How do you fit a Tele neck pickup?

TimmyO

So I have a Tele body (a Guitar Build one I got from eBay)and I have pickups (thank you Mr Weasel) and wondering now how I get the neck pickup on/in - will I need to drill a hole in the body and then screw a screw in to hold the neck pickup? Do I need anything else? What size screw to use? 

Basically assume I have never paid any attention to Telecasters and we'll get off in the right direction with any answers.... :-)  

rpr

You can get scratchplates with mounting holes- which would make adjusting the height a bit easier-eg-http://www.axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_023.htm

ICBM

Definitely do it properly and mount the pickup to the body, not the guard .

The tricky bit is getting the holes in exactly the right place so the pickup doesn't tilt when it has to pass through the hole in the guard. You need to measure very carefully using the distance from the end of the neck to the edge of the hole as a guide, then how far the pickup screw holes are from the edge of the pickup cover, add the two together and that's how far from the neck the screw holes need to be. They also need to be as far apart as the holes in the pickup, either side of the centreline of the neck. It's useful to put a bit of masking tape on the body to draw lines on when you're working all this out.

After that you need two suitable screws and two springs or short pieces of rubber tubing.

OilCityPickups

It depends on what scratchplate/fixing method you have on your particular Tele. 50s/60sTeles had screws that went into the wood of the pickup compartment and suspended the pickup on rubber tubing ... later scratchplates have two holes and suspend the pickup like a Strat.

The former method is a bit of a bugger to line up

redrighthand

I've done it on a couple of guitars. Have the cocktail sticks and wood glue at the ready. You might need to try a couple of times before you get it right!

TimmyO

Well this all sounds more of a ballache than I expected.

Ta for the info :-)

ICBM

Actually despite what I said before, by far the easiest way is to cheat…

Get a top-adjusting pickguard *as well* . (Make sure the outline and the pickup holes line up exactly with your real pickguard.) Fit the top-adjust guard, use the two screw holes to mark the body directly underneath - if you use a long thin screwdriver or something like that, it's easy to see when it's vertical - and then remove the guard, fit the pickup, and the proper guard.

Iamnobody

Ask Butcher Phillips...I'm sure he could help.

Being the well informed 'improver' that he is he would most likely propose the bridge pickup at the neck.

redrighthand

Iamnobody said:

Ask Butcher Phillips...I'm sure he could help.

Being the well informed 'improver' that he is he would most likely propose the bridge pickup at the neck.

LOL. Put the bridge pickup in the neck, swap the neck for one from a Peavey, swap the tuners for various random ones, and file the bridge down so it looks something like this:

TimmyO

ICBM said:

Actually despite what I said before, by far the easiest way is to cheat…

Get a top-adjusting pickguard *as well* . (Make sure the outline and the pickup holes line up exactly with your real pickguard.) Fit the top-adjust guard, use the two screw holes to mark the body directly underneath - if you use a long thin screwdriver or something like that, it's easy to see when it's vertical - and then remove the guard, fit the pickup, and the proper guard.

This was a blindingly good tip!

I bought 2 pickguards - a White/Black/White with adjustment screw holes, and a Pearl one without (checked in the shop that they both matched in shape and hole placement) - fitted the w/b/w one and used a little jewellers-type screwdriver to poke down, find the hole in the pickup baseplate, through that and held the pickup loosely in position and just kind of felt where everything was straight in both planes and made a mark, then swapped back to the hole-less pickguard. 

I cut up some foam (leftover from my mitchell-donut-making some time ago) popped that in the cavity, sat the pickup on top, nicked a couple of pickup mounting screws from my old DIY explorer that literally lives under the bed now and bish-bash-bodge.

Ta for the tip. I got the 2 'guards for £30 which didn't feel like robbery, and when I get my actual body (a burst that's being made) I will probably use the white one then.