Tele bridge routing vs Humbucker routing

[MulliganChebichev]

If I were to take a MIM body (the one with the little weird flange) and rout it for a humbucker, how much extra space would be exposed?

[yegbert]

If you put a bridgeplate on it like the Gotoh humbucker Tele plate, I believe you will hide that lower portion of the Tele single coil rout.

[MulliganChebichev]

Hmmm...thanks

[Jack Wells]

A look on the StewMac and Warmoth websites shows that both the Gotoh Telecaster bridge plate and the Gotoh Telecaster bridge plate are about the same length (101.5 mm). The humbucker bridge plate is about 9 mm wider than the other bridge plate.

......

............. or are you asking if a humbucker rout will completely hide the original rout............ using a humbucker without the humbucker bridgeplate?

[Pesty]

I just enlarged my standard bridge pickup route into a humbucker route. the pickup ring I have is fairly narrow, so I'm going to try to find a larger one. Currently there is just under 1/16" visible space outside of the ring. There will still be two notches, one at the front and one at the back where the walls will not be straight, I'll take some pics when I get home.

(Warning, I didn't have access to a router... so I hand tooled it.... I know, it's a sin, but it worked.)

[Jack Wells]

Here I've traced the StewMac humbucker template around a normal bridge rout.

......Click--->

[Pesty]

Yep that's how mine looked too. little jog at the bottom and narrow strip at the top. If you're using a Tele bridge, it should cover it, just double check your scale length.

[yegbert]

The proposed conversion from Tele bridge single coil to a Tele bridge standard size humbucker is conceptually similar, but the reverse of, what bubbanov did (and I followed suit) with a Squier Tele Special here.

There's a position relative to the end of the string that Fender came up with for the Tele single coil pickups, that at least allows predictable use of a combined saddle and bridge pickup housing mechanism (bridge plate). I haven't measured, but I'd guess there's one for humbuckers in Teles also. If you get one of those Gotoh or other brand humbucker bridge plates and try to put it on a single coil routed Tele, you'll find out how the position it wants for the bucker overlaps with the single coil rout.

Of course you can be stubborn like bubbanov and me, and try putting the pickup in a position that's a compromise of the "standard" location and proximity to the existing rout.

I get a different tone out of my Tele Special's bridge pickup now, than I have ever had from a Tele bridge pickup. I don't know it it has anything to do with the single coil being mounted a little closer to the neck than the standard position, but that's my suspicion. The tone seems a little Strat-like, as in an out of phase quack. I'm tempted to have it routed to allow the Tele single coil to be in the standard position, the current position, or in between; and then move the pickup around to test the theory. I'd still have to keep the bridge pickup body mounted unless I filled in some of the area where the top of a Tele single-coil bridgeplate goes.

[klasher]

Yegbert, if you do that, I'd love to hear about the results. I'm considering doing a two bridge pup tele type of project, sort of like what Ole Fuzzy did, but I'd switch back and forth between a higher gain pup and a more vintage type of pup. The problem is that would require one, if not both, pups to be mounted in the non-standard location. I'd love to find out if you can hear the results of moving pups to various points within a swimming pool type of route at the bridge.

[MulliganChebichev]

Thanks guys!
I was wondering if a pickup ring would do the job, but seems like the better way to go is the Gotoh bridge