pickup switch out

[Craig Walters]

Hello, I have a Fender Acoustasonic Telecaster which I want to change out the electronics. My plan is to remove all of the internals and replace them with a single bridge pickup that will not need charging. What would be a good pickup choice to use with a three position switch, one volume and tone control. I see stacked humbuckers or split coils and? I would like to maintain a Tele sound and also a good rhythum sound for strumming chords. Wondering what would be a good pickup choice and a good wiring diagram to make it happen. Any thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated!

[beaubrummels]

Welcome to the forum

For me, I'd consider one of two ways for traditional Tele sounds: I'd either get a Duncan Broadcaster or Jerry Donahue and use Esquire wiring, or I'd get a Duncan '53 Tapped Tele and use a switch to have full bridge, no tone control, and tap the bridge.

[Mincer]

This uses acoustic strings, yes?

[Craig Walters]

This uses acoustic strings, yes?

I am using EB Super Slinky .09's

[jeremy]

the custom shop '53 pup mentioned above is my favorite tele bridge pup. no idea how it would work in this guitar specifically, but its amazing

[Mincer]

Well, being that the bridge pickup isn't in the ideal place for warmer strumming sounds, I'd just go for a great electric Tele sound, and maybe EQ or deal with the fact that it won't be the best for strumming. It is just where that pickup is located. Does that guitar have a piezo in the bridge as well, or just the bridge pickup?

[Craig Walters]

I was wondering about maybe a Seymour Duncan Hot rails or a Dimarzio Tone Zone or something like that. I believe then the pickup could be split on the selector switch?

[beaubrummels]

How is the current pickup mounted? (I don't see any screws through the top of the body.). Is it glued in? Is the height adjustable?

I don't know if you'd want to split a rail pickup, or even a stack, on it's own.

[Mincer]

Rail pickups certainly sound better in parallel than split. But the bigger concern is that none of SD's rail-style/side-by-side coil Tele pickups are designed to sound like a Tele. If you want to convert your guitar to an actual Tele, there are probably better choices. But check on that mounting, or else you are looking at something custom-made.

[Craig Walters]

The pickup is mounted from the inside. I should be able to make or modify most anything to work. What I'm after is being able to have one pickup with a three selector switch. I suppose I could set it up like a Fender Esquire. Not sure how useful the selections would be. Thanks for the reply on splitting the rail pickups. I wasn't sure about it and that's what I need to know. Still looking!

[Mincer]

If you plan to wire it like an Esquire, I would just browse the traditional Tele pickups. They have slightly different EQs, so just pick the one your guitar needs.

[ArtieToo]

With one pup, and one 3-way, there's series/parallel/split. All good sounds. If you get the right pup to begin with.

(I see a "Secret Agent" in your future.)

[Craig Walters]

Thanks everyone for your comments so far!

[Chistopher]

I may be in the minority here, but I don't think you should modify it. If you want a Telecaster sell the Acoustasonic and get a Telecaster. The only thing they have in common right now is they have the same silhouette. You could try changing out the electronics to a more traditional setup, but you may find it hard to be satisfied because the body and hardware are so far from a traditional Tele setup. There's also no guarantee of how much work you'll need. Fender claims that swapping the pickup on the Strat based model for instance could crack the top. I don't quite see the reasoning behind that, but I also see no reason to question it.

However if you do get it working as you want, you will have a pretty unique piece of kit. I'm not telling you don't do it, but put some thought into it before hand before you catch yourself spending more time and effort than it's worth.

[Craig Walters]

Good thought I'm sure. but, I already have three other Telecasters and have been working on guitars for nearly 50 years and can't seem to leave well enough alone.