Just did some tele pickup swap outs on two different tele's this last week myself, soldering is a skill that requires practice and feel, just like learning to play a guitar 😉

A tip when reinserting the screws: Put them in the hole and twist backward until you feel a little click. Then proceed to tighten. This ensures you use the existing threads and prevents you from cutting new ones in the wood, which will eventually cause the hole to strip out. But you already knew that, right? 😎

For organising your scratchplate screws, use a piece of card and push the screws through the card. No sticky tape mess! Also when screwing back into the wood, to stop a screw stripping out the hole, turn the screw the opposite way so that it 'drops' into the existing thread. That way the screw won't try try to cut a new thread into the hole but use the existing one. It will drop into place, you can feel it. Great to see the swap over and particularly how you set the pickup heights. Priceless.

Really enjoy the techy content. The factory visits to Ron Ellis and Joe Glaser are two of my faves.

For stripped out mounting screw holes, I use 1/8" hardwood dowel stock. You can pick this up easily at lumber stores or home improvement centers. This material is harder than matchstick wood so it takes a lot longer to strip out again. In fact I don't think I've ever had to redo a hole that I've repaired using hardwood dowel. Cut the material slightly longer than the depth of the hole, add a drop of wood glue, put the dowel in the hole and then tap down the excess length with a finishing nail setter. This excess length tapped down fills the hole up so that a new hole can be drilled. For wider holes, you may need to use multiple pieces of dowel. Works like a charm.

Thanks for the Telecaster pickup information, I always respect your POV & experience Zac

Love hearing you play. Your touch & tone never fail to inspire.

Outstanding, Zac. Really informative about how you set your pickup height. Actually makes way more sense than measure millimeters. Also, that fingerboard, up close, is a knockout.

You're like the Mr. Rogers of the Telecaster. I mean that as a huge compliment. Mr. Rogers found a way to make a spot kids could step back from everything and feel calm. Adults need that too. I appreciate it.

Man i have so much respect for you guys that solder as well as bill just did...i make a mess everytime . So now i leave it to a pro like bill

Man your tone is fantastic. I LOVE me a Tele.

Tuesday morning, 9AM. Haven't seen one this early. Great way to start the day.

Having played and built dozens of teles over the years, IMO you do not need to spend a lot of money at all and swapping out is a fun and reversible "hobby". Lately I've really enjoyed everything I've tried from Bootstrap in Mt. Gilead, OH who hand winds pickups using classic materials and prices are almost too cheap. Artec makes a coverless Big Pole Alnico V with huge pole pieces that sounds really good, rubbery but clear if that makes sense!? Also I like .033 caps in teles which is a great midway between .022 and .047, best of both worlds. Good luck to y'all and thanks Zack!

Man, I love the post-restoration patina that the Esquire is gaining! Very cool!

Nice look at the "internals" on the old girl. Little tip on the over sized hole. Buy a box of toothpicks, add a little wood glue, stick the toothpick into the hole, break it off, let it sit a couple hours, take a razor & carefully trim the toothpick flush. If you need to drill a hole for the screw, Take your screw, hold it behind the bit. The right size bit will be the 1 that allows you to see the threads on either side of the bit. Then take the screw, lay it along side of the bit, wrap tape bit, leaving a little less than the length of the screw.(take the thickness of the pickguard into consideration too. Basically use the tape as a poor mans "drill stop". Then screw the screw back in. Took longer to explain than the job will take. I'd suggest maple toothpicks if you can find them, but just about any wooden toothpick will do. I've seen some "wallered out" (to use a little Southwest US lingo) holes, the toothpick did the trick with no drilling needed. That's my former aircraft metal smith/sheetmetal/structures assembler, turned guitar repairman tip for the day. Easy peezey, lemon squeezy. Plus it's the same price as "dumb looks" still & always will be free.

nice pickguard artwork on the Esquire!

Love your posts Zac. Thank you!

Really handy info, I even have a friends artwork to stick under a clear pickguard (I cracked the first one...)

I’ve had an issue like this with my ‘71 Fender Jazz bass. I bought it from a ‘famous’ Dutch musician that played it on many recordings and gigs from ‘71 to 1990. It was his only bass. It’s candy apple red (white pickguard), a custom colour in ‘71 for a Jazz, that he ordered from Fender. Nice block inlay rosewood neck. She’s a beast! First thing that happened when I got it: after about a month the bridge pickup died on me... I did notice the heavily corroded polepieces when I bought her, but I never thought of issues you mentioned that come with that... What I did: I put in some second hand active EMG’s from the mid-eighties and never looked back. Because I use only flatwounds on this bass, the active thing has never been a problem. It does not sound ‘active’ whatsoever (just volume/ volume/ tone knobs). It sounds like an old school Jazz bass should, people kept telling me. She still works great! She only gets better with age! I love this bass, and other players and engineers do too. She has been one of my main basses since than, and still is. But, of course I kept the original Fender pickups. Seeing your video, one day I might have them worked on like you say and put them back in. 🖖

Easy way to fix a stripped wood screw hole is breaking off a toothpick in hole. I use thin CA glue in the hole aswell

If you mount the pickups too close...you will have a "thumpy" leading edge of the note. Let it breath and just add gain afterwards. Also...screwing the neck pickup to the body rather than the pickguard is absolutely the only way to mount a tele neck pickup.

Well I finally did it! I got a blonde w/ black pickguard and maple fretboard T-style on the way! Guitar #5 and its my first of these. I doubt I would have ever given it a 2nd thought had it not been for your channel 🙏👌

Love the detailed video. I am planning on an esquire build using The Brad Paisley Seymour Duncan secret agent in the neck and all the tips and tricks in this video will be so useful. Thank you for making this content. Its unique and great to watch.

