle, and I think it was a '78 but I could be wrong on that!) but it's possible it could have been ordered like that. The slightly exposed rout at the side of the Tele bridge is completely normal.

gusman2x

@ICBM Thanks for all the info man. Most helpfull.

impmann

Sweet looking guitar - can only agree with ICBM on this, late 70s Teles and Strats can be utter boat anchors. Some of them sound great though - some not so. I recently rebodied a '78 Tele for a buddy that weighed in (as a guitar) at 12.5lb and it had the resonance of cardboard - I swapped the body out to an MJT one he'd bought (very light relic) in the same colour (white) and it's 100 times nicer. The neck is lovely on that one - I'm not 100% sold on the pickups/electronics, if I'm honest as they are a bit bright and a bit thin IMHO but he likes them.

He's kept the original body and its safely stored, so that if he wants to revert it to original either to sell it or whatever. The guitar looks the same though - just lighter and better sounding! :-)

gusman2x

impmann said:

Sweet looking guitar - can only agree with ICBM on this, late 70s Teles and Strats can be utter boat anchors. Some of them sound great though - some not so. I recently rebodied a '78 Tele for a buddy that weighed in (as a guitar) at 12.5lb and it had the resonance of cardboard - I swapped the body out to an MJT one he'd bought (very light relic) in the same colour (white) and it's 100 times nicer. The neck is lovely on that one - I'm not 100% sold on the pickups/electronics, if I'm honest as they are a bit bright and a bit thin IMHO but he likes them.

He's kept the original body and its safely stored, so that if he wants to revert it to original either to sell it or whatever. The guitar looks the same though - just lighter and better sounding! :-)

That's a great idea. Never really thought about getting a MJT body for it. I'd love a nice faded candy apply red or something similar. To be fair, this one seems pretty resonant, and sustains like mad. I am used to playing jags and jazzmasters more though, so ANYTHING sustains compared to them.

ICBM

I swapped the body on mine with a burgundy Tokai Custom Tele copy that weighed a lot less, but had a huge neck which didn't suit it. Strangely the Tokai neck made the Fender body feel lighter! Presumably just because the whole thing then just felt 'bigger' so the weight somehow made more sense. The skinny Fender neck went perfectly with the lighter Tokai body. Sadly the chap who bought the Tokai body/Fender neck one then butchered the body trying to fit a USA Standard bridge to it, if I remember...

gusman2x

Got my tele bck from Steve Robinson in Manchester. Turns out the neck pickup is pre CBS (it's laquer dipped) but was damaged, so he sent it of to Ash of Oil City who repaired it. While it was away, Steve leveled the prets, and did a general set up. Also replaced the weird enclosed pots with cts ones.

 

Played it at practice last night...OH MY FREAKIN GOD! How did I not know how good tele's are???? Still a fuckin boat anchor though, but I'll see how it gets on. It feels too heavy playing standing up at home, but at practice it felt OK, because I wasn't really thinking about it.

OilCityPickups

gusman2x said:

Got my tele bck from Steve Robinson in Manchester. Turns out the neck pickup is pre CBS (it's laquer dipped) but was damaged, so he sent it of to Ash of Oil City who repaired it. While it was away, Steve leveled the prets, and did a general set up. Also replaced the weird enclosed pots with cts ones.

 

Played it at practice last night...OH MY FREAKIN GOD! How did I not know how good tele's are???? Still a fuckin boat anchor though, but I'll see how it gets on. It feels too heavy playing standing up at home, but at practice it felt OK, because I wasn't really thinking about it.

Ah ... so you are the pre-CBS Tele neck pickup owner. Nice to hear it's back together and rocking

gusman2x

@TheGuitarWeasel Are you ash then? Thanks for the speedy turnaround, and it sounds amazing!

OilCityPickups

I am indeed Ash of Oil City fame ... glad you like the sound of the pickup.

ThePrettyDamned

Oh my god. You had a pre cbs pickup and didn't know it?

SO MUCH MOJO. that's really, really cool.

stickyfiddle

This is an awesome looking thing, never mind the weight, and a great bit of forumite-repair-helping stuff, even without knowing it at the time. 

Teles are awesome