Noob question - loose humbucker

[Mayor Adam West]

Okay, so cut me a little slack because I know very, very little about electric guitars, not to mention Tele's, so this might be a really dumb question...


I'm looking to buy a Mexican '72 Thinline Deluxe from a buddy. Everyone has told me that he's cutting me a really good deal on it ($450), provided it's in good condition. It has nothing noticeably wrong with it, except one thing: the neck humbucker appears to be really loose. It kind of teeters back and forth without putting any pressure on it, just when you move the guitar? Is this normal? Or is this something to be concerned about? If it's something that needs to be repaired, is it just a matter of tightening some screws, or is it more serious that that? I haven't noticed any buzzing or anything when it's played.

Thanks for your advice, oh Telecaster Gurus. :)

[rogerzilla]

Originally Posted by Mayor Adam West

Okay, so cut me a little slack because I know very, very little about electric guitars, not to mention Tele's, so this might be a really dumb question...


I'm looking to buy a Mexican '72 Thinline Deluxe from a buddy. Everyone has told me that he's cutting me a really good deal on it ($450), provided it's in good condition. It has nothing noticeably wrong with it, except one thing: the neck humbucker appears to be really loose. It kind of teeters back and forth without putting any pressure on it, just when you move the guitar? Is this normal? Or is this something to be concerned about? If it's something that needs to be repaired, is it just a matter of tightening some screws, or is it more serious that that? I haven't noticed any buzzing or anything when it's played.

Thanks for your advice, oh Telecaster Gurus. :)

Whatever the cause, it should be easily fixed. Probably the pickup is mounted to the body and a screw has come loose. You may have to remove the pickguard to investigate, but unless you have a 22 fret neck this is trivially easy.

[boneyguy]

It doesn't sound serious to me. The pickup is held in place on the pickguard by four height adjustment screws. It's possible that one or more of the screws are loose. It's more typical for a pickup that only has 2 mounting screws to be a bit wobbly.

[Mayor Adam West]

But it's not supposed to wobble like that, right? I'm going to probably take it to a guitar tech to get the action lowered a bit anyway, so if it's totally a trivial issue, I'd just have them secure the humbucker as well.

[eryque]

Nope, it's not supposed to wobble like that, and yes, it's probably a totally trivial issue.

That pickup should have four mounting screws that attach it to the pickguard, and each of those screws should have either a spring or a piece of rubber tubing betweein the pickguard and the mounting tab on the pickup. Those springs push down on the pickup while the springs pull up, keeping it nice and stable.