Fitment question: Can a HH tele body fit a tele fit standard pickups?

[rainfall]

I'm thinking about buying a warmoth tele body, but can't decide right now between SH or HH routing.
I would would assume that if I get it routed to humbucker it would fit a tele bridge SINGLE COIL, wouldn't it?

If i go with humbucker, the bridge I would choose is those "half tele" bridge ones, so I can have flexibility on the pickup type. If I go w/ single, then i would use a standard tele bridge, but then I'd like to know if I have enough room in the body (width and length) to fit a tele pickup in a humbucker rout. Thanks!
:headbanging:

 

[rgand]

I have a Tele bridge sized for a humbucker. It's considerably wider than a normal Tele bridge because of the width of the rout needed for the humbucker. If you have it routed for a humbucker, I think you'd need to mount the single coil bridge pickup in the pickguard and use the half Tele bridge for it.

 

[rainfall]

I have a Tele bridge sized for a humbucker. It's considerably wider than a normal Tele bridge because of the width of the rout needed for the humbucker. If you have it routed for a humbucker, I think you'd need to mount the single coil bridge pickup in the pickguard and use the half Tele bridge for it.

thanks. I'm wondering what would happen if I used a standard tele bridge and a single coil if my body is routed to humbucker. Would it fit in both directions? based on your answer, looks like it would fit on the width (perpendicular to the neck), but how about the length? (parallel to the neck).

 

[Cagey]

When the traditional Tele pickup route is modified to a humbucker route, you end up with just a small bit that doesn't get cut. You can see it in this pic on the bridge side of the cavity...

That little bit that doesn't get cut is just barely visible once you put a mounting ring on there. If you hard-mount the pickup to the body without a ring, the flaw is obvious. I think on that guitar, I had Doug make me a custom ring with slightly deeper frame sides, so you can't see it at all.

Also, that neck pickup cavity was recut from a tradional Tele neck pickup to accommodate a Strat pickup, and you can see it's wider than both the original cavities as well as the humbucker cavity.

 

[zebra]

Also, that neck pickup cavity was recut from a tradional Tele neck pickup to accommodate a Strat pickup, and you can see it's wider than both the original cavities as well as the humbucker cavity.

Thank you for allowing a Telecaster to accommodate the neck pickup it deserves!  ccasion14:

 

[Cagey]

My thinking was that there are about a bajillion Strat form-factor pickups available, while Tele style parts are a bit thinner on the ground.

As you might expect with that mount, finding a pickup that sounds good in that position is pretty easy. Getting one that'll mix well with a humbucker, not so much. But, that could just be me.

 

[rgand]

I have a Tele bridge sized for a humbucker. It's considerably wider than a normal Tele bridge because of the width of the rout needed for the humbucker. If you have it routed for a humbucker, I think you'd need to mount the single coil bridge pickup in the pickguard and use the half Tele bridge for it.

thanks. I'm wondering what would happen if I used a standard tele bridge and a single coil if my body is routed to humbucker. Would it fit in both directions? based on your answer, looks like it would fit on the width (perpendicular to the neck), but how about the length? (parallel to the neck).

I think the width is where the Tele bridge is not going to work. The Tele humbucker bridge is wider than a standard Tele bridge. I don't think a standard Tele bridge will cover the rout for the humbucker at all.

 

[rainfall]

Thanks! I got the answer I needed! Seems like i'll have to decide between SH or HH if I don't want the routing to sticking out when using humbucker mode!

 

[Cagey]

As I mentioned earlier, I've found the blend position on the pickup selector switch to return less than desirable results when trying to mix a single coil and a humbucker. I also said it could just be me, so there's that. I more than understand the desire to try new things, which is partly why I've given that combination time on 3 different Teles with several pickups. Unfortunately, I just haven't been able to get happy. Yet.

But, here's another idea. Do the HH combo, with a coil cut on the neck (and/or bridge). Just use a push/pull on the volume or tone control (or both, if you wanna have the choice of a single coil from either or both of the neck/bridge pickups). That way, you've not only got everything covered, you've got the choice of a bajillion different pickups to experiment with that'll all fit in the same cutouts.