Neck Pickup Replacement

[marnold]

I am planning to replace the pickups in my Model 7. Like most Charvels, the route for the neck pickup is precisely the same width as the pickup itself. Most Tele-style neck pickups have a "lip" on the side. How have you guys worked around this? There are a few pickups out there, like EMGs, that don't have that lip, but the choices are severely limited. I don't really want EMGs for this either because I'm looking for a bluesy single-coil tone.

[jcm800x]

I think Lace Sensors may fit but I'm not sure.

[dg]

Lace sensors will fit. I've got one in the neck of mine. Someone here posted some pics & directions a while back showing how he cut off the lip on a Duncan & safely got the wires out. I'll see if I can find the thread. Some of the newer Duncans like the Hot Rails & Cool Rails have a lipless design, but the lead comes out right in the middle.



When I put a Hot Rails in my Model 6, I still had to do a small undercut of the route with a Dremel tool so the wire could bend toward the hole without too much stress. You can't see the undercut at all with the pickup in place.

[VitaminG]

I believe SD & Dimarzio will make you any of their singles without the tab on request. At least, they used to.

[dg]

Yep, I remember Travis mentioned ordering some from Duncan, iirc. Found the thread with the snipping directions:

http://www.jcfonline.com/forums/showpost.php?p=854739&postcount=6

[marnold]

Thanks for the info. It _appears_ from the pictures that the Fender Texas Tele neck pickup has a lipless design but I haven't seen a picture of it from the top. I suppose if I'd cut the lip off I'd better be damn sure that's the one I want

On other slightly-off-topic, but still pertinent question: what's the difference between Tele and Strat pickups? Is there a pole spacing difference? It seems like there are a lot of cool pickups for Strat-style guitars but precious few for Teles. It would seem that I'd need a Tele one for the bridge at least since the Model 7 uses the Tele three-hole mounting setup to the bridge itself.

[gitfiddler]

i'm not sure which seymour duncan this is, but somebody got it into the neck pos. of my model 7

[Rich#6]

The lace sensors will fit. I recently found a used duncan on ebay that had no lip with no alterations, so they are out there you have to search.

[Jackson-Charvel]

gitfiddler, that's either a lil '59 or a JB jr. How does it sound in the neck?

[gitfiddler]

gitfiddler, that's either a lil '59 or a JB jr. How does it sound in the neck?

my model 7 was routed for a humbucker and has a Bill Lawrence dimebag pickup in it. The neck pickup sounds ok, but switching from the bridge to the neck creates a huge drop in volume. Using both pickups together sounds ok though.