“I want three Telecasters, rather than just one, because they’re sufficiently different to justify it!” Everything you need to know about 1950s Telecaster pickups – and how to build your own replicas

1950s Fender Telecaster Pickups — (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

I wouldn’t usually follow up one pickup feature with another, but the article I wrote detailing changes to the pickups in our Telecaster 75th Anniversary edition got me thinking. I’ve been privileged to play a few ’50s Telecasters, and even a Broadcaster, but it occurred to me that I’ve never had the opportunity to directly compare each type of Blackguard-era pickup.

Just to recap, T-style bridge pickups were wound with 43 AWG magnet wire before Fender changed to thicker 42 AWG wire in 1951. The next big change occurred in 1955, when Alnico V magnetic slugs replaced the weaker Alnico III. By my reckoning, that equates to three distinct versions in the early 1950s alone.

I’m just a newcomer to the pickup-making hobby, but I thought it might be educational to make one of each. My idea was to order flatwork, slugs, and baseplates from the same supplier, along with two gauges of magnet wire from a single manufacturer.

Picking Up Parts

Pickup parts are widely available, but for this project I ordered kits from UK retailer Axesrus because it’s a one-stop place for everything you need. However, the plain enamel magnet wire actually came from Allparts UK because it’s slightly cheaper there. When ordering, keep your wits about you because it’s easy to end up with slugs and flatwork holes that don’t match.

Complicating things further, some suppliers provide measurements in millimetres while others use inches, while both decimal and fractions feature. The narrower diameter, post-1955 slugs were 0.1875-inch, which equates to 3/16-inch and 4.75mm. Axesrus doesn’t sell the early style 0.195-inch (4.953mm) slugs, but it sells 5mm slugs and that’s close enough.

An arbour press makes it easy to assemble the bobbins, but a soft mallet can also be used (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

Most guitar-parts suppliers stock cloth-covered hook-up wires, and you can choose which colors you prefer. Yellow and black would be traditional for vintage style T-type pickups, but if you can’t find yellow then it’s possible to stain white cloth. You’ll also need some old-fashioned white parcel-string, which can generally be found in hardware stores or post offices.

Slug Fest

A pickup winding machine — After a few hundred turns, winding is paused to check the alignment before restarting the machine once more (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

I started by pressing the non-bevelled ends into the flats using my arbour press. This makes the job easy, but you could tap them in using a rubber mallet. Axesrus’s kits come with tiny eyelets for soldering and they are inserted from the underside of the bottom flat.

As long as you’ve ordered the correct flatwork for your chosen slug diameter, there should be a tight friction fit. Even so, I like to wick some water-thin superglue around the holes from the inside and then wipe off any excess if I need to.

With all the bobbins assembled, Fender would mask off the eyelets, dip the bobbins in lacquer, and let them drip dry. They probably did this to lower the chances of corroded magnet wire shorting out against the slugs, and you can wrap tape around the slugs before winding if you don’t want to bother with lacquer. I did both to play it safe and also because the lacquer gives the flatwork a distinctive vintage sheen.

Winding Up

Wrapping the string around the coil provides the protection needed before soldering the leadout wires and fixing the baseplate (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

I’m not going to go into great detail about setting up machines and winding coils because there are many online video tutorials that can show you exactly how it’s done. You can even find one with Fender’s legendary Abigail Ybarra – watch her wire-guiding hand closely.

With 42 AWG wire I find that 10,000 turns equates to a coil resistance reading of around 7.5k. That’s pretty strong for a mid-‘50s T-type bridge pickup, and the same number of turns resulted in a 9.5k coil with 43 AWG wire. Be sure to re-check your resistance reading after soldering the leadout wires and try to avoid getting hot solder resin on the coil.

Strings Attached

Fender wrapped string around T-type bridge pickup coils, which protected them and allowed molten potting wax to soak through to the wire. The company’s winders used black-tinted wax, which turned the white string black and held it in place.

To apply the string, I unravelled about 10mm at the end to flatten it out and then positioned it up the side of the coil at one end, running from top to bottom.

Pinching the flattened end against the coil, I began wrapping the string around the coil in layers going from the bottom flat to the top. Once I had applied as many turns as possible, I cut the string and tucked the end between the final turn and the underside of the top flat.

The negative leadout wire protrudes beyond the eyelet, so that it can&nbsp;be soldered onto the&nbsp;baseplate — The negative leadout wire protrudes beyond the eyelet, so that it can be soldered onto the baseplate (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

Pot Luck

I use a beauty salon-style wax heater to melt potting wax at about 60 degrees Celsius. You could also get by with a glass bowl and a bain-marie type of arrangement instead, (but don’t use your partner’s favorite kitchenware. You’ll have to trust me on this…)

More learned pickup makers than me may have special wax formulations, but I use paraffin wax mixed with lamp-black powder and some boot polish to turn it black. The amount of time pickups should spend in the wax is open to debate.

Some advocate leaving them for 10 to 15 minutes, or until air bubbles stop coming up to the surface. This pretty much guarantees that a pickup won’t squeal microphonically, but lighter potting retains some microphony for airy high harmonics and vintage chime.

