Guitar DIY Workshop: Squier Telecaster Upgrades
5 - INSTALLING THE PICKUPS
Because the wire for both pickups pass through the bridge pickup rout, the pickups needed to be re-installed before we fitted the bridge. While you’re at it, don’t forget to re-install the ground wire, and check that you’ve got electrical continuity before you invest time in putting the strings back on. We screwed the neck pickup in position and the attached the back pickup to the new bridge, then the pickup wires were fed through to the control cavity.
6 - FITTING THE BRIDGE
Because the wire for both pickups pass through the bridge pickup rout, the pickups needed to be re-installed before we fitted the bridge. While you’re at it, don’t forget to re-install the ground wire, and check that you’ve got electrical continuity before you invest time in putting the strings back on. We screwed the neck pickup in position and the attached the back pickup to the new bridge, then the pickup wires were fed through to the control cavity.
6 - FITTING THE BRIDGE
We had left the masking tape on the top of the guitar to indicate the location of the original bridge. The new bridge was fixed on with the centre screw at the back and aligned by eye, using the original screw holes and the masking tape as a visual guide. We drilled pilot holes and installed the four corner screws in their new locations.
Measuring the distance from the back of the original bridge to the take-off point of each saddle allowed us to roughly position the new saddles, and after that it was finally time to re-attach the neck and string her up.
Above: new bridge and pickup in position
7 - FITTING THE PUSH/PULL SWITCH
Above: new bridge and pickup in position
7 - FITTING THE PUSH/PULL SWITCH
Seymour Duncan deserve a lot of credit for providing so much technical information on their products. We simply located the pickup on the website, clicked on the link for wiring instructions, and found all the information we needed to hook up a coil-tap switch.
The diameter of the shafts of the original pots turned out to be slightly narrower than the shaft of the push/push switch pot, so we widened the tone control hole with a step cutter and hooked everything up according to the diagram.
As it turned out everything worked first time but the two pickups were out of phase, resulting in a thin and weak tone in the middle position. The answer is just to swap over the black and white wires of the neck pickup. Having done that, we screwed the control plate into position.
Wiring complete. The white lead from the neck pickup is connected to ground and the black wire is connected to the switch – this was done to reverse the polarity of the pickup
Wiring complete. The white lead from the neck pickup is connected to ground and the black wire is connected to the switch – this was done to reverse the polarity of the pickup
1. Guitar DIY Workshop: Squier Telecaster Upgrades
2. Guitar DIY Workshop: Squier Telecaster Upgrades
3. Guitar DIY Workshop: Squier Telecaster Upgrades
4. Guitar DIY Workshop: Squier Telecaster Upgrades
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Guitar & Bass Magazine June 2013
COVER: PAUL KOSSOFF - We tell the tale of Free's tragic genius.
INTERVIEWS with six-string wizard JOE SATRIANI, DAVE KELLY and STEVE EARLE
VINTAGE: This month Lars Mullen meets Michael Warmsley and surveys a collection with Gretsch at its heart
WORKSHOPS: Learn to play like THE KINKS and JOY DIVISION
COVER: PAUL KOSSOFF - We tell the tale of Free's tragic genius.
INTERVIEWS with six-string wizard JOE SATRIANI, DAVE KELLY and STEVE EARLE
VINTAGE: This month Lars Mullen meets Michael Warmsley and surveys a collection with Gretsch at its heart
WORKSHOPS: Learn to play like THE KINKS and JOY DIVISION
