SVL's telecaster mod thread (P90 and quick connect control unit) in pictures

[sunvalleylaw]

Day 2: A new day. Finishing the project at least in rough form. here is the stock CVC neck pickup with the foam used by Squier, as you can see, it is used instead of springs to provide tension against the pickup so the adjustment screws that go into the body of the guitar can be used to raise and lower the pickup.



Here is the new P90 with the old foam. It was not enough to provide enough tension, and also allowed the pickup to tilt in the hole.



So I found some new foam from some packing that I rough cut to fit using the pickup cover as a guide. I trimmed down a little from here. You can see the old foam for comparison.



Then, because I saw some guy do this while replacing a P90 in some video, I got springs to put through holes in the foam, so that both provide support and tension.



Here is the wiring kit wired up. The switches were easy to follow and set once I took a close look at it. They will be able to adjust so I can experiment. The solderless connection unit was easy to use, well labeled, and provided secure connections. Really worth the money to me, especially when you consider the quality of the pots and electrical parts used.




Put back together. I still need to receive the new knobs, and will tweak the adjustments and height of the pickups etc. Of course I stripped one of the adjustment screws and will have to go get another. I am such an idjit with stripping things. Grr. Oh well, the hardware store is not far tomorrow.




Rock machine tele now in the line up!




The new pickups definitely changed the voice of the guitar. Much more rock voiced and much less country or fender single coil sounding. Seeing as I have the strat that sounded similar on the neck, I like it so far. As I said, I have some tweaking and experimenting to do to fine tune the sound. I will likely lower the pickups some, and move up from there. I only have had a few minutes with it so far. But it definitely spreads the sound palette with my guitars, and is going to be really cool! The pickups are definitely stronger and fuller than the stock ones, and sound like will be very musical once I have it all dialed in.

But I am also glad that I can experiment with other pickups given the ease of swapping pickups in and out with this electrical unit. All sorts of possibilities. I will post one last all put together pick once the knobs and switch cover are in, and on.

I hope this is hopeful or interesting to someone thinking about modding their tele. Cheers!