Question about a telecaster bridge.

[Frank Z]

Hey guys,

Frank here, Ive been lurking in the shadows of these boards for quite a while now, slowly absorbing all valuable information being posted.

I've got a question though. I noticed that Badgermark has this Telecaster with a humbucker bridge (Gotoh?) and I've been thinking of doing the same thing to my standard Telecaster but I'm wondering if the humbucker bridge will fit onto the guitar without having to modify the mountingholes. I know I have to rout out the pickup cavity and that I need to change the pickguard but I'm ok with that. I would just like to modify as little as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Frank


Ps: I'm thinking of buying the Gotoh humbucker Telecaster bridge.

[Twinfan]

The bridge should line up fine, you'll just need to route the humbucker hole  :)

[Frank Z]

Cheers Twinfan,

The routing shouldn't be a problem I just don't want the body to turn into a massive swiss cheese full of holes :mrgreen:.

[Twinfan]

Nah, you should be fine.  Just to check though, it's a US or Mexican Telecaster isn't it?

The Japanese or Squier ones sometimes have different specs.....

[Frank Z]

It's a Mexican.

[Twinfan]

You should be fine then!  As long as the Gotoh one is for USA (imperial?) specs you'll be fine  :)

[Frank Z]

Yeah it's imperial sized (2-1/16" according to Warmoth). Also they don't mention changing anything other than the cavity and the pickguard. I tried checking out Fender's drawings and schematics to see if 2-1/16"  would fit but they don't mention sizes at all.

[Twinfan]

If it says it fits a USA Fender it'll fit yours  :)

[Frank Z]

Hmm just found a drawing of the Gotoh bridge on Warmoth. Thank god this drawing DOES have measurements on it! I don't get how I could have missed this drawing before. Pretty sure it wasn't there last time I looked haha.

Best thing to do is bringing the caliper out and measure the bridge that's on the guitar now I suppose.

Thanks though!

[WezV]

just a few measurements to check.  firstly the position of the string through holes.  vintage tele's have them right near the back edge, modern ones with strat saddles have it a few cm further forward

also the humbucker bridges tend to be a bit wider so you may or may not have to reshape the pickguard slightly

[Frank Z]

Hi Wez,

I know I have to modify the pickguard a bit and that's ok. I'm more worried about the string positions though. Like you said there's some difference there and I'm afraid I have one of the modern Tele's ;)

Thanks for the advice though.

[Philly Q]

I know I have to modify the pickguard a bit and that's ok. I'm more worried about the string positions though. Like you said there's some difference there and I'm afraid I have one of the modern Tele's ;)

I tried a "modern-style" Gotoh bridge on a Warmoth body (which is drilled for a vintage Tele bridge).  The mounting screw holes match up, but the Gotoh string spacing is a little narrower - it's not a huge difference, you can get round it by widening the string holes just a little, on the top of the body only.

I'm not sure about the Mexican Standard, but I suspect it has slightly narrower-than-vintage string spacing anyway.  So the Gotoh bridge may match up first time.

[WezV]

what about the string holes phillyQ??  (i.e, the distance they are from the back of the bridge, not just the spacing between them)


you want it to be a tele with a modern bridge as the gotoh humbucker bridge has the modern strat style saddles and the holes in the right place

but if its a vintage style bridge on your guitar you do have another option. cut down the bridge plate and have a normal ring around the humbucker

[Frank Z]

Well what I find confusing about all this is that the Gotoh bridge is a modern one just like the bridge on my standard mex but according to Warmoth it has vintage spec mounting and string through holes.

[WezV]

i suspect you will need to redrill the mounting holes but thats nothing major.