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Post subject: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 3:14 pm
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Hello, I am new to the forum. I own a Squier Affinity Telecaster and for the price I think it's a fantastic guitar. I like the way it feels and looks, but there were some mods I felt had to be done. I replaced the tuners with black Gotoh tuners (looks sharp!) and although I am satisfied with the sound of the bridge pickup (for now anyway - I think it sounds good!), I think the neck pup is a little muddy sounding, a little too subdued and just doesn't have the sound/tone I know it could. So I took off the scratchplate, control plate, and unscrewed the neck pup and took it out of the cavity. The wires are still in place, I didnt want to pull them all the way out. I have a soldering iron and all the tools, but being new to doing my own repairs, setups, replacements, etc. on my guitars, I did not feel confident in pulling the pickup all the way out and trying to solder in the new pup (which is a StewMac Golden Age neck pickiup for Tele).
I would be totally grateful for any advice and/or instruction anyone could offer me that would be pretty simple to follow (I am in the kindergarten of guitar repair/maintenance).
How do I get the wires thru from the pickup cavity to the control plate cavity?
Also, on the stock pickup that is currently in there, there is a black "block" on the bottom of the pup, it kind of looks like a magnet, but I dont think it is. I've read about pickups having foam under them for them to sit on between them and the actual bottom of the cavity. Anyway, the new StewMac pup does not have this, which would make quite a gap of space between the bottom of the pup and the guitar body as compared to the stock pup on the Affinity. Anyone know about that?

Thanks! Those are my two major questions. The soldering and connections, I just have to lookl close and dig the diagram I've got from the "Telecaster Handbook" by Paul Balmner (A GREAT book). Any help anyone could give me on this would be much appreciated!


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Post subject: Re: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:10 pm
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The wires from your original pickup and your new pick up should be the same colors. Just run the wires from the new pickup and solder them to the same points as the original pickup.

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Post subject: Re: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:16 pm
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Well, just to add to your confusion...

There is a hole in the body that goes from the pickup cavity to the control plate cavity. The pickup wires are usually stiff enough that you easily push them through there.

Black block, I don't know. If attached to the pickup, leave as-is. And poke at it to see if it is foam or a magnet. (grin)

Now, before you get in there and start swinging away. If the tones are muddy, I'd look at the pots first. I've got a Squier with 500k pots. That and combination of what ever capacitors is going to affect tone *a lot*. My $00,000.02 worth is first, take a look at the caps first, then the pots before I start replacing pickup.

Don't know if I've got much room to talk, I have in a box still some '52 reissue pickups and all the wiring to convert over my little butterscotch tele...just haven't had time to complete the project.

You've got a good book, read it over. Research on the internet. And just to pass on something that I tell people when they ask me for firearms advice - '50% of what I tell you is complete b.s. You just have to figure out what part it is. But at least I'm not like some people and I tell you that right up front'.


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Post subject: Re: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 6:44 pm
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thanks for the ideas! Good idea to just use the wires from the p.ups that are already there. I don't know enough about the pots and caps to know what to do with them (replace them? fool with the connections?) I did notice that the wires are pretty firm, and figured I moght be able to push them thru, but I' haven't done much soldering and the wiring is kind of confusing to me. I kind of want to try it anyway, but I don't want to foul it up and end up having to bring it in and end up paying someone else to fix my mistakes. What the hell tho, gotta start somewhere, I guess. Thanks for the advice! I'll post how it turns out when I get it worked out!


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Post subject: Re: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 9:32 pm
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I would consider replace both pups, and all of the electronics - the switch, capacitor and the pots.
Go on eBay and for about $20.00 you should be able to buy American Standard electronics.

In the alternative, go to AcmeGuitarworks.com and buy new.
It's a little more expensive but they do a very nice job on drop-in electronics.

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Prewired ... -C133.aspx

I recommend "Modern Wiring," but read up on the choices and see what you like best.

Otherwise, for DIY electronics, buy:
-Two "CTS" 250K guitar audio potentiometers with solid shafts;
-A "CRL" 3-way switch, which IMO is a little better than the "Oak Grigsby" 3-way switch (used on the current American Standard Tele);
-A .022 µF @ 400 V capacitor, such as an "Orange Drop" capacitor with those ratings; and
-22 AWG stranded copper wire.

Here is a "modern" wiring diagram for a Telecaster:

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Assets/p ... Modern.pdf

I'm a fan of noiseless pickups, but that's up to you.

You'll only learn by CAREFULLY going for it.
Good luck!!


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Post subject: Re: replacing pickups - HELP!!!
Posted: Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:18 am
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project done.
here's what ended up happening (I'm posting this basically to help someone else doing the same thing.)
I had to drill a hole through from the bridge pup cavity to the control plate cavity because the hole that was already there had the neck pup and the bridge pup wires and the ground wire all going through it and it was just too tight. So I ran the new pickup wires through (you HAVE to take the bridge plate off to do this) to the bridge cavity, then thru the new hole to the cont. plate cav. (BTW, the "black block" on the stock pickup was just a magnet, the StewMac Golden Age pup douesn't have the magnet sticking out the back like that). I fooled around trying to solder this thing for like 2 hours. I don't know if my soldering iron just wasn't hot enough or powerful enouhg (25W) or I just can't solder worth a damn (probably some of all 3), but the solder wouldnt melt quick enough and I started burning the wires, basically did a horrible job and quit before I ruined my tele. I brought it to Lay's Guitar Repair in Akron and the guy did a fantastic job soldering the new pup in plus making sure all the other connections were tight for $10 and did it in about 5 minutes. It was money well spent. (Side note: This guy makes some really nice guitars called "Tone Nation".)
Anyway, I put everything back together, took off the stock machine heads that came on the Tele and replaced them with black Gotoh tuners, polished it and re-strung it and I will say this: That pickup was worth the dough. It sounds 110% better than the stock pup did. At some point, I'll probably do the bridge pup, but for now, I'm satisfied with its sound. I play through a Vox VTAC15 (I think that's the model name -it's got a bunch of those pre-set models in it that I think suck) and a few decent effects), but I'm geussing if I plugged into a better amp, this little "amped up" Squier Telecaster would sound fantastic! :D


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