Telecaster pickups for a dummy

Tannin · March 25

Thinking about a standard Telecaster with two single coil pickups, why is is that the bridge pickup looks like a typical single coil affair (similar to a Strat pickup) while the neck pickup is a very slim little thing like a lipstick? I'd have thought the other way about would be more likely.

Bear in mind that I am not an electric player and know bugger all about electrics. This is just passing curiosity. So simple answers
for a simple man please!

strtdv · March 25

I think it was for shielding reasons. The bridge pickup lives under a steel bridge and has a base plate so it's shielded from a lot of electrical noise. The neck pickup isn't so has it's own grounded cover

ICBM · March 25

The bridge pickup is larger and higher-wound than a Strat pickup, so louder, more midrangy and aggressive. The neck pickup is smaller and lower-output - the cover is for shielding, although why they bothered when the long wiring run to the control cavity is unshielded and the main source of noise, I don’t know…

The original intention, which still works well, is for the bridge pickup to be the ‘lead’ sound and the neck to be the ‘rhythm’ - the neck pickup is cleaner and smoother than the bridge. It’s duller than a Strat pickup largely because of the cover.

If you’re an acoustic player and want to try an electric, a Tele is a good place to start - the sounds and the dynamics respond naturally in quite a similar way.

BillDL · March 25

It's been like that since inception and was probably designed that way for aesthetic and ergonomic purposes. Fortuitously the cover helped to achieve the original reason for its installation and remained that way simply due to tradition rather than functionality. When you think about the history of the Telecaster it becomes more clear why the neck pickup was added.

The Telecaster was originally the single pickup (bridge) Esquire before it became the Broadcaster and then the "Nocaster" (Broadcaster name already taken) and then the Telecaster with an additional neck pickup fitted. I suspect the rounded chrome cover was for functionality rather than aesthetics. The open top of the bridge pickup is kind of hidden down in the ashtray bridge plate, whereas the edges of an open coil in the neck position would be more likely to have been hit by the pick or fingers while playing. I don't think it was even intended to be adjustable for height given that it was screwed to the body and the screws hidden under the scratchplate. It was there for one purpose really. An ancilliary option to get a "bass" simulation. The electric bass hadn't been developed when the Esquire first came out and the bassy tone of the Telecaster's neck pickup allowed musicians to emulate one to some extent in a band situation, or at the very least provide some support for the acoustic double bass.

Even though the Esquire only had one pickup it had a 3-way selector switch. One sent the signal through the tone control, one bypassed the tone, and the third selected a preset where the treble was rolled off to give a more bassy sound. The bass roll-off provided a woofy bassy tone that was useful to musicians for the aforesaid reason. The added neck pickup gave a better bassy sound. Leo Fender never anticipated that a "middle" setting with both pickups engaged at the same time would be used much at all when the neck pickup was added, and for that reason the 3-way switch could only select one pickup or the other, and the 3rd setting was left as a "bass preset" that was enhanced by changing the capacitor value. That switching option remained until the late 60s, either forgotten about while in pursuit of new developments or Leo Fender failed to realise the potential of the two pickups used in combination even though players were modifying the stock wiring to achieve this.

A metal cover on a pickup is normally grounded and supplies some shielding from interference that causes hum, but usually causes the loss of some high frequencies. The type and thickness of metal has different effects on the frequencies and strength of signal. While the muted woofy sound of the neck pickup may have been a useful addition for musicians back in the 50s when the neck pickup was added, its lack of clarity and low output later became one of the issues that a lot of guitar players bemoaned of the Telecaster until better pickups (in the same housing to satisfy traditionalists) made that pickup a lot more useful on its own and in combination with the snappy bridge pickup.

Apparently the proper "lipstick tube" pickup housings (i.e. fully tubular rather than just a rounded top cover) used in Danelectro and Silvertone guitars in the 50s and 60s were actually lipstick tubes. They were cheaply made guitars usually sold by mail order through the large department stores, so they had to be easily and cheaply assembled. They contained one magnet with the insulated wire coiled around it and taped up, then slid into a tube and waxed into position. They have a very unique sound.

I sound like Keith Williams from Five Watt World here, don't I?

Tannin · March 25

Thank you gentlemen. Those are great answers!

Tannin · March 25

BillDL said:

I sound like Keith Williams from Five Watt World here, don't I?

So when are you starting your own You-tube channel? I volunteer to be the first to click like and subscribe.

Funkfingers · March 26

The bridge position pickup on the first Fender "electric Spanish" guitar was ported over almost directly from the company's lap steel guitars.

The only significant difference was the shape of the lower fibreboard plate. It had to be enlarged to accommodate a third screw for suspension mounting as opposed to direct to body mounting.

FWIIW, the bridge pickups on Keef's Micawber and Andy Summers' mongrel Telecaster revert to direct mounting.