Fascinating stuff Zac. I love seeing this detailed work. It’s good to watch a real expert at work. BTW, I loved that piece you played at the beginning. Any chance of a lesson on that?

G'day Zac, I am so happy i found your channel . I am 62 a Tele player and i also do my own set ups and pretty much the same as you do them, no rulers or following factory set up criteria because Tele,s are simple in design. I was blown away when i saw the Fred Carter vid, i only know of him from a Muddy Waters Album that Levon Helm & Garth Hudson played on now i dont have to wonder no more. I saw the Albert Lee video you did a while back, you mentioned his tone and playing on My baby thinks he,s a train, i couldnt agree more but have you heard Heartbreak Train with Rosie Flores ? If not check it out, Albert at his best. I have it on a album, "A town south of Bakersfield". Keep up the great work Zac, i got some videos to catch up with. Thanks mate.🥳

Great video. Fun times

That Tele is unreal….dream guitar

I saw crook guitars also make a amazing telebird. Thanks

Great Video

Great early post!

Watching this at a workbench much like the one in the video with a Tele on it, it’s guitar techception!

something I have found that works well on stripped screw holes is the #30 super glue from Stew Mac. Use a toothpick to spread the glue around the inside of the hole and let it dry. The screw hole will be like new again.

I'm surprised that he's not protecting the finish in case of hot solder mishap.

You questioned chrome or nickel. Normally, nickel is plated on for that shiny appearance then chrome is plated over it for protection. Chrome is.clear so you don’t actually see it, you see the nickel. So you can have nickel plate or chrome plated nickel. I was very surprised to learn that myself. I’m betting that for a guitar pickup, they’d stop with the nickel and not spend money on chrome.

c-flat is my favorite key!

Lighted magnifier is a game changer for the old eyes!

Changed my pickguard over the weekend and didn't have a clue how to adjust or reset my neck pickup height. Do fender v mod ii pickups count as vintage type pickups? Thanks for all that you do and inform us on.

On a tele, does the tone pot need to have a ground wire run to it's casing, or does it ground through the electronics plate?

Thanks!

"...set this pickoff up" (perfect😁) As it happens, I wuz just fussing with me wee pine bodied CV Squier - dismayed 'cause I love the tone but the output is/was too feeble... So I dig this timely posting... thanx

With older pups, why wouldn't you use shielding paint?

I was just going to ask about surgical tubing versus springs for the neck pick up spacers. I was wondering about microphonics. I don't get it while playing, but I can hear it if I tap the neck pickup.

Wow I always wondered why my pickups measured differently on different days....

Interesting you prefer both pickups literally as high as you can get them. I’ll have to try that.

No shielding?

Here's a fun question for ya. Has your friend ever dropped solder on a vintage guitar??? Perhaps start using a cover before it happens. Thanks for the video!

I generally twist the two wires together more tightly to try and cancel noise, do you find it doesn't make much difference?

I wonder what kind of capacitor that is

These types of episodes beg for a new category of videos entitled "Zac's Hacks."

I wonder if using a different type of metal such as aluminum or or some kind of odd metal for “pickup covers” would change the sound at all....( just a thought)

I bought a refin 55 Tele ex Vince Gill and the neck pickup says Razor. I wonder if you have heard about the pickup.

Zac? I know you know about Jim Wieder. He is a real Tele guy and I think he would be a great interview and also makes the Big T. It is a great front tele pick up replacement. Do you have any experience with the BigT?

Alright Just in time Thanks

One thing that I noticed is how much honest play wear since it was refinished and put back together. You really gave it a new life, set it on a new course. It looks fantastic - but aside from looks, that play wear means you just can't put this thing down. it must be a real player. So, will you allow the red bleed thru to continue; or would there be some plans down the road to address it?

I would love my telecaster pickup rewound how do I get that done

Hi Zak. I really enjoy your videos. Im a little confused about pick up hight. Im sure you have tried it all, high and low, but Im surprised that you want your bridge pick up so high. Can you share your thoughts? Im confused cause I really like your tone, but I would imagine it to be way lower, to avoid “a sharp picky” sound. But its not, and still you get af really great round tone from the bridge pu 🤔 Maybe I got It all wrong and ned to experiment again, cause I almost go as low as possible….

I still think these are repaints I've never seen any red primer and what would be the use of it

I'm learning how to solder. Can you tell me what you used as the braid to soak up the old solder? Thank you.

Hi, have you heard of Peter Florance pickups? If you have have, what's your take on them?

Hi Zak, I noticed that you have zero shielding on the Tele. Do you ever have issues?

Do Tele pickups suffer from string crash when they're too close like Strat pickups do?

Great episode as always just built my first esquire , now im building my first telebird. What are your thoughts on the telebird ?I think its a great monstrosity of a guitar but looks fantastic. Keep up the great work. I can't find any history on a telebird, I think its a great topic for a episode.

It’s crazy that they used red primer on a translucent blonde finish. Seems like that would turn the finish pink.

You would think a covered pickup would last forever. If I ever wind a Telecaster neck pickup, I’d probably use a wrap of flatback tape. You know, the stuff people use on PAF’s.

Ouch so straight away we have a guy that doesn’t know how to really solder. It’s way way too common!

Probably off topic, what are your thoughts about the Goldtop. P90 guitars (aka R4/R5) some say it’s a Tele on testosterone…thanks for taking care , Bernard

Esquires don't have a neck pickup

Oupsss, my bad : on steroïds , not testosterone 😅

Zak there so many pickups out there !! Just get a Lollar or Duncan or Fralin. ! There is no magic powers in anything Vintage !! Everyone makes a Fender better than fender !