I have had an older 51 Nocaster for awhile now. The guitar is great but I have never been a fan of the stock CS Nocaster pickups in it. Especially the bridge pickup which to me lacks output, twang and Telecastery flavors in general IMO. Anyhow, perhaps the best bridge pickup I ever heard and have had in the past was a Seymour Vintage for Broadcaster so I ordered a set for my beloved Fender. Anyhow the bridge pickup for the Broadcaster set fits the body route extremely snug with careful positioning but then the bridges screw holes aren't lining up with the anchoring holes in the body. The Fender CS pickup fits perfectly with a little extra wiggle room. I did try installing the Broadcaster pickup into the bridge and raising the front side of the pickup quite a bit and was able to put the bridge screws in but then the pickup couldn't move even with the height adjustment screws. So, is there a way I could remove material from the Broadcaster bridge pickup back plate to make it fit or should I just return the set?
Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
- Thread starter Pythonman
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Re: Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
that is a tight body rout! ive never had a problem putting a duncan tele pup in a fender. where it is rubbing? is it just the front of the bobbin/base plate that is the issue? you could VERY CAREFULLY remove some of the flat work and base plate as long as you stay away from the coil. youll probably need to re-wax the baseplate to the bottom bobbin since itll probably break the seal and might squeal.
that is a tight body rout! ive never had a problem putting a duncan tele pup in a fender. where it is rubbing? is it just the front of the bobbin/base plate that is the issue? you could VERY CAREFULLY remove some of the flat work and base plate as long as you stay away from the coil. youll probably need to re-wax the baseplate to the bottom bobbin since itll probably break the seal and might squeal.
Re: Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
I haven't heard of this either. If that set soesn't fit, then it is unlikely any set you get from us will fit, and you'd have to do some routing. Any routing you have to do would most likely be invisible when put back together, though. Have you compared the actual sizes of the CS Nocaster and Vintage Broadcaster pickups?
I haven't heard of this either. If that set soesn't fit, then it is unlikely any set you get from us will fit, and you'd have to do some routing. Any routing you have to do would most likely be invisible when put back together, though. Have you compared the actual sizes of the CS Nocaster and Vintage Broadcaster pickups?
Re: Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
I'm anxious to get home and investigate where the size differences between the 51cs pickup and the SD Bridge pickup might be. It could be the copper plate has shifted a tad in which case I might have luck heating up the pickup with a hairdryer and seeing if I can shift slightly back to where it is centered. The pickup is scraping against either the front or back of the body route to where when I put bride plate on the body the screw holes for the bridge are all shifted towards the neck end of the guitar. I was able to jack up the front of the pickup and then got the screw holes all lined up and screwed down but when I tried to lower the front side of pickup I started getting a hump going in the front of the bridge plate. And then the pickup screw started popping up from the plate. Anyhow I did manage to string it up and play briefly enough to know that the Broadcaster set was exactly what I was after so I'm going to attempt carefully to make the pickup fit the guitar with as little modding necessary and hope for the best. What a great pickup set though! Damn.
I'm anxious to get home and investigate where the size differences between the 51cs pickup and the SD Bridge pickup might be. It could be the copper plate has shifted a tad in which case I might have luck heating up the pickup with a hairdryer and seeing if I can shift slightly back to where it is centered. The pickup is scraping against either the front or back of the body route to where when I put bride plate on the body the screw holes for the bridge are all shifted towards the neck end of the guitar. I was able to jack up the front of the pickup and then got the screw holes all lined up and screwed down but when I tried to lower the front side of pickup I started getting a hump going in the front of the bridge plate. And then the pickup screw started popping up from the plate. Anyhow I did manage to string it up and play briefly enough to know that the Broadcaster set was exactly what I was after so I'm going to attempt carefully to make the pickup fit the guitar with as little modding necessary and hope for the best. What a great pickup set though! Damn.
Re: Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
glad you like the pups! sounds like its probably worth the little work itll take to make it fit. personally, id figure out where its rubbing and if it isnt as easy as shifting the plate, remove the little bit of wood you'd need to get it to sit properly.
glad you like the pups! sounds like its probably worth the little work itll take to make it fit. personally, id figure out where its rubbing and if it isnt as easy as shifting the plate, remove the little bit of wood you'd need to get it to sit properly.
Re: Broadcaster bridge P/U too large for body route
Well I took the bridge pickups and measured them side by side and they were nearly identical on the length of the bottom plates and just a bit wider on the Seymour Duncan bridge. Not enough it should have caused any problems but it is a tightly cut body route. Looking at the bottom of the Broadcaster pickup towards the "triangle" side there was just a bit of extra black bobbin material and I thought maybe a nice sharp knife and a steady hand and I could carefully and nicely shave away at the overlapping material and it would fit. Which is exactly what I did. Couldn't even tell I'd done anything when I finished. Took another measurement of the width and now both pickups were nearly identical and better still, the Broadcaster pickup fits perfectly. It's a strange guitar. Recently I bought a new Fender bakelite pickguard and had to shave and sand away at the neck cutout to custom fit it as well but that job took a lot longer. Anyhow, have to wait till tomorrow to wail through my Marshalls and get the full effect. I'd mentioned on the TDPRI several years ago that I'd found "A" grail Telecaster pickup in the Seymour Duncan Broadcaster set. To me it adds such cool and definitive twangy and responsive Telecaster character that it makes you feel like you can do everything on it you'd do on a Les Paul, a Stratocaster and four or five other guitars. Since this guitar came from the factory with modern 3 way Tele switching I think I'm going to change that up to the classic '53 wiring harness which is my preference for these guitars, and have the perfect setup.
Well I took the bridge pickups and measured them side by side and they were nearly identical on the length of the bottom plates and just a bit wider on the Seymour Duncan bridge. Not enough it should have caused any problems but it is a tightly cut body route. Looking at the bottom of the Broadcaster pickup towards the "triangle" side there was just a bit of extra black bobbin material and I thought maybe a nice sharp knife and a steady hand and I could carefully and nicely shave away at the overlapping material and it would fit. Which is exactly what I did. Couldn't even tell I'd done anything when I finished. Took another measurement of the width and now both pickups were nearly identical and better still, the Broadcaster pickup fits perfectly. It's a strange guitar. Recently I bought a new Fender bakelite pickguard and had to shave and sand away at the neck cutout to custom fit it as well but that job took a lot longer. Anyhow, have to wait till tomorrow to wail through my Marshalls and get the full effect. I'd mentioned on the TDPRI several years ago that I'd found "A" grail Telecaster pickup in the Seymour Duncan Broadcaster set. To me it adds such cool and definitive twangy and responsive Telecaster character that it makes you feel like you can do everything on it you'd do on a Les Paul, a Stratocaster and four or five other guitars. Since this guitar came from the factory with modern 3 way Tele switching I think I'm going to change that up to the classic '53 wiring harness which is my preference for these guitars, and have the perfect setup.
