I have a question for those of you that do your own mods. I`ve never attempted to change pickups myself and was wondering if this is involved. I don`t know if I should try doing it myself or if I should pay to have it done. They want $25 to change each pickup plus I`m changing the switch so it`ll probably cost around $75. This is being done on a cheap Tele. Any suggestions ?

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It depends on what you use your 'cheap tele' for........id it is for messing around with mods then try yourself. You can easy pick up wiring diagrams online and it's a good way to learn to use a solder iron too if you ever fancy changing out pickups in your not so cheap guitars.

Just give yourself some time and some space and mess about!

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

I don`t want to bring my Am. Tele Deluxe to a cabin I have in the woods for numerous reasons. So I picked up a cheap Squier Affinity Tele to take with me but the switch don`t work right and the pups are the pits. One way or the other changes have to be made, I just wasn`t sure how involved it is.

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It is reasonably involved but if you approach it methodically it's easy enough and very rewarding. I only just started swapping out electrics a few months back on some old beaten up gear I had and was impressed by how easy it actually is as I had never used a soldering iron before either.
First time probably takes way longer than it should but you get your hands tied with all the wires and screws and stuff. Well worth giving it a try though.
If it just replacing with the same size or type of pups too it's a perfect learning curve. Once you have done it once I'm sure your mind will start whirring about things to do to your Deluxe too...........it happens I'm afraid.

What are you putting into it?

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

As long as you can solder and read a wiring diagram it's easy. If something doesn't work after you're done, come back and ask questions.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

I bought 2 Tele pickups from Guitarfetish.com and thats what I`m replacing them with. I`m going to look at the instructions and see how involved it looks. If I feel intimidated doing it myself I`ll just bring it to someone and let them do it. The thing is I didn`t want to sink that much money into it because the guitar wasn`t that much money to begin with. The shop wanted to sell me pups that cost $150, but that don`t make sense being that the guitar only cost $170. Thanks for your replys, I appreciate it.

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I would say don't worry too much about putting 'good' pickups in a cheap guitar. I did it with a couple of tele copies just to see what happened last month. One was a horrible basswood relicd thing I got off e-bay that had an awful setup. Fixed the set up and put in a couple of British made pickups a Catswhisker tele bridge humbucker and an Iron Gear P90 in the neck initially just for the craic. Hey the thing isn't pretty but I've actually been gigging it while my AM Strat is in 'surgery' it sounds so good and even when the Strat is back up and running this thing will be my second/alternative guitar to gig. A lot of people think you have to pay a lot on the actual guitar to get the 'tone' but pickups make a HUGE difference.

Have fun with the pickups and I would say if you feel intimidated by the schematics and instructions, rather than just put it into a shop get a mate who has some experience or interest in and try it both of you....two minds and two sets of hands are often better than one........
Sorry I sound really pushy there cos the shops round here where I live are of no help to the enthusiast, they just want sales!! SO we all had to start to learn bits and pieces. But seriously it's a great pastime.

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speak slowly I'm a drummer too!!

And I proudly lack a stick or a kazoo up my arse...........

changing pups is a piece of cake if you know how to solder... took me about 20 mins to change a hb and a single coil in my one ibanez (ive changed the pups in all my guitars) and it only took me that long because i had to lengthen some wires...

changing pups is definatly worth it, makes the guitar worth while...

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blues - its a religion...