Epiphone Tele Pickups

[N8DAWGG]

Hey,

I have an epi tele T-130 and i was thinking about upgrading the pickups to some fender tele pick ups. I was wondering in they would fit in the bridge or would i have to get a new bridge as well.

-Thanks Nate

[jonnyg]

Unless someone who has done what you're thinking of doing jumps in and says yes or no, that's going to be a tricky question to answer. I've tried fitting import parts to Fenders and in many cases they don't line up properly. That suggests that Fender parts may not fit imports such as your Epi. Your best bet is to measure your bridge and compare it to Fender specs. You'll also need to measure the distance between the pickup mounting screws.

Here's a link to a digram of a modern 6 saddle Fender Bridge which may help (click on the 'Technical specs' tab).

http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Modern-Fender-Telecaster-Bridge-p/099-0807-200.htm

I couldn't find a very detailed pic of your T130, but from what I could see the bridge looks a lot like the one in this link (click on the 'Technical specs' tab)

http://www.axesrus.co.uk/Modern-Import-Bridge-Vintage-Saddles-p/bt002-cr.htm

Many of the dimensions are very close so you may get lucky and a Tele pickup may drop right in. If your bridge has zinc saddles like the import one shown, I'd certainly be looking at changing those for steel or brass.