Strat Pickup Assembly

Categorized | Learn To Play Rock Guitar

Posted on 31 May 2010. Tags: guitar, pickup, strat pickup assembly

Strat Pickup Assembly

Fender Telecaster Templates?

I'm embarking on a rather ambitious project. I have seen people do the "Hendrix Effect" (a lefty neck and a reverse-angle bridge pickup on a right-handed Strat) on a Telecaster. I was lucky enough to find an authentic Tele lefty neck with a rosewood fingerboard to replace my maple-board neck, and it plays quite well in addition to getting compliments on being original. The next step is to alter the bridge pickup to accept the left-hand pickup assembly. I have already got the new bridge assembly from Fender, and with my dad's help, I have an alder plug to put into the hole that Fender put into the body. Can anyone provide a website that would offer templates that I can print off to use for the new pickup hole? Any help would be outstanding! Thanks in advance

I don't think you'll find any templates. That said, don't be discouraged. I had to build my first electric guitar from scraps in a guy's basement so I have some experience.

First, let's agree on some terms:

The pickup assembly: plastic, usually curvy-shaped piece that holds the pickups, knobs, electronics...got holes to hold all that stuff and fastens directly to guitar body.

Body: solid large wood piece that connects the neck, and well...everything.

Bridge pickup: pickup closest to the bottom (and bridge) of the guitar.

Nut: 'bridge' at the end of the neck...by the tuning pegs.

I had a only square piece of plastic for the pickup assembly and no template...so this can be done.

Placement of the pickups is tricky because they must be directly under the strings, and not too close to the bridge (etc) when everything's assembled.

Place the pickup assembly on the body in the exact position of the finished installation location. Tape it in place. Use twine to simulate guitar strings...place over the bridge...secure across the nut ... like strings. *Invert the pickup and place it where you want it installed on the pickup assembly. When you get it perfectly placed under the strings and not too close to the bridge, spaced evenly from the other pickups, etc, etc, mark around the pickup with a felt tip, or score around it with a scribe...BE careful with the scribe!

* pickup assembly is placed on guitar right side up. Pickup is upside down (inverted)

Now, drill thru the plastic pickup assembly in several locations so you can punch out the plastic for the pickup hole. After you punch it out, use a rat tail (round) file on the corners and a flat file for the straight edges. It's messy but goes pretty quick because it's plastic. GO VERY SLOW when you're getting close to the score/felt tip pen marking. I remember I went a little too far with the rat tail on one corner. Nobody noticed it but it always bothered me...I knew it was there...you know?

I was also supposed to build my own guitar amp from scratch with scraps from the same guy. That task proved to be too daunting. I eventually got a job and got an excellent used rig from a guy at school: Fender Mustang (one pickup shy of a Stratoblaster like Jimmy H's...else identical) and a Fender Twin (Dual?) reverb amp. Nice. I disassembled the guitar and stripped off the paint and filled all the dents with putty... If you guessed I finished it in white lacquer, you're good.

Tell you what, the white finish was amazing. People wanted to buy that Mustang off me. Eventually, I did sell it and got exactly 2.5 times what I paid for it.

good luck,

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