Gatton Pickup Swap

Hi Guys, just a quick one. I have just aquired a 08 Gatton Tele. I would like to swap the Pickups for Bardens. Will this be a simple straight swap or has fender put in some booby traps. Thanks.

They should go in without any issues!

I know Bardens are more authentic on a "Gatton". Are you sure you want to spend all that money on changing out some great sounding pickups? I played an 2007 Gatton recently. I thought "wow these Bardens sound great & as everyone describes!" Only to find out that they are Fender designed & ANICO instead of ceramic. You may be trading down instead of up. Let your ears judge,save the originals & let us know what you think. If Fender would offer those pickups for sale I'd buy them. Though I still have not tried Bardens yet. The Gatton is the best sounding guitar I have ever played. I souned better than myself:shock: - Jim

Thanks for the advice guys. I must admit that i just assumed that the Bardens would be better. Anybody else got aview on the stock Gatton P/up.

I thought they used Bill Lawrence Pickups ??

I think they are a PU that Bill designed for Fender when JB went belly-up a few years ago.

Bill designed them, but Fender makes them in house. You can't buy them any where. I really loved the way the neck pickup sounded. The bridge was intermittent do to the switch being too loose. That is a Gatton feature for switching w/ pinky while picking. They just overdid it on this one. - Jim

IOnly to find out that they are Fender designed & ANICO instead of ceramic.

If they're the same pickups that was used in '06, they're ceramic. I loved the tone of those BL's, but the neck pickup died on me... So I took it apart to rewind, and it was definently a ceramic magnet. But who knows what they changed in a year. :grin:

My apologies for being wrong on the newer ones being ANICO. I read it on the internet so it had to be true:oops: I'm sure you are right since you have first hand knowlege. - Jim