The neck/Rhythm pickup was intended to provide a contrasting mellow sound for band work. It was also expected to do double duty as a pseudo electric bass instrument sound.

On the earliest two pickup Fenders, the famous both pickups at once sound came via the blend control. After the controls were revised to volume and tone, the both pickups sound involved wedging the selector switch halfway between positions 1 and 2.

bluecat · March 26

Well BillDL and Funkfingers certainly knows their Tele pickups. I have learnt something today that I did not know. I have given you both a Wiz. My Tele is cabronita style, so a different set up.

OilCityPickups · March 26

As a bit of interesting trivia ... the very first Fender prototype two pickup Telecaster ... which never left the factory and was hung on a nail to be a test guitar for amplifiers ... had a neck pickup unlike the modern one. It was larger and more like a Strat pickup. The story goes that Leo was determined to have the bridge (covered with the ashtray) and the neck pickup covered to make the guitar look as modern as possible. However, deep drawing pickup covers was expensive ... so he shrunk the neck pickup down to use the least material possible (brass in those days not nickel) and the simplest formers. This came from an old Fender employee, and may or may not be accurate ... but it would be typical of Leo to shave every penny down :-)

@Funkfingers ... Keith's bridge pickup in Micawber is body mounted (on a small block of wood) because it's Lap Steel pickup ...
How do I know this pickup intimately? Because I was the bloke who rewound it a few years ago after it died before a gig.
Below are two copies I provided to Keith's tech in case the same happened again ... note the half baseplate :-)

Funkfingers · March 26

My point is that Leo adapted the lap steel pickup for use in the stamped steel bridge that we all know, love and curse when we catch our fingernails on the lip of it.

Apparently, Leo's amp testing method involved resting a guitar on a table and hitting its strings in a hammered dulcimer fashion. Bearable with Champion and tweed Deluxe Amps. Deafening with blackface Twins and Showman stacks.

elstoof · March 26

The tele bridge pickup has a cover

BillDL · March 26

elstoof said:

The tele bridge pickup has a cover

............ that looks really nice, but makes it impossible to palm mute. Leo Fender was an engineer and a saxophone player, not a guitar player. Although he did listen to feedback from guitar players, some of the design concepts went through before being vetted by guitar players.

elstoof · March 26

I didn’t say it was a good cover

it’s really weird playing with one on isn’t it, I put one on my tele while it’s hanging on the wall but take it off to play, as god intended

BillDL · March 26

The first Stratocaster I bought was a new 1979 one in dark sunburst with black plastics. It came with the ashtray bridge cover which I very quickly ditched and later misplaced. I'll bet that cover on its own now would be expensive to buy because most people will have done the same with theirs over the years.

guitars4you · March 26

BillDL said:

The first Stratocaster I bought was a new 1979 one in dark sunburst with black plastics. It came with the ashtray bridge cover which I very quickly ditched and later misplaced. I'll bet that cover on its own now would be expensive to buy because most people will have done the same with theirs over the years.

it begs the question, can you recall ever seeing a Strat player with such a cover on their guitar - You could say the same about the Tele cover - For a while you did see a few bass players have the appropriate covers on a P or J bass, especially in the 60's and 70's, but not really notice if this is still a current trend or not - Will have to watch out

slacker · March 26

With Fender he got a lot of things right but some of the detail went astray. He didn't know what vibrato and tremolo was. As I have mainly played fender guitars and musician basses through the years I'll forgive him.

BTW the neck pickup is great for the 5 percent of the time I use it. The bridge pickup has that ability to distort and not distort at the same time on a fairly clean amp. It's strange. I recently got a tele and my strat is sulking.

OilCityPickups · March 26

guitars4you said:

BillDL said:

The first Stratocaster I bought was a new 1979 one in dark sunburst with black plastics. It came with the ashtray bridge cover which I very quickly ditched and later misplaced. I'll bet that cover on its own now would be expensive to buy because most people will have done the same with theirs over the years.

it begs the question, can you recall ever seeing a Strat player with such a cover on their guitar - You could say the same about the Tele cover - For a while you did see a few bass players have the appropriate covers on a P or J bass, especially in the 60's and 70's, but not really notice if this is still a current trend or not - Will have to watch out

Trivia here ... I distinctly remember Showaddywaddy on Top Of The Pops at some point with one of the group miming on a natural finish Strat with a bridge cover.

Of course Albert Collins was famous for having the ashtray on his Tele ... of course he played with his fingers so could mute with his fingertips.

Image: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/4YMDwyZjpeRXBCXr67ngQF.jpg

normula1 · March 28

I always think that the Tele bridge cover is a really pretty addition. Completely useless when on for the vast majority of players, but still....

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Telecaster pickups for a dummy

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