Some questions about vintage tele pickups

[Sam Lee Guy]

So, what Spence is saying is that Sam Lee Guy (SMG) is actually JazzBluesRock from Italy?

Aah! You many interestable south my great magnet many many greatest zither maker in Italy comment my brilliant magnet exit only comparible to magnet from much expensive vintage 1964 guitar. Why everybody try to deliver hate when I single try to unite the world to the greatness of my fathers work surrounding 1964 magnet. Many famous newspaper comment the best exit.

[Spence]

Aah! You many interestable south my great magnet many many greatest zither maker in Italy comment my brilliant magnet exit only comparible to magnet from much expensive vintage 1964 guitar. Why everybody try to deliver hate when I single try to unite the world to the greatness of my fathers work surrounding 1964 magnet. Many famous newspaper comment the best exit.

Spingalo sui vostri behinds voi imposters.

or

It pushes it on yours behinds you imposters.

JizzBallsCock.

[SK66]

I have seen very early tele neck pickups wound with what would seem to be 42AWG. I do not know if this is because initially everything else fender was making was using 42awg and they just ran the first bunch with that, or if it is due to manufacturing tolerances or supply availability. Remember that this was shortly after WWII and during the Korean War, add to that the difficulty of keeping such tight tolerances with the technology available.
The same is true for Rick pickups. I've measured several that would seem to be using 43awg, although I've never personally had one that seemed to use 42awg.
BTW, sorry to post on topic.....

[Stan H]

BTW, sorry to post on topic.....

Hehehe...good one Steven Kudos too, sometimes while reading I actually forget what the topic was!

[soundmasterg]

SK, thanks for letting us know that about the RIC pickups. I suspected it from what I've heard from others, but haven't seen any myself that are anything but 44 gauge. I wonder how high they wound them with 43 and how it changes the sound?

greg

P.S. Here is a quote from a post Mr. John Hall (president and owner of RIC) made on a Rickenbacker bbs in 1998 regarding their pickups.

"Answer: I'm going to quote from a message I previously posted on this topic: I don't know about the late 50's . . . I'm not going to destroy one of those pickups to find out . . . but from the early 60's until today we've only used #44 wire. If you have measured otherwise, you're looking at a rewound pickup. The modern reissues measure about 11.2K with a lab grade ohmmeter. As I said before, you'll find genuine vintage pickups which have a variety of specs . . . sometimes as high as 16K and as low as 7K ohms DC resistance. The modern one is indeed a compromise between output and a particular type of sound, but not any greater of a compromise than many of the original, unspecified or less-than-consistent units. Now let me say it again . . . SINCE THE EARLY SIXTIES, WE HAVE USED NOTHING BUT #44 MAGNET WIRE. If it's not #44 on your pickup, it's NOT FACTORY WOUND. We have never used #42 or #46 wire as stated. During the vintage pickup "redesign" phase, we tested close to 100 pickups fro a variety of parameters and the current product is essentially an average or composite of all these units. But beyond this, we even looked through all of our old production and purchasing records to make sure we are using materials of the genuine specs. I can tell you that again that nothing other than #44 wire has been purchased, although several different insulation materials and other wire coatings have been used through the years."

[Ruel]

So, what Spence is saying is that Sam Lee Guy (SMG) is actually JazzBluesRock from Italy?

I don't think Sam Lee Guy is JazzBlesRock. For one, Sam speaks better English than JazzBLuesRock.

[David Schwab]

P.S. Here is a quote from a post Mr. John Hall (president and owner of RIC) made on a Rickenbacker bbs in 1998 regarding their pickups.

That's the quote I was looking for. I have two toasters from 1974. I seem to remember they read about 8K. I haven't looked at the wire though.

[Spence]

I don't think Sam Lee Guy is JazzBlesRock. For one, Sam speaks better English than JazzBLuesRock.

No, JBL is not SLG, but JBL's father keeps her in a cellar on the Italian/Austrian border. SLG is kind foreign uncle who brings candy....

[madialex]

I think I now know who Sam Lee Guy is but I will keep it under my hat...

[GlennW]

Many famous newspaper comment the best exit.

Here's a nice exit.

[Possum]

magic magnets...

I never got around to trying those magnets out, it seems just sitting here they have demagnetized themselves pretty badly, hope no one bought any of those...foolling around with magic mixes takes alot of experience, that stuff is there for a leason....damn, now I'M doing it, no velly funny fellow me......

[SteikBacon]

Can anyone tell me how tall pickups to tele usually is?? Both bridge and neck.

Edit. I mean how tall the coil is...

[David Schwab]

Can anyone tell me how tall pickups to tele usually is?? Both bridge and neck.

Edit. I mean how tall the coil is...

My notes say .531 between flats for the bridge.

[Chadheckler1]

Tried to search for a good answer to this question before asking it...this seems like a good thread on the topic...

I am rewinding a '71 tele Neck pickup. My current plan based on this thread is:

43 AWG
PE insulation
5.5k (The bridge pickup for this set measures 6.19k)

Does this sound like a decent plan to get a relatively "Stock" sound?

[old_picker]

early fender days they used what they could get and bought small orders as production was very slow - the early esquire, broadcaster, tele used 43 guage wire and later changed to 42g round 1952 - the mags in the 1950 - 1951 were larger diam and they didnt really get standardised until 1952 - as leo was quoted as saying "it took a thousand guitars to get it set up right" or similar

we are looking at a small workshop some 60 years ago with a few people building guitars by hand - obviuosly a standard spec just didnt exist in those early couple years as it does today. suppliers changed, stock was not available things were done differently from bench to bench etc etc

today you buy a tele at a price point with an accompanying detail spec

what is a broadcaster lead pickup spec? no such thing really it was a steel guitar pickup plugged into a spanish style solid body hand built to a rough spec that varied from winder to winder - they can range from 6.4k to 11k they used fine wire and larger slugs with a steel plate on the bottom - but thats about as close as it gets.

only around 200 broadcasters were ever built