The Steel Guitar Forum

I got an old fender 400. How does one remove the pickup from this steel? It has the Fat Black Pickup, held on there with four "posts" with springs under there. No clue how to remove the pickup, figured I'd ask before I messed it up. Thanks,Fred

Fred, You'll need to remove the screws that hold the control plate down, raise it up and unsolder the pickup wires from the controls. The pickup should be held in with four screws that go through the springs underneath. Remove the screws and the pickup should lift right out.

Thanks for your reply Bob. I believe that I have an early 400 probably described as a basket case, although the mechanical parts don't yet seem too bad. But the electronics are in bad shape. There is NO WIRE comming out of the pickup, hence the need to remove it, fix it or replace it. I have removed the top chrome plate and observe that the pickup is held in by four "posts" with springs. These posts do not appear to be screws, and look more like flat head brads, which they might be. Could they ever have installed pickups with "brads"??? I could probably push the pickup down and cut the heads off of these things and maybe replace with new screws. In addition, this steel has a Fender logo "Plate" that is similiar to the plate that is on my twin reverb amp. I think that this is a very early steel. Any help greatly appreciated.

No, Fender never (to my knowledge, anyway) used brads or nails to affix pickups. Either someone has replaced it along the way, or the screws are so rusty/dirty you can't see the slots or threads in them. Also, Fender never used their metal amp logos on their early pedal steels...someone obviously just wanted a bigger nameplate on it!

Thanks Donny, I will look at it when I get back home, and I will try and post a couple of pictures. This steel has the aluminum frame (not painted), the fat pickup, and a roller bridge, but a solid bar nut. Something don't really add up. Fred