Drop Stock Strat Middle and Neck pickups into Tele?

[JohnnyKRed]

Hello, want to drop standard strat middle AND neck pickups into a Tele keeping the stock Tele bridge pickup and using a 5 way switch.

Would this work to keep winding directions and polarities optimal?

Telecaster is a Professional. Thinking of using 70th anniversary 54 pickups (Alnico 3). Want to encourage Jerry Garcia middle pickup and Clarence white neck pickup tones.

Also got the b-bender going.

Thanks!!

 

[frisco slim]

The key thing is that the neck pickup and the Tele bridge pickup should have the same magnetic polarity, and the middle pickup should have opposite magnetic polarity. So in the finished guitar, the pickups should look like NSN or SNS.

Modern Strat pickups always have opposite polarity on the neck and middle pickups. So ideally, you want the Strat neck pickup to have the same magnetic polarity as your Tele bridge pickup. You can check pickup polarity with either a polarity tester or a cheap Boy Scout compass.

You needn't worry too much about coil wind direction because you can always flip the hot and ground leads on one or more of the pickups.

If you're unlucky and the Strat neck pickup and Tele bridge pickup have opposite polarity, there are some workarounds, but I don't want to overcomplicate things at this point.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

Thanks! Will need to find out (but guessing that yes) the vintage 54 pickups will be staggered like you mentioned. Will also have to check (but guessing yes) the telecaster bridge pickup will follow the convention for strat winding/polarity as well. Really appreciated the reply!!

For output, current Tele neck pickup output is supposed to be 5.9-6.3….so would 5.8 (strat neck and middle specs) be in the correct ballpark?

 

[frisco slim]

For output, current Tele neck pickup output is supposed to be 5.9-6.3….so would 5.8 (strat neck and middle specs) be in the correct ballpark?

You can't really judge pickup output from DC resistance alone, but Fender pickups usually play well together, so I don't think you'll have any problem with output level that can't be dealt with by adjusting pickup heights.

I hope Fender did not decide to go with totally pure vintage authenticity with the 70th Anniversary 54 Pickups, because if they did, they might be NN or SS, in which case you'd just have to live without humbucking performance in position 2, and maybe in position 4 as well.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

Thanks again! Google tells me the pro series Tele bridge pickup is normal (north polarity and clockwise wound). If I can determine the same for the 54 70th anniversary bridge pickup, I should be in pretty good shape to spend the $$ on them.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

Google tells me that the vintage 54s are south, south, south. That’s too bad. Pokes a hole in my plan. I might go for some Fralins because they do 50s that I believe can be customized. Just get the two I need and as long as I am confident in the polarity of my bridge pickup should be a safe bet to spend the $$ on those.

 

[SPUDCASTER]

I just went to Rob@Cavalier to make my Strat neck, Strat middle and Tele bridge.

That way you're getting pickups that play well with each other. No surprises.

 

[Hodgo88]

Google tells me that the vintage 54s are south, south, south. That’s too bad. Pokes a hole in my plan. I might go for some Fralins because they do 50s that I believe can be customized. Just get the two I need and as long as I am confident in the polarity of my bridge pickup should be a safe bet to spend the $$ on those.

Fralin also offers magnet polarity swapping services for built pickups for cheap.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

You can't really judge pickup output from DC resistance alone, but Fender pickups usually play well together, so I don't think you'll have any problem with output level that can't be dealt with by adjusting pickup heights.

I hope Fender did not decide to go with totally pure vintage authenticity with the 70th Anniversary 54 Pickups, because if they did, they might be NN or SS, in which case you'd just have to live without humbucking performance in position 2, and maybe in position 4 as well.

That does not sound so bad when you put it that way, haha. Again, much appreciated!

 

[Hodgo88]

Out of curiosity have you actually checked your bridge pup polarity? I wouldn’t do anything based on google results.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

Out of curiosity have you actually checked your bridge pup polarity? I wouldn’t do anything based on google results.

Hey! Thanks. I have not. Was just thinking about how to go about that. I have seen one method on here somewhere using a multimeter.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

The key thing is that the neck pickup and the Tele bridge pickup should have the same magnetic polarity, and the middle pickup should have opposite magnetic polarity. So in the finished guitar, the pickups should look like NSN or SNS.

