Replacing Bridge Pickup

[Georgeatt]

OK, I am a novice so bear with me. I have a 2003 Fender American Tele with vintage noiseless pickups. I love the neck pup but find the bridge pup to harsh and bright. I want to replace the bridge with the SD Jerry Donahue. Will this be compatible with my current neck pickup or are they opposites as far as polarity is concerned. Also, is the wiring of the new pickup only a matter of copying the soldering of the former two wires. Thanks for any help.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

welcome to the boards

yeah, it's pretty simple ... i do not know if there is a definitive answer about the fender noiseless pups when combined with SD'd ... it's a matter of trial and error, i suppose .. if you get it wired up and the middle pickup position sounds 'wrong', just swap the two wires from the JD and that should get it ...

before trying a new pup, did you try lowering the bridge pup just a touch, especially on the treble side? .. sometimes you can dial out a little harshness/brightness that way, or with a roll back on the tone pot

good luck

cheers
t4d

 

[Georgeatt]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

Yea, I tried lowering the bridge pickup on the treble side but found myself wanting the sound of the neck pickup for lead - only with a little more output and sustain. I am not sure if the Jerry Donahue is what I am looking for but I like the sample I have heard on the SD website.

 

[mrfjones]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

do not switch the bridge pickup wires if the pickups are out of phase. you would have to switch the plate also which can be a pain in the butt for a novice. switch the neck pickup wires to get the pickups in phase if you need to. I find that it is a little easier to mess with a tele neck pickup.

 

[Georgeatt]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

I went ahead and bought both the Jerry Donahue Bridge pup and the SD Alnico Pro 2 neck pickup rather than deal with phasing problem. Now, can someone point me in the right direction as far as installing these new Seymour Duncans? Do I solder the same colored wires to where the previous pickup wires were....yea I'm a rookie! :smack:

 

[italic zero]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/std_tele.html

There's the schematic. With a tele it's pretty simple. You're going to have two wires coming from the pickup; a black and a grey one. Solder the black one to ground (back of the pot or to the wire from the bridge) and the grey one to where the old wire was attatched. Repeat.

 

[Georgeatt]

Re: Replacing Bridge Pickup

Much appreciated!