Why is the bridge pickup on Tele's funny shaped?

gregtarr · Post by **gregtarr** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 8:53 pm

Er, why is the bridge pickup on Tele's funny shaped?
Does anyone know?

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:06 pm

What do you mean ? It looks like a normal single coil pickup to me ?

Can you explain a tad more?

Champers · Post by **Champers** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 9:43 pm

do u mean on an angle?

angry_young_poet · Post by **angry_young_poet** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 10:52 pm

the strat's bridge p/up is at an angle too...

philipnz · Post by **philipnz** » Mon Jul 05, 2004 10:56 pm

The baseplate on a tele is kinda tri-angular. The pickup is the standard shape tho.

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue Jul 06, 2004 7:48 am

The base is triangular because it has three mounting screws to keep it stable.

Because it has to fit under the bridge plate, he put the screws on the sides rather than on the ends. That makes it short enough to fit under the bridge with the cover on.
(Not that many people have ever seen a tele with a bridge cover fitted!!)

It was basically the first electric guitar pickup ever designed, so Leo hadn't got around to simplifying it to a two-screw strat style shape...