bluesy Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 I just got a set of Gotoh TL-Classic Tele pickups, and was surprised to find that the wires from the pickups were separate cloth covered wires, with no shielding. Is this an attempt to keep them authentic, i.e. is that how Fender originally made and wired Telecasters? Anyway, should I rewire them with twin core shielded wire? Or I should I just wrap them with aluminium foil tape and add an earth wire (so I can ground the chrome lipstick cover on the neck pickup and the metal backing plate on the bridge pickup)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 the original Fender pickups had (and still has) that cloth covered "push back" isolation. just twist them and you have the "vintage correct" hook up cables. If you have problems with hum I would suggest that you start with shielding the control cavity and the complete interior of the guitar before you start to change cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 Separate leads are actually pretty common on Fender style pickups. Nothing to worry about there. Imagine how much noise is picked up of by 6" of lead verses the 1000+ feet of wire in the pickup itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psw Posted October 14, 2008 Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 The original Tele pickups were protected by an outer layer of waxed string over the coil I wouldn't change them for the reason above...and...because on a traditional tele that big metal bridge plate is grounded and so acts as a shield as does the metal control plate. Fender even uses separate leads on the SCn neck pickup that I used, but the cavities and such are so small...I didn't bother changing them... With real tele pickups of course...being true single coils...some noise is inevitable... pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesy Posted October 14, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2008 The original Tele pickups were protected by an outer layer of waxed string over the coil These do too (at least the bridge pickup does - can't see inside the lipstick). They have made some effort to be very original it would seem. I wouldn't change them for the reason above...and...because on a traditional tele that big metal bridge plate is grounded and so acts as a shield as does the metal control plate. Fender even uses separate leads on the SCn neck pickup that I used, but the cavities and such are so small...I didn't bother changing them... With real tele pickups of course...being true single coils...some noise is inevitable... pete I think I might keep them original, as has been suggested, but I may add an earth wire, quite separate, to ground the metal cover on the lipstick pickup (in the same way as there is a ground wire to the bridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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