Modern Strat pickups always have opposite polarity on the neck and middle pickups. So ideally, you want the Strat neck pickup to have the same magnetic polarity as your Tele bridge pickup. You can check pickup polarity with either a polarity tester or a cheap Boy Scout compass.

You needn't worry too much about coil wind direction because you can always flip the hot and ground leads on one or more of the pickups.

If you're unlucky and the Strat neck pickup and Tele bridge pickup have opposite polarity, there are some workarounds, but I don't want to overcomplicate things at this point.

Assuming I will request NSN with the polarity when ordering, what would the optimal winding direction be for each? Assuming the bridge is already clockwise. Thanks!

 

[Hodgo88]

Assuming I will request NSN with the polarity when ordering, what would the optimal winding direction be for each? Assuming the bridge is already clockwise. Thanks!

You would want the middle to be south CCW and the neck to be north CW. You would not get hum cancelling if combining the neck and bridge.

You can check the magnetic polarity of your Tele pickup with a compass. If the needle indicates north towards the pickup poles, the poles are south up and vice versa.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

You would want the middle to be south CCW and the neck to be north CW. You would not get hum cancelling if combining the neck and bridge.

You can check the magnetic polarity of your Tele pickup with a compass. If the needle indicates north towards the pickup poles, the poles are south up and vice versa.

Thanks! Would that be a standard strat setup? To have no hum cancelling when combining the bridge and neck?

Compass shows that the bridge pickup is pulling the north arrow down toward it vs. The neck pickup which is pulling the south arrow down towards it from above the strings.

 

[Hodgo88]

Thanks! Would that be a standard strat setup? To have no hum cancelling when combining the bridge and neck?

And for the magnets, I would be wanting to see if the north is pointing towards the face of the guitar vs the back?

It’s not a vintage Strat setup, but it is a the same RW/RP middle setup that Strats have been using since the 80s. The original Strats had 3-way switches, so hum cancellation wasn’t really a thing that was considered.

You want to see which side of the pole piece is towards the strings, that’s the convention when talking about north/south.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

It’s not a vintage Strat setup, but it is a the same RW/RP middle setup that Strats have been using since the 80s. The original Strats had 3-way switches, so hum cancellation wasn’t really a thing that was considered.

You want to see which side of the pole piece is towards the strings, that’s the convention when talking about north/south.

Thanks! Just updated my last question…

Compass shows that the bridge pickup is pulling the north arrow down toward it vs. The neck pickup which is pulling the south arrow down towards it from above the strings.

So to me that would indicate the bridge pickup has south polarity? Would you agree?

 

[Hodgo88]

Thanks! Just updated my last question…

Compass shows that the bridge pickup is pulling the north arrow down toward it vs. The neck pickup which is pulling the south arrow down towards it from above the strings.

So to me that would indicate the bridge pickup has south polarity? Would you agree?

Bingo, the north side of the needle is attracted to the south side of the poles, so your bridge is south up/towards strings.

 

[JohnnyKRed]

Bingo, the north side of the needle is attracted to the south side of the poles, so your bridge is south up/towards strings.

Thanks!! So by convention that’s a south polarity. Not an easy way to tell how it’s wound, and maybe not a huge deal I gather? Convention would say south is counterclockwise wind I’m noticing.

 

[Hodgo88]

Not a huge deal when mixing with Strat pickups as you can reverse the winding phase by swapping the leads in most cases. If the coil is wrapped directly over the poles, and the insulation on the copper is broken, it will have shorted to ground and then you’re stuck. But probably okay to go ahead and install those Vintage 54s assuming they’re south up and flip the leads as needed, it just won’t be hum cancelling.

 

[jvin248]

.

Build up your rig leaving the pickup wires dangling and you can alligator clamp and test. Swapping pos/neg wires usually fixes matching.

However, start with the bridge ground as the primary ground (it's the inner end of the wire bobbin) to have the least single coil noise on the pickup that gets played with the highest gain.

When wiring your 5-way switch you can swap the neck and middle pickups hot wires (whichever you deem are the new hot wires after figuring out alignment between the pickup set) and you'll trade a quack position to get the popular neck plus bridge Tele combo. It makes for a Tele 3+2 way switch instead of 5 way.

.