1969 Tele Bridge Pickup Broken Wire Question

[Radspin]

Well, I removed the broken original bridge pickup from my 1969 Tele (the one I had asked about in a thread about a week ago) and I can see that the wire that goes from the left solder tab (when you're looking at the top of the pickup) to the corresponding solder tab on the underside of the pickup is broken. it broke where the wire wraps around the edge of the pickup.

My question is...it looks like it would be easy to solder a jumper wire from the top to the bottom solder tab. Would this get the pickup to work again? I would think so...electrical continuity would be restored...but is there some reason why it wouldn't, and that the actual coil wire itself would have to be spliced back together? COULD that wire even be spliced or soldered back together? I know I can't handle soldering that fine a wire.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

aprox.. 5.4k to over 6k is good to go!

 

[Radspin]

Hi Don,

Thanks! I'm too nearsighted to even attempt that (and I don't have magnifying glasses) so I'm going to see if my tech can do it.

In the meantime I put that Fender re-issue mid-'90s Broadcaster pickup I had lying around in the guitar and was able to sort out the grounding and phasing issues, and it sounds pretty darn good. It's actually a lot less microphonic than the original, so I might play the guitar out like that for a while. But I can't see just leaving an original 1969 Tele pickup lying around unused, and that pickup had a distinct personality...you could actually talk into it.

 

[dan1952]

Some of those '60's pickups were too microphonic for me to use, due to bad squealing feedback at pretty low volume. I'd probably send it to a pro to rewind it.

 

[charlie chitlin]

If it's the outer end of the wire, I'd imagine you can unwrap 1 turn and have all the wire you need to work with.
Inner wire would be more difficult/risky.

 

[Noname]

My question is...it looks like it would be easy to solder a jumper wire from the top to the bottom solder tab. Would this get the pickup to work again?

I did this to a broken bridge pickup myself, did not sand, or tin anything, It must have broke (in my case) when installing the bridge screws I must have brushed that thin wire and snapped it.

So I took some wire I had handy, and just jumpered it, got output on the multimeter and the pickup worked again.

But if you have somebody that can do this for you, its all the better, hopefully they wont charge you much.

 

[Radspin]

Well Dan, now that the pickup is going to be something other than 100 percent original, maybe I'll have it potted. It was so microphonic it was pretty much unusable live.

 

[charlie chitlin]

Microphonic pickups are the ones you want!
I've had them so I could speak into them and it came out the amp.
There are ways to control the squeal unless you play with super high gain and/or super loud.

 

[Radspin]

Charlie, that's what my pickup does...I can talk into it and hear it through the amp. You know, you've convinced me to not pot it. True, it's pretty much impossible to use live unless I don't use any overdrive or play at low volume, but then again it does have a distinct sound and feel that, yeah, I should leave alone. And I have another Tele to use live.

 

[charlie chitlin]

Good call!
Standing farther from the amp helps.
Also, for whatever reason, stage noise seems to cut down the problem.
I have guitars that I have to turn the volume off between songs.

 

[Tommy Gereg]

I did this to a broken bridge pickup myself, did not sand, or tin anything,

Certain types of magnet wire insulation's are solderable.
The insulation Fender used on the 60's Tele pickups is not solderable and must be stripped off first.

 

[charlie chitlin]

Certain types of magnet wire insulation's are solderable.
The insulation Fender used on the 60's Tele pickups is not solderable and must be stripped off first.

Live and learn!
I would have assumed that the heat would melt the coating (lacquer?) off the wire.

 

[68tele]

Bobby at Tonemaster can do the repair, and he's local (Northport). http://www.tonemaster.net/

 

[Radspin]

I think I've heard of this guy...last name Popper or something like that? Richie at NY Music is looking at the pickup...if he can't fix it I'll take it to Bobby...he's in my neighborhood

 

[68tele]

Yup - Bobby Popper. He's performed numerous minimally-invasive pup surgeries. If he can't do it, noone can.

 

[Radspin]

I got the pickup back from Bobby and...unbelievable. He did a superb job. The pickup/guitar now have NO squeal and feedback...NONE...for the first time since I bought the guitar new almost 47 years ago. Even with a Dual Showman Reverb turned up to 4, with an overdrive pedal cranked and me standing right in front of it. Yet the pickup retains it's special character--bright, twangy yet with body (I did not want to "improve" or "fatten up" the sound of the guitar--I wanted it the way I've been used to hearing it, but without squealing). He even retained the original string so the pickup looks exactly the same.

Now the pickup is what it SHOULD have been for the last 47 years. I am ecstatic.

 

[charlie chitlin]

Cool!
What did he do?

 

[Radspin]

He lacquered the bobbin, rewound the pickup and potted it and wrapped it all with the original string. He also made sure the baseplate was secured to the pickup, without disturbing the original piece of masking tape that was there. It turned out to be everything I hoped it would...NO feedback yet without killing or dulling the sound I loved. Basically, for almost 47 years my Tele was seriously flawed...now it's not and I can't put it down.

In fact, scroll down on his Facebook page and you'll see the photos he took. He happened to get in two 1969 Tele pickups in one week...mine's #2 (the one more recently posted, not the one with the two yellow wires):

https://www.facebook.com/Tonemasterpickups?fref=ts