by vaughn skow February 02, 2022 3 min read
Howdy guitar gang! So I had a request come in that got me to thinking ... thinking that maybe this is some info that ALL tone connoisseurs need to know! So here goes.
"Hey Vaughn! I’m putting together a Telecaster from used parts. I’ll need pickups for it, and wondered I’d adjustable pole pieces were available for the bridge pickup. Thanks!"
Yep, the screws go through a shoe with a pair of magnets glued to each side, JUST like a P-90, except with modern ceramic magnets!
I'm sorry, but putting a back-plate on the bridge pickup may make it LOOK more like a traditional Tele pickup, but it shure as heck doesn't SOUND like one!
Here's the back of a Porter 9T neck pickup:
And the Bridge:
Shoot, here the steel screws simply screw into a ceramic magnet! This looks soooooo very much like the ultra-cheap pickups from china where steel pole-pieces are simply pushed against a ceramic magnet glued to the bottom of the pickup. Ugg. It makes for a MUCH darker and sterile tone than a "real" Fender style pickup, so I guess that's okay if you really don't WANT Fender tone!
Both of these "screws for pole-pieces" Tele pickups sound a lot more like a P90 than ANY traditional Fender pickup.
So there ya have it! The reason why I personally don't make any Fender style pickups with adjustable pole-pieces, I simply don't like the overly dark and dead tone. If THAT is what you want, maybe you need to just go with a P-90 or Humbucker equipped guitar, or maybe something like the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails, which sounds a LOT like a full sized humbucker!
See ya next week :)
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