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Hello, everyone, my first post here.
Just for fun, I'm trying to get some answer to a weird incompatibility I found.
I'd love, one day, to buy a cheap telecaster replica to upgrade. The pickups I would like to mount are a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails set, but I find that at least the bridge pickup doesn't fit in the Fender Telecaster Mexico bridge (not sure what models) doesn't allow to mount it because the size of the mount hole. I never consider it!
I think it probably depends not strictly by the largeness and the length of the pickup hole in the bridge, but by the angle of the border of the hole. Maybe a regular single coil round side will fit good.
Though I found the measurement of some bridges like Goth and Wilkinson, and the pickup's size, I still don't know when it fits and when it's not.

This is what I found:

Hot Rail pickup measurement: 72,9mm x 17,3mm
https://www.seymourduncan.com/wp-conten ... THR-1b.pdf

Gotoh Modern Tele Bridge hole size: 74,17mm x 19,66mm
Wilkinson Adjustable Compensated Tele Bridge hole size: 75,69mm x 19,91mm

It's hard to find detailed measurement of Fender Mexico and USA bridges, in case I need.

Can someone give me some details about it?

Thank you.

Did you find this incompatibility through first hand experience? Or are you just working off of measurements you've found online? I'd be very surprised if a MIM telecaster bridge plate didn't fit a standard bridge pickup from a well regarded manufacturer. I feel like people do this all the time.

Are you worried about the mounting screw holes not lining up, the pickup fitting through the opening in the bridge plate itself, or the routed cavity underneath not fitting the Seymour Duncan pickup?

The schematic you attached seems to suggest the pickup is about 69mm long by about 17mm wide. That seems to be within the realms of possibility on the bridges you mention.

In my experience every quality after market bridge I've seen lines up the same, and with the exception of very cheap kit telecaster bridges the same would go for Fender/Squier bridges.

Thank for your reply.
None experience though my hands, but I read about this problem thing around in the web, and sizes and measurements of the bridges and the pickup comes from datasheets.
The pickup doesn't fit through the hole, screw holes should be alright.

Is the third review here:
https://www.thomann.de/it/seymour_dunca ... tstyle.htm
«Watch out for you bridge!
[...] I really like Seymour Duncan pickups but with these I had one big issue.
The bridge pickup doesn't fit to Fender MIM tele standard bridge.
For that reason I had to send them back. You need vintage bridge to get them installed.»

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/my-black- ... ls.607267/
«When I got the new Seymour Duncan Hot Rails the bridge pickup would not fit through the original bridge's pickup hole. I did actually try to do this when I was having trouble refitting the Wilkinson bridge and I actually damaged the pickup tape trying to push the pickup through.»

And here there's more than a case of this issue.
https://www.tdpri.com/threads/bridge-fo ... le.989737/
(In that page someone talk about feedback and squeal problem with the SD Hot Rail pickup, but that is another problem.)

The bridge with this problem seems to be the «Mexican Standard / Player Series».

Interesting, looking at the Seymour Duncan, I wonder if the radius on the corners is more square than a normal bridge pickup? I had a similar issue with a Lindy Fralin blade pickup. But in my case it was the neck pickup not fitting a pickguard.

If you're set on the Duncan's buying an aftermarket Gotoh bridge is fairly inexpensive, something like $50. And it should fit the footprint of the existing bridge, although I would have thought the same thing about the pickup fitting.

I really think the corners of the regular single coil bridge pickup and the corners of the these kind of humbucker single coil sized (or at least the Hot Rail) are different.

Try to see this sketch:



- In the upper figure the single coil has a certain length, and the humbucker single coil sized, having two thinner line of single coil side by side, should be much less longer to fit in the same corner shape of the bridge hole, and of course, it leaves much empty space to the side.
- In the downer figure the humbucker single coil sized is just slightly shorter than the single coil, but the corners are less round and go over the round corner of a regular single coil.

So, the humbucker single coil sized needs a larger and longer bridge hole or an hole with corner less round to allow the pickup to fit in it.

Anyway, I don't know what kind of bridge I'd buy for my future telecaster. I just wanna be sure about the size, then I'll choose brand and type.

About the possible squeal and oscillation issue with the Hot Rail I could open a new topic, but honestly, this could be premature.

I think the real issue here is the MIM aspect of it all...

plenty of reviews by people saying they love it and only a few saying it doesn't fit in a MIM bridge...

as a guess I'd say some of the MIM versions have bridges made for a smaller pickup and aren't compatible with what's usually seen on a tele...expecting Seymour Duncan to make a small run of PUps for MIM is out of line IMO

point being don't get a MIM tele...or simply replace the bridge (they do make some nice ones)

When I'll get a Telecaster style guitar it will be a cheaper one. I still don't know if it will be a Squier or an Harley Benton. Change the bridge is one of the thing I'd like to do to rise up the quality of the instruments.
And all this is just for fun.

Meanwhile, if someone of my friends with a Telecaster want to do something like that, today I know how I could give some help.