Vintage Telecaster Pickups
Whether you call it the Esquire, Broadcaster or Telecaster, Fender’s T-type was not the company’s first electric musical instrument. Leo Fender started making lap steels in 1946, with many of the design concepts carrying over to Fender’s first ‘electric Spanish’ guitar. On Fender’s famous red two-pickup prototype of 1949, it’s clear to see that the neck pickup was taken straight out of a Champion lap steel – the giveaways being its shape and two mounting screws on the one side that tap straight into the body.
Fender would soon devise a completely different neck pickup, and the three mounting screws confirm that the company had already adapted the Champion unit to create a new bridge pickup. With only minor alterations, both these pickups have remained in production ever since.
Take It To The Bridge
Fender retained the coil dimensions of the Champion lap steel pickup, but added a larger bottom flat to accommodate three fixing screws. With two at the back and one at the front,
