P90 Intall In Telecaster

[WES]

I recently purchased a Telecaster (Mexican). It is the Nashville model with the Tex Mex pickups throughout, and the strat pickup in the middle position. I have been contemplating intsalling a Lindy Fralin P90 in the neck position, but am not sure of the entire process. Other then modifying the pickguard what other modifications will be needed? How hard is it to complete a pickup swap such as this? Will there be any ramifications of the P90's proximity to the middle pickup?

Any help and alternative suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance, Cheers.

[GregP]

I can only go by guesswork and my Yamaha Pacifica-style telecaster, so your mileage may vary:

A soapbar-style P90's height is adjustable by 2 screws that go through the middle of the pickup. These are also what mounts the pickup. This means that you will need to:

a ) modify the pickguard

b ) do any routing necessary to accomodate the pickup in the wood under the pickguard

c ) make sure that there is enough wood under where the new pickup will be in order to mount it properly. Since P90s are fairly shallow, you will probably (can't say for sure) need to add some height. I don't see why a glued-in hunk of wood won't do the trick.

At the end of the day, it seems to me like nothing more than an afternoon of work. The trickiest part will be shaping the pickguard to accomodate the new pickup, and re-doing the wiring (well, only tricky if you're not already a soldering pro).

Greg

[Mickguard]

I recently purchased a Telecaster (Mexican). It is the Nashville model with the Tex Mex pickups throughout, and the strat pickup in the middle position.

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Doesn't make sense --why mod this guitar? I mean, I can understand wanting to soup up a standard tele, but this one already has fancy pups...

Just a question, don't mean to be hostile!

Otherwise, I believe you can get P90s in the smaller single-coil format, you wouldn't have to modify anything...

[GregP]

I don't imagine it'd be the same thing, though. I suppose it could get close, but would it really be the same, or would it just be an overwound single-coil?

Greg

[Robert_the_damned]

other than what's already been said (altering the pickguard and routing a hole for the pickup) and obviously wiring it up to the selector switch there's nothing else that you have to do!

There shouldn't be any side-effects to having the P90 slightly closer than the other single coil is. if you rout it right you should be able to get the pole pieces of the P90 in the same place as the neck pickup anyway ( I think there's enough space but without a P90 and a tele to hand its hard to tell!!)

the hardest thing about this conversion is the wood working and the alterations to the pickguard: the pickguard can be altered quite easily as long as its ALL plastic and not perloid or tortoise sell or something like that. (draw the shape of the pickup on the back of the pick guard and use a drill to get the round corners and use a big stanly knife and a METAL ruler to get the straight bits). the wood work is best done with a router but I've done similar things with just a drill and a chisel (as the pickguard will cover the fact its a bit of a botch!!)

an intresting idea never heard a tele with a P90 in the bridge

you could go for one of those ' humbucker' bridges and put a P90 phat cat it it too !!

[WES]

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[javacody]

Tex-Mex aren't really fancy pickups, they are $80 a set and made in Mexico. They are great pickups (in my opinion), but I wouldn't be worried about replacing one or two.