Modded my Squier CV Tele with a Kay zippo pickup.

[Rambozo96]

So I have had this Kay pancake pickup kicking around my parts stash for a few years with the intentions of putting it in a weirdocaster of sorts but I am the world’s worst at taking on projects and not really finishing them. What made me gravitate towards this low rent pickup made as cheap as possible stems from a Kay Vanguard I had that played kinda rough as most Kay’s do but that pickup had a nice tone to it. But as mentioned a Kay guitar isn’t the most playable thing in the world and even less so when compared to the guitar I transplanted the pickup into. Enter the new Squier CV tele in what is probably one of my most favorite finishes for a guitar. The see through Mary Kay style finish. I bought an Esquire pickguard and went to work with a few files and a dremel, though far from a professional job it looks fine from a few feet away and no routing was required as on the Squier CV tele body you have a sizable neck pickup route so you could put in a humbucker, P90, or any style pickup you could possibly think of. Surprisingly no phase issues were present so the bridge pickup can stay for the time being.

 

[shihan]

Those old Kay PU’s can sound great. A tele is the perfect home for one. I think you done good!
Turn it up and enjoy!

 

[Brad Little]

Those old Kay PU’s can sound great. A tele is the perfect home for one. I think you done good!
Turn it up and enjoy!

I'm not much on electrics, but I've heard that some of the '60s Japanese PUs are sought after, too.

 

[Walter Broes]

Cool! The pickups are often the best thing about old Kays and Harmonies. I have a parts tele built around two Kay Kleenex box pickups

 

[Swamp ash]

Good for you! How does it balance with the bridge p/u?

I have a hollow body 1961 Custom Kraft 4155 by Kay with those pickups, and quite frankly, to my ears, those are the best pickups of all my guitars (including several boutiques). My Kay is also a great playing instrument but it does have a fatal flaw of everything (including floating bridge) riding upon the pickguard.

People seem to be on a gold foil craze, these days (and they are good) but the Kay pancakes are overlooked.

 

[Rambozo96]

Good for you! How does it balance with the bridge p/u?

I have a hollow body 1961 Custom Kraft 4155 by Kay with those pickups, and quite frankly, to my ears, those are the best pickups of all my guitars (including several boutiques). My Kay is also a great playing instrument but it does have a fatal flaw of everything (including floating bridge) riding upon the pickguard.

People seem to be on a gold foil craze, these days (and they are good) but the Kay pancakes are overlooked.

It blows my mind because the design is clearly as cheap as Kay could get away with without ending up being eaten alive by warranty work. Amazingly no phase issues with the bridge tele pickup and actually balances out well. I thought about wiring it up for series parallel switching seeing how Danelectro wired their guitars in series though this was largely due to the substantially low output those lipstick pickups have to where a boost pedal is almost needed to drive the amp to full distortion.