Bridge/pickup height x160

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In the '80s, one of the guys who wound up running the Fender Custom Shop told me NOT to push on Fender Strat/Tele/Mustang magnets!!!!!!!

Those pickups consist of two pieces of 'bobbin' material, and six magnets and, of course, the wire. The pickup wire, smaller than a human hair, is wound directly onto the magnets. When you push the magnet down, you are actually rubbing a piece of metal on those incredibly tiny wires. You might get away with it once, but probably not twice (don't push it back up!!!).

And if you break it, it's not like when a ball point pin end hits a Tele pickup and breaks a wire on the outer side of the pickup and all the repair man has to do is unwind 50 turns of wire, find the break and re-attach the good wire to the pickup eyelet. When you break the wire on the inside you have to start all over with a rewind, which affects the sound and the value.

I just called my set-up guy to see if my info was still current. He said, "Yes!". He also said, DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

Guess I was always just lucky then! I actually never pushed them "up and down"...just down once...maybe twice, and left it at that! The last one I did it on is the one I still have, the Deluxe Players model...but it has those Vintage Noiseless pickups. Still sounds great!
 
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