Having examined numerous vintage Fender pickup coils, I’ve noticed that the potting wax only penetrated the outer layers and there’s often no wax on the inside of the coil. They were semi-potted at most, and for vintage tonal characteristics I find that three to five minutes works well. If a pickup is too microphonic, you can always re-pot it, but you can never un-pot it.

Tone Tests

After candle wax is dripped over the bottom flat and the baseplate is heated by a hot air gun, they&rsquo;re pressed together to cool — After candle wax is dripped over the bottom flat and the baseplate is heated by a hot air gun, they’re pressed together to cool (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

With four coils wound, bound and waxed, it was finally time for testing. Rather than evaluate my own work, I invited my mate Ed Oleszko over to lend an ear and he kindly brought his 1955 tweed Super.

Using my Dearnaley Taff Delta loaded with a genuine 1954 lap steel pickup for reference, Ed tested the pickups in a US-made Fender Anniversary Esquire, and both guitars were fitted with brass saddles.

It has a beautiful midrange, lots of harmonics, and, with no hint of shrillness, it’s the one that works best in the Esquire’s back setting

Ed says of the Alnico III with 43 AWG: “This pickup doesn’t sound overwound in a dull and midrange heavy sort of way. I’d describe the output as gutsy, rather than hot. It has mellow treble, hi-fi clarity, and excellent balance that is very forgiving and easy to play, but it’s not a quintessentially Tele-like tone. It sounds older and mellower, with loads of bass heft, although the lows do sound a bit soft, and it’s more woody than twangy.

“It has a beautiful midrange, lots of harmonics, and, with no hint of shrillness, it’s the one that works best in the Esquire’s back setting. Once your ears adjust, it makes some regular Tele pickups seem a bit shrill and uncultured in comparison. It has a lovely oboe-esque voicing, and as a Gibson player I feel very comfortable with the plummy midrange and the effortless way it sustains and blooms.”

With the negative soldered to the plate, the slugs are charged between neodymium magnets, with a bag used as a safety &lsquo;handle&rsquo; — With the negative soldered to the plate, the slugs are charged between neodymium magnets, with a bag used as a safety ‘handle’ (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

Over to the Alnico III with 42 AWG, and Ed says: “This one has a huge sound, with a lot of low-end thump and a wide soundstage. It really sustains, but not quite as well as the 43 AWG version, and it doesn’t generate as much of that Patent Applied For-like upper-harmonic bloom. This is very much a Blackguard Telecaster sound with an aggressively confident midrange that never gets brash, and it’s the one that sounds closest to the ’54 lap steel pickup.

“It’s twangier than the 43 AWG version and the low strings have a springy bounce. The resonance peak seems higher, so it has a clucky quack, rather than the plummy voicing that makes the 43 AWG softer and woodier. It’s not as clear sounding as the 43 AWG, maybe because the midrange is congested with harmonics, but there’s a clickier front-end attack to notes, and when overdriven, the overall vibe recalls Springsteen’s Darkness On The Edge Of Town.”

Black wax is heated to 60&deg;C and the pickup is lowered in for potting — Black wax is heated to 60°C and the pickup is lowered in for potting (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

Finally, to the Alnico V and Ed says: “42 AWG with Alnico V slugs appears to generate an upper midrange peak and a bass lift with a slight dip in between. This pickup is clearer and more balanced overall, and it’s like a ‘loudness button’ has been applied across the whole frequency range. Nothing jumps out, and it sounds more modern because it doesn’t have as much of the 42 AWG’s quacky and honky vocal midrange. That said, it’s not as characterful as the others.

“It does provide the best note separation and it has the tightest bass. With the volume right up it sounds punky, and when you turn it down it does that jangly faux-acoustic thing. There’s a lot of sustain, which makes playing easier because it doesn’t require as much physicality as some vintage pickups.

“It’s perhaps the most versatile of the three and I think it would work well in a lot of musical genres. The problem is that now that I’ve heard how different they all sound, I want three Telecasters, rather than just one, because they’re sufficiently different to justify it!”

The wax turned the string and leadout wires black, and the finished pickups are treated to some light ageing (Image credit: Future/Huw Price)

Wrapping Up

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m just getting into pickup making and repairing, and these were only the second, third, and fourth T-type pickups I’ve made so far.

If you fancy trying it for yourself, you can set up with a winding machine, a magnetizing rig and any other bits and pieces for less than £200, and the wire and parts for a T-type bridge pickup should total less than £20.

Have a go!

This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Huw started out in recording studios, working as a sound engineer and producer for David Bowie, Primal Scream, Ian Dury, Fad Gadget, My Bloody Valentine, Cardinal Black and many others. His book, Recording Guitar & Bass, was published in 2002 and a freelance career in journalism soon followed. He has written reviews, interviews, workshop and technical articles for Guitarist, Guitar Magazine, Guitar Player, Acoustic Magazine, Guitar Buyer and Music Tech. He has also contributed to several books, including The Tube Amp Book by Aspen Pittman. Huw builds and maintains guitars and amplifiers for clients, and specializes in vintage restoration. He provides consultancy services for equipment manufacturers and can, occasionally, be lured back into the studio.