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This has been done by many players. One of the first that I’ve seen done is on a 1953 Fender Telecaster owned by Bob Bain. Bob had his work done by Gibson salesman Tiny Timbrell around 1956 in Hollywood, California. Tiny had one of the first humbucking pickups produced by Gibson and had it mounted…

During the past few months I have seen so many variations in pickups, bridges and nut spacing. When companies start changing dimensions it causes a whole new problems with after market components such as covers, mounting rings, bridges etc. We have American Standard measurements and Metric and many parts being made overseas to fit American…

Fender and Gibson spacing are different but if you really want to add or replace the Gibson Melody Maker pickup I would suggest using a blade style replacement pickup. By using a blade after market pickup, the Gibson’s narrower spacing won’t be affected. The Melody Maker pickup also uses a bar magnet inside the nylon…

I would look to see if the pickup is the same shape and size as pickup that you want to add or replace. A large humbucker will not fit in a single coil cavity without modification or routing the instrument. I would ask my self, do I want to change the routing in the body…

The pole pieces are used in a pickup for directing the magnetic field to the strings. If the strings are off set from the pickups the signal or output can be affected. The relationship of the strings to the pickup is important as well as the shape of the coil. The magnetized string movement will…

This can either be a neck or a bridge alignment. If you just noticed this and it didn’t happen before, check the condition of the instrument for any broken joints or damage. This is very typical on Fender style instruments and can happen if the instrument is dropped or bumped in the case. With my…

The string alloy can greatly effect the output of a pickup. The inner core of most acoustic and electric guitar strings is made from various gauges of spring steel or piano wire. The spring steel can be wrapped with various material shapes that add diameter and tension to the string. Strings can be flat wound,…

Basically it’s the ability of a ferrous material (guitar string) to retain a magnetic charge when it is near a magnetized substance (pickup pole piece). When the string is removed from the magnetic field, it loses it’s magnetism quickly. A magnet within a pickup is used magnetize the string so when it vibrates it causes…

Normally when you pluck the string near the bridge you get more treble and a thinner sound. When you pick towards the neck the sound becomes fatter with increased output. There is less string vibration closer to the bridge as compared to increased string vibration towards the neck position. With increased string vibration, the string…

This is another where I would be the first to say it does. I’ve found different bodies of the same material can sound totally different. I like using a medium weight swamp ash and one of my favorites is the “Albert Collin’s” clone guitar. It weighs 7 lbs, 11 oz’s. It’s not light but it’s…