Hi there,
I have bought this californian custom Strato serial number DZ3110626, but the rear pick up has broken so I need to change it.
Is it a special pick up required? In that case, I suppose it is very rare and I need to order one through the factory? or can I find it in London UK?
Or maybe or any Fender start rear pick up would do?

Please can someone from the Fender factory help me?

Thank you for your help

Julien

Welcome to the Forum.

If you want to find out what pickup it is and if a replacement is available try contacting Fender at: consumerrelations@fender.com

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

OK thanks for the tip I'll do that

Cheers

Julienne.
The guitar is well past warranty so i'd take it to a guitar shop that does repairs. Be carefull in how you phrase the problem too. A guitar shop will try to sell you a complete set of pickups for the fix, when in all probability its only a wire come loose or some other such mechanical failiure.

User Ceri is the bloke to ask about repair places in the city. Buy him a couple of sets of strings and he may even do the repair for you. He will definately put you onto the best place to take your guitar for repair though. Be patient and wait for him to show up.

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Thank you
I will wait for user Ceri to read my post and give me advice.
In the mean time, as I brought the guitar to a guitar shop non repair, the guy told me I would hardly find such a pick up in any guitar repairers within London...
I'll be patient though...

no doubt angling for you to buy a whole set of pickups at his recommendation

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Crikey, my ears are burning (as Orvilleowner would say)!

Hi Julienne, welcome to the Forum. No need to buy me strings: if it's just a cold solder joint I'd be happy to help.

But much better would be to take it to one of the techs who inhabit a gloomy lair in the basement of the shop which is now called Music Ground in Denmark Street (used to be Andy's). They are friendly, honest and knowledgeable. If it can be repaired they will do it for you without messing you around.

Fender Customer Relations via this website might be the way to ID the original pups - though sometimes their records are incomplete the further back you go. If they can't help it is a clever and experienced seller you need to ask. Unfortunately - unless someone wants to correct me - I don't think that model was a big seller in the UK. It was here, but probably not in huge quantities, so a decade down the line people just might not remember exactly what the pickups were.

Two places to try asking: visit or ring Macari's in the Charing Cross Road and ask to speak to Steve Macari. He's been in business for a goodly while and is friendly and helpful. He might know. Or try Mr Chandler at Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton Wick. I've recently been getting very charming and helpful service from him. If he knows he'll tell you. Another excellent place to look for work on your guitar if you are in that part of town, too.

Or... I saw one of these models on Ebay just the other day. You could set up a "saved search" on Ebay to keep an eye open for these Strats when they come up. Then email the seller and see if they know.

For repair of the pickup itself Google Wizard Pickups in Carmarthenshire. They repair pickups as well as manufacturing them. Talk to them: if it is rewinding you need then they can do it.

And failing all that, take this opportunity to choose a nice new set of pickups. Take a meter reading of the remaining pups to find their output then ring Tim at Bare Knuckle Pickups and he'll help you choose a similar set which he'll likely custom build for you. I've a couple of sets of Bare Knuckles: unbeatable!

Howzat?

Good luck - C

That's pretty good Ceri!

Haha - well, just a few thoughts...

Come to think of it, Julienne, was this the guitar you bought?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0324171121

If so, £430 for that guitar in good condition... not bad! I was nearly bidding against you - but didn't.

If that's the one then if it has a faulty bridge pup I guess the seller is not the fella to ask for advice.

Ho-hum...

Cheers - C

Hi Ceri & all,

Thank you for your feedbacks and your help!

Ceri, you were not that far with the guitar I have bought. I have bought it one ebay, but the model below:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %26fvi%3D1

I have emailed customer relations and Ed Treat from customer relations came back to me telling me the pick ups were standard vintage noiseless pick up.
I have also emailed the vendor so that he double confirm this statement, in case he would have customized the pick ups himself (don't know if it's possible though...) From the description on eBay, it seems the picks ups are The latest noiseless pickups... but then he quotes "Genuine FENDER ERIC CLAPTON mid range boost unit giving up to 25bd gain controlled by the bottom knob." Don't know if that relates to the pick ups...

Thank you for your help on this

Hi again Julienne:

Ah-ha! See, where we've all likely been going a bit wrong on this is that in your first post you described the guitar as a "Californian Custom" Strat. California is the name of a specific model of Strat from the late '90s, a nice but quite short-lived model, which is why there was doubt over the pickups.

But what you have is a 2003 American Deluxe Strat - a very nice guitar indeed! And at £500/$700 I'd say you netted yourself an excellent bargain: street price for that guitar new in the UK at present is around £850 - and that's before next month's price increase.

Great guitar, and easy to get that pickup fixed or replaced. Take it along to the techs at Music Ground in Denmark Street and they'll sort you out.

Enjoy your nice Strat!

Cheers - C

The california series guitars do not have the mid boost function do they? Vintage noiseless are indeed the 'clapton' pickup with said mid boost. They are a very easy replacement if you can work a soldering iron.
You may have trouble finding one vintage noiseless pickup. They are sold in sets of 3. I think the bridge pickup of the set would come up for sale more frequently than others though, its less appealing than either the middle or neck pickups. Not because of the pickup itself, more its characteristics in that position. Its also unlikely the pickup has broke. they are quite robust (mine have been in,out,in,out and shaken all about), its more likely a wire in the control cavity come loose. I've extensive knowledge of that clapton boost modification and vintage noiseless pickups. Its not a hard modification but it is time consuming.

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Thank you very much Ceri and Nikininja!

I will bring my strat to Music Ground and hopefully they will fix it for me

Thanks again!

I went to Music Ground and they gave me a different diagnostic... : it was only the battery to be replaced so no need to worry... The first shop I went to in Kensington told me it was the rear pick up ...

Thank you for your help anyway

Bye

Julienne, all's well that ends well then. It looks like you got a unusual guitar there. Well done.

The lesson learned is not to trust some dealers, even if they do have a nice shop. Their all trying to make money. Some with more unscrupulous methods than others.

Stick with the one you know to be honest mate.

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