Telecaster Problem, Microphonic

[mattdhall]

Hey guys, I've been having some trouble with my 99 American Standard Tele recently. I've owned this guitar since new. I've never wanted to take a screwdriver to it because it always sounded so good. Recently, it has become microphonic. Tapping a pick on the side of the body is heard loud and clear through the amp, as are movements of the strap lock against the strap button. Even the vibrations of the band in the next practice space. We could actually hear them through my amp.
I figured the pickup needed to be re-potted so I bought another pickup (GFS Vintage Noiseless) and had it installed by a tech at the Guitar Center I work at. My plan was to pot the stock pick-up and reinstall it at a later date. Only, the new pickup is having the same problem. Since both pickups had the same problem, could it be anything else? Other pieces of info: stock pickup had no base plate, nothing has ever been done to modify the guitar previous to the pickup swap. I've notice that comparing the GFS wiring diagram to Seymour Duncan's standard diagram, that the green and black wires are reversed. I'm thinking about trying to reverse these.
Is there anything other than a pickup going microphonic that could cause a guitar to go microphonic without any modifications having been done?

[Mark Hammer]

Reversal of wires would have no bearing on being microphonic.

Is it only the bridge pickup that's microphonic? One of the things I've been learning more and more about lately is the manner in which the entire bridge plate assembly in a Tele is part of the "pickup". So, for example, if there is a base plate on the bridge pickup and it is not secured other than by magnetism, it can make the pickup microphonic. Some folks also prefer to use rubber tubing instead of springs to adjust pickup height because the springs can also introduce microphonics. I'm also starting to wonder about the screws themselves.

On the other hand, I would not call audible body taps "microphonics". If the body itself is a "lively" one, then tapping it would almost necessarily introduce small peturbations in the strings at low frequencies, which would then be sensed by the pickups. Hell, you can simply tap on the pickups themselves with a pick, and you'll hear it through the amp. So, in some respects, I'm not exactly sure what you are worried about. Sounds like you have a pleasingly responsive instrument.

[David Schwab]

If you have tour amp up loud enough you will hear all those noises. My basses do the same thing and the pickups are not microphonic. Reversing the polarity of the pickups wont affect that. Everyone has their own color combinations, they don't have to match.

Are your pickups squealing? If not, everything is normal. That bridge pickup really should have a baseplate. Fender sure loves to do things half assed these days.

[Chuck H]

+1 to the above posts. So the question is, why is this a problem now when it wasn't before? If the pickups aren't microphonic, and it's unlikely that the WOOD has become microphonic, what else could it be? Something else has changed. Are you playing louder? Are you using a different amp or pedal board? Have you been playing with more distortion? Have you started mic-ing the amp or using monitors? It's possible you simply never noticed the issue because it wasn't a problem before.

[guitarmike2107]

are you playing through a loud tube amp.. you may just have a microphonic pre-amp tube. it would squeel at high gain settings

[jrfrond]

I agree with David that new Tele pickups should have a baseplate. I think that Fender eliminated it because they did often cause problems, but nothing that couldn't be solved by proper potting. The baseplate is part and parcel of the sound.

If you have a steel bridge plate, that is ALSO part of the sound. The bridge plate is in the pickups' radiant magnetic field, and is ALSO "picked-up" by the magnets and amplified. If it is traditional stamped-steel baseplate, they are often distorted due to the cold-forming process, and will not sit flat on the guitar top, causing it to vibrate and hence, become microphonic.

As a tangent to this, the steel plate diffuses the magnetic field, which is part of the Tele "twang". Switching to a non-ferrous plate will allow a more focused magnetic field, and Tele's so equipped will have more upper-mid "bite". Just ask Keef!

Part of that great Tele tone, in my opinion, is when everything is on the verge of feedback, what I like to call "edge-of-madness tone", like all hell is going to break loose any second. It's a lot like a good rockin' amp.

[jrobel]

I like the microphonics to a point. Listen to Roy Buchanan and tell me you want a potted p/u.

[K-Line]

Try using surgical tubing instead of springs?!