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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Tele Custom Humbucker

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4/27/1999 2:03 PM
Doc	Tele Custom Humbucker I'm in need of a stock neck pickup for a '72 (or later) Telecaster Custom. This is the large metal cased humbucker with offset rows of adjusters. Does anybody know of one for sale? To date, there's nothing aftermarket that is similar in size or construction. I need one to finish a personal restoration. Thanks, Doc

4/27/1999 10:26 PM
Hi	What about the humbuckers Fender's been using for their reissue '72 Tele Custom? Of course, since it's been made in Japan they may not have them anymore... Hi

4/28/1999 2:15 AM

Hi and Doc:

Here are some model numbers out of the Summer 98 Fender catalog (Frontline). Although they don't list the pu's as accessories in the back, perhaps they are available as repair parts:

'72 Tele Custom #027-7602
'72 Tele Thinline #027-3202

Steve Ahola

P.S. So how does that pickup differ from a PAF-style humbucker (other than the offset adjustment screws)? Are the coils wired in series or in parallel? I know I've seen regular humbuckers installed instead of the factory ones, but did they have to route out the body for them to fit?

4/28/1999 6:30 AM

On the '70s fender pickup, the adjustable pole pieces are the magnets. On a gibson style HB, the magnet is a bar at the bottom, w/ steel adjustment screws coming up through the center of the coil.

The coils are wired in series, same as gibson. I guess you could think of it as a pair of strat-like pickups, with shorter bobbin height, and weaker magnets threaded into the plastic bobbins. Coil turns are lower, with DCR about 5k each, so 10k for the assembled pickup.

Body routing is larger than standard humbuckers you are used to seeing.

4/28/1999 6:18 AM
Doc	They look the same, pretty much, but are not built the same and don't sound the same. I need a real one.

4/29/1999 12:08 AM

I put one of these in a homebrew back in 72 and was not overly impressed. I bought it because it was $27 new and was as close to Fender as I was ever going to be able to afford.

Comments about the polepieces are accurate. All the polepieces were magnetic screws, fit into a surprisingly soft plastic bobbin. The difference between this pickup and a Gibson, besides the dimensions, was that you could fake an angled pickup by adjusting the height of the polepieces across the two coils. If I remember right, the polepieces that were not viewable from the top of the pickup WERE adjustable from underneath, whereas the 6 that were viewable from above the cover could be adjusted from above or below. Lowering the 6 invisible ones and raising the six visible ones would get you the equivalent of an angled pickup. In contrast, a standard PAF style humbucker has adjustable polepieces on one coil only. More recent double-coils from other manufacturers have adjustable polepieces on both coils, allowing you to do the same tricks as the Fender model.

4/30/1999 8:27 AM
nic	I have seen them for sale at ebay and or amazon.com's auctions sites. I was gonna pick it up cause I have a Tele Custom Reissue... I should have, it would have been of utility to you! nic

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