Stratocaster pickup in neck position

It's not a valuable instrument so go ahead. Several makers have good replacement tele pickups available. Harmonic Design shaves the flatware on a Strat pickup so it fits in a Tele neck slot.

 

The guitar in my avatar once had Strat neck & middle pickups with a SD Broadcaster bridge. The pickguard came from Guitar Fetish as did the paulownia body. I really liked that configuration, so naturally I sold it off as lots of guys here do.

 

You will most likely have to chisel/rout off a bit of wood and open the pickguard hole, in case you didn't know.

 

Or...another idea would be making it into an Esquire. I did this with my CV50. It worked out great. I used a harness from RS Guitarworks and bought an appropriate pg.

I used the wiring on a different Tele with a more vintage pup but wanted to return that one back to a regular Tele. I was really surprised at how much more responsive the CV's pup was with the wiring. The Elder position that usually sounds fairly dead is very HB in-the-bridge-like. Way more definition than the other pup.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

by what I've read, it seemed to work ok for Clarence White and Marty Stuart. If you use a separate pick guard, you can always change it back if you don't like it.



photo from this article:
https://guitar.com/features/artist-rigs/rare-guitars-clarence-whites-1950s-telecaster/

 

depends on the routing. some teles are routed for anything you might want to put in there, like a humbucker.

 

I put a Strat pickup in the neck position of a Tele partscaster, not a fender body. Had to deepen the cavity. The pickup fit the pick guard with no cover, but I bought a new pick guard from GFS for $15.

 

Buy a Strat.

 

It's a very good idea, 'cause it will sound great (most likely). But: as others have said, if you want to use an actual Strat neck pickup, you'll need to enlarge the route for the neck pickup and maybe make it deeper too. And with or without the plastic cover, you'll need to enlarge the route on the pickguard, too. So, here's what else you could do: buy a Cavalier She Wolf pickup from Rob DiStefano at Cavalier Pickups. That will go right in to your current route, and it doesn't have a cover. You won't need to change your pickguard, either. I love love mine in my Tele.

 

Get you a cheap pickguard first <$10 before you carve up your good one. Got these cheap pickguards from Walmart. Used a Dremel and Rotary Diamond saw to cut the pickguards. (And yes I have messed up a couple...or more!) Enjoy your experiment. The Strat pickup sounds very Strat-like on the RWB Tele.

 

absolutely. I had a strat APS-2 in the neck of a Tele, which is similar to the SSL-1 only with A2 magnets. It was excellent. I have a Twang King neck pickup in that guitar now because the APS-2s are back in the original Strat they came from.

 

Strat pickup from my early '90's American strat in my bullet tele; neck sounds very stratty. Middle pickup in the bridge (rwrp, hb rout, screwed into the wood); positions 2 and 3 sound unique, like a cross between the two.

 

ive got strat type neck pup in my affinity...didnt have to do anything to woodwork after killing 4 pickups uncovered ...E string can get snagged under bobbin and cut wire...so i put cream cover on and left pickguard off for now. that being said the neck pup i settled on was a ceramic from a hodson surfcat...popped the mag off...whipped pole slugs out and put alnico 5 slugs in.
always was a nice pup...now it really sings.
just bear in mind the sound your trying to get...not all strat pups are equal...i tried a squier ceramic first and it sounded absolutely awful...i think my tele killed it on purpose but the one now in there is so versatile...smooth round and sweet in tone...sometimes luck plays a part

 

Yep, I love the Strat neck and middle in my Tele. And I second the recommendation for getting another pickguard from someone like Guitar Fetish and Warmoth. I've taken chisels and a Dremel to guitar bodies with success, but have never had good results modifying pick guards.

 

I use a quarter pound Seymour Duncan set in my tele. Tele QP bridge and Strat QP middle for the neck. I like the open sound of the uncovered pickup. My strat pup fit fine in the body without additional routing but things did get spicy when I took a Dremel to my pick guard. Protip: don’t use a dremel on a cellulose pick guard

 

wouldnt go back to normal tele neck pup in mine ..it was a doddle to fit...straight in ..no chipping neededwent through a few pickups...and killed a few trying them uncovered with pickguard.
this was the nicest out of about 20 pickups i had...and it was ceramic...but had a nice clear sound...quick magnet swap on both pickups...(cij jazzmaster pups magnets)...they were a little short for bridge pup so i popped the steel slugs back in the bottom...they poke out about half inch...made a heck of a difference...but it doesnt sound like any tele i ever played.
more riccy 330....which was lucky...i was devastated after having to sell my rics early on in "the current shenanigans" to pay bills...the tele was a freeby...and ive got boxes and boxes of guitar bits
worst pup i tried was a squier ceramic neck pup from a dustbin find...it worked fine but sounded horrible...earache...the one i have in was originally in a hodson surfcat...slightly shallower than strat pup...but with different magnets in it really shines

 

OK, so I'm not a purist by any means but I'll be honest, I don't think I'd cut up a CV. But I'm probably just jealous cuz I only have an affinity.

For me a Tele's stock neck pup is the best sound of a Tele. LOL. But I'm a weird one I guess.

 

Not weird at all. I agree. I'd guess I spend about 50% of my time on just the neck p'up, split the rest between the middle and bridge positions. That's why I don't like Teles with the neck humbucker. I love a good humbucker, but IMO you can't afford to give up the sound of the Tele neck.