TL1 installing Fender Tex Mex pickups

[Suggynz]

Hi
Anyone installed these....the bridge pickup earth wire is very short and I’m wondering I’d I can just put it in same hole as earth which cones from pot and the use the bridge to earth both wires if that makes sense.
Any comments appreciated
Suggynz

[McCreed]

Hi Suggy.
Did you buy the pickups used? The factory length is usually pretty generous.

But anyway... I didn't quite follow your proposed plan, but you can easily extend the ground wire by simply soldering another piece of wire to it. Also, it's good practise to insulate the join with some heat shrink tubing before you attach the other end to ground.

FWIW and for all intents and purpose, as long as you have continuity through all your ground connections, it doesn't matter (too much) how they get there.
There are multiple paths to achieve the same result.

[Suggynz]

Thanks ..I did buy new from US and it’s a genuine Fender part...it’s just the bridge pickup had a short black wire. On trolling the web it looks like one other person had this issue and contacted Fender who told him that it was correct which I think I can only be grounded with the bridge plate. To add wire will mean I will have to wait to get some extra wire after lock down here in NZ. I have so shrink in a large size which I use to get good grip on my picks so I could make that work...the wire may have to wait
Thanks for your reply

[Simon Barden]

Is it not long enough to reach the back of the volume pot? Some pics would be nice.

[Suggynz]

sorry Ive tried where to find button to start a new thread to download photo to no avail...try again later..
really find it hard to navigate to the new thread

[Sonic Mountain]

Hey Suggynz, no need to start a new thread, you can post pics here. The board is a bit old fashioned, but it makes sense once you get used to it.

There are a number of ways to get pics into your posts.

You can either post using the forum uploader. Just click 'Go Advanced' at the bottom right and then click on the pic icon, that will let you browse your computer and upload them. They must be under 1mb in size and I think 1500px across. You can only post 5 at a time.

Alternatively you can have a look at this link and use Imgur, which gets around the size and number limits.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=8108

[fender3x]

Hi
Anyone installed these....the bridge pickup earth wire is very short and I’m wondering I’d I can just put it in same hole as earth which cones from pot and the use the bridge to earth both wires if that makes sense.
Any comments appreciated
Suggynz

This should work fine. It's probably what Fender intended, since the Tele bridge pup fits into the bridge assembly. No real need to run n additional wire as long as the bridge is grounded.

[Simon Barden]

Have you got the pickup selector at the front (standard) or the rear (modified) of the control plate? If the latter, there are a lot of pickups that have wires that are often a bit short to reach the selector switch, though a pot to make the ground connection is normally reached a bit easier.

A deliberately short ground wire on the pickup doesn't sound right. I had Tex-Mex pickups that were standard fitment on my Roadworn Tele and they didn't have a short ground wire (they both got replaced after a while as both pickups went very microphonic).

I'd get a small washer and solder the pickup ground wire to it and another ground wire from the washer to the back of a pot. Then fit the washer so that it's under the spring for the high-E side pickup adjustment screw, with the spring holding the washer against the underside of the bridge plate. That way you get a good solid ground path for the pickup and a good means of grounding the bridge without having to use a separate wire.

Obviously, the washer can't be too large, but big enough to fit over the height adjustment screw, and small enough so that the spring can push on it. So probably 3mm or 4mm. I'd measure the screw width to confirm.

[fender3x]

Ah, the old Barden washer trick. Good idea! ;-)

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[Suggynz]

Thanks I’ll give it a go.....probably be a little while as I enlarge the bridge cavity and change the pick guard dimensions to got Fender speccs