You would need to remove the pickguard from the instrument and I would suggest using a longer piece of 1/4″ Diameter x 1/8th” Inside diameter surgical tubing commonly used on vintage pickups and instruments. The tubing can be obtained from many guitar shops that sell vintage guitar parts. It is commonly called Amber Surgical tubing and is used by most pickup companies. I would get rid of the small springs used on later models of Fender instruments. They can vibrate within the instrument and pull the magnetic field from the pickup. The height adjust screws can also pull the magnetic field from the pickups but can act as an extra pole piece on each side of the pickup.