Golden Age Pickups for Tele Instructions

Wiring diagrams and color codes for Golden Age Tele pickups.

How to wire for a great tone!
Golden Age pickups for Telecaster^® are manufactured to replicate the tone and response of late 50's Tele pickups. However, unlike vintage pickups, the neck pickup is reverse-wound, with reverse-polarity. This gives you hum-cancelling output in the middle position of a 3-way pickup selector switch (when the two pickups are combined).

Pickup height adjustment
The pickups should not be adjusted too close to the strings. For single-coils, leave about 1/8" gap between the top of the low E polepiece and the bottom of the string, when fretted at the highest (21st or 22nd) fret, and 3/32" for the high E polepiece. Adjusting the pickups any closer can cause "false" notes from wound strings at higher frets.

Reduce unwanted electrical noise by using shielded coaxial cable for your longer wiring runs (for example, the connection between the controls and the output jack). Coaxial cable contains a center "hot" conductor which is shielded by an outer braid used for the ground wire.

For short connections between components, use standard non-shielded wire. Typically, white wire is used for hot and black for ground.

All wiring diagrams are viewed from the back of the guitar's pickguard.







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