Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - What are period correct pickup magnets for 62 Custom Tele?

mdahearn · June 5th, 2003, 10:10 PM

Dacious,
Thanks for the reply. The reason I'm asking is that i just bought a new Crafted in Japan 62 Custom Tele reissue CAR (lefty) from Ishibashi that I love to death except for the Tex Special pickups that came with it. Too high output humbucker sounding - I'm looking for something more traditionally Tele sounding. I would like to know what the period correct magnets are for a 62 Custom Tele, I suspect they are not Alnico III. Here's my theory on what Fender did: they decided to make the 52 Tele reissues more period correct last year by changing from Alnico Vs to Alnico IIIs as you said. But they didn't want to do a special pickup for the 62 Custom Tele reissues so they just took the new Alnico III 52 Reissue pickup and staggered the poles for the 62 Customs Teles. Besides that they are probably the same pickup. I have a sneaky suspicion however that Fender was not using Alnico IIIs on their Custom Teles in 1962, and that the choice of the Alnico IIIs for the reissues were more a convenience for Fender than anything. So I still have the following questions:
1. Does anyone know the type of magnets used in 1962 on a real 1962 Custom Tele?
2. What is the pole stagger on the pickups on the American Vintage 62 Custom Tele? Are they a symmetrical stagger so that they can be installed in either a lefty or righty guitar? I want to install pickups with a correct stagger on them for a lefty guitar.
3. Has anyone compared Alnico III Tele pickups to Alnico Vs? I'd be interested to know...

Thanks

June 5th, 2003, 10:10 PM	#3 (permalink)
mdahearn TDPRI Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: San Francisco Posts: 78	Dacious, Thanks for the reply. The reason I'm asking is that i just bought a new Crafted in Japan 62 Custom Tele reissue CAR (lefty) from Ishibashi that I love to death except for the Tex Special pickups that came with it. Too high output humbucker sounding - I'm looking for something more traditionally Tele sounding. I would like to know what the period correct magnets are for a 62 Custom Tele, I suspect they are not Alnico III. Here's my theory on what Fender did: they decided to make the 52 Tele reissues more period correct last year by changing from Alnico Vs to Alnico IIIs as you said. But they didn't want to do a special pickup for the 62 Custom Tele reissues so they just took the new Alnico III 52 Reissue pickup and staggered the poles for the 62 Customs Teles. Besides that they are probably the same pickup. I have a sneaky suspicion however that Fender was not using Alnico IIIs on their Custom Teles in 1962, and that the choice of the Alnico IIIs for the reissues were more a convenience for Fender than anything. So I still have the following questions: 1. Does anyone know the type of magnets used in 1962 on a real 1962 Custom Tele? 2. What is the pole stagger on the pickups on the American Vintage 62 Custom Tele? Are they a symmetrical stagger so that they can be installed in either a lefty or righty guitar? I want to install pickups with a correct stagger on them for a lefty guitar. 3. Has anyone compared Alnico III Tele pickups to Alnico Vs? I'd be interested to know... Thanks