Telecaster Pickups

Joe Dobson, founder of London’s Joseph Kaye Guitars, explains the radical differences between Tele pickups old and new

Since the release of the Esquire and Broadcaster in 1950, Fender has continuously altered and broadened its pickup designs and specifications. These days, it’s easy to assume what a Telecaster pickup ‘should’ be, but in an ever-changing marketplace, and with mass production methods still being tested, the time was ripe for experimentation.

Joe Dobson, founder of Joseph Kaye Guitars in London’s East End and proprietor of Sonic Monkey Pickups, is a pre-CBS Fender guitar expert and has examined hundreds of original instruments over the years. “I learned about vintage Tele pickups from owning several old guitars, as well as having restored them, and from winding pickups,” Joe tells us. “I soon found out that Tele pickups differed a lot – especially the early ones – as Fender experimented and made adjustments.

“The bridge pickups with flat polepieces [Fender introduced staggered polepieces in 1955] I’ve seen read as low as 5.5kohms and as high as 9.5kohms. That’s radically different! The lower DC resistance pickups used a thicker 42-gauge wire generally, and the magnets were sometimes a bit on the weaker side. Those weaker pickups can sound amazing because they break up early and kind of growl. They can sound really dirty, like they’re overdriving naturally. It’s not perfectly clean, and a lot of people really love that.