Stealth Pickups

B

bard2dbone

New member
So I was looking at a thread where a guy had installed a P90-ish p'up underneath the pickguard without it being visible. I want to know how well that works.

I'm in the midst of a Tele mod project. I'm currently at the point where it'll look a lot like a 52 Hot Rod Tele, but I want to have a middle p'up and some pretty involved switching and tone controls. Without the middle p'up being visible it'll look much more normal. I'd like the stealthy aspect as long as the middle pickup sounds were still available.

Is that workable? Or am I dreaming?
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

^
Was that the initial prototype for what became the Elite Stratocaster?

The Fender Marauder guitar prototypes featured high output hidden pickups. These instruments appeared in late Sixties Fender catalogues but never went into production.

The Custom Shop Master Built Stealth Esquire came with two vintage spec pickups under the pickguard. The output from these was so laughably low that the extra pickups might as well not have been there. A collectable for the sake of collectability.
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

Interesting point, FF. The hidden pickups need to be able to effectively register the string vibrations, so whatever is "under the hood" needs to be pretty strong...an alnico 8 with a beefy wind might do the trick while retaining balance with the other pickups, maybe.
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

Why re-invent the wheel?

The more that I meddle with electric guitars, the more that I appreciate the efforts of Leo Fender, George Fullerton, Fred Gretsch, Lloyd Loar, Ted McCarty, Les Paul, Freddie Tavares and the other pioneers.
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

Things get tried because as humans we like to ponder the hypothetical. We ask ourselves "What if...?" and then we either try it or continue to ponder. Unfortunately spending too much time in the wondering stage leads to the insanity we all affectionately call GAS, and as an outlet for GAS we share our thoughts with like-minded nutters hoping for reassurance or encouragement. I say try the idea in a few different configurations, then tell us how much it cost to get back to the original design.
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

But the stealth Esquire had Texas Specials under the guard...those are definitely not low output pickups.
 
Re: Stealth Pickups

tc said:
But the stealth Esquire had Texas Specials under the guard...those are definitely not low output pickups.
Click to expand...

IMO, any pickup set three quarters of an inch away from the strings is low output.

Meanwhile, I have just remembered that the Fender Elite Stratocaster DID have an under pickguard "pickup". It was a dummy coil for noise-cancellation purposes. (Between the bridge and centre pickups, near where the Freeflyte vibrato springs were anchored.)
 
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