Lets Mod my Tele

Trev M

Hi All,

Some time ago I decided to mod my tele (2002 Mex)

I got as far as doing the scrtach plate:rolleyes:.....anyway I wanna overhaul this sucker and Im open to suggestions...



I already have a few other guitars, Fender Fat Start mod with EMG 85 & SA's, Dean USA Hardtail, Gibson Les Paul Classic, Washburn KC40 V (next for a refit)... I mention these cause within this guitar range Ive a lot of ground covered and that has a bearing on what I put in the tele.

In terms of pick up selection, Id like to maintain the clean bright twang of the tele...I dont wanna loose the distinctive tele sound but would like it to have a bit of bite when I turn up the juice...a nice bit of grit if ya get me.

In terms of hardware Im thinkin black everthing....so if anyone has any nice links to sites that would be cool..... go nuts with the suggestions

What about somethin like this:D:p?

http://www.thomann.de/ie/hipshot_trilogy_tmb_1.htm

Anyway any links or recommendations for picks ups , pots , machine heads etc appreciated.

darrenw5094

What the hell is Hipshot Trilogy.......is it as good as the Star Wars Trilogy?

feylya

Darren, if you are not going to post something useful, do not post. This is not After Hours.

Trev M

^^ look see , I provided a link.:rolleyes:

OK-Cancel-Apply

How about shoving a DiMarzio HS-3 or HS-2 in there? You could have some pretty hot distorted sounds and still retain most of that singlecoil sparkle.

Trev M

Cheers for the suggestion, just wondering how much high end is "rolled off" on the HS 3 , looks like a 500K pot refit is required straight away aswell to accomadate the HS3? I dunno the spec for the pot I have in there at the moment ? Anyone know whats in the stock mex tele?

Dord

What about a Bigsby?

Alanstrainor

Dord wrote: »

What about a Bigsby?

+1! have one on my tele, it's the best!

Trev M

Whoooaaaaa now lets not go off the rails lads...:D nah just kidding , Ive never had a guitar with a bigsby,

To be honest I fear the Bigsby:eek:, can I handle that much birdge I ask myself, do they actually stay in tune:rolleyes:.... is there a lot work in fitting it ? ( A bit of google says there's no routing required)

Found this - looks straight forward nuff
http://www.bigsbyguitars.com/vibe/?page_id=861

I mean do people go from no Bigsby to full on Bigsby mod? :eek:

Trev M

Alanstrainor wrote: »

+1! have one on my tele, it's the best!

ya got any pics of that badboy ?

Did you fit it yourself?

Dord

Trev M wrote: »

I mean do people go from no Bigsby to full on Bigsby mod? :eek:

Lots, it increases the awesomeness of a guitar by 120%. It's been scientifically proven.

If you're not comfortable doing it yourself get someone else to fit it for you.

-Chris-

You're too RAWK for a Bigsby Trev - put in hotter pickups & repaint the body

Mataguri

Throw in a 4 way selector switch. Keep positions 1,2 and 3 the same but for position 4 have the neck and bridge pickups wired in Series. This provides a fatter tone than position 2 and more output than positions 1,2 or 3.

NoQuarter

have a look on www.guitarfetish.com

Plenty of mad sh1t there!

eoin5

How bout a b-bender?

Trev M

Dord - statistics statistics man, you havent included the full quote "it increases the awesomeness of a guitar by 120% , all the time, without failure ever.... 60% of the time"

Chris , Im a comlpex man, Im all about the RAWKAKKKAKA on the outside but on the inside is a soulful (slimmer:D) man, trying to get out. Fatherhood has also turned the decibels in the house down significantly:)

Nice link King Stew thanks for that I'll be like some kinda crack addict in ehh a crack house I guess:D

Trev M

For the price this could be worth a punt?

http://yhst-50206111187217.stores.yahoo.net/alfa10kovteb.html

Seziertisch

My suggestions. A change of pickups. A change of bridge (either Callaham or Glendale, pricey but good value when you consider the improvement). A Bigsby could be good, but as someone who has owned a couple of guitars with them, I can say locking tuners are a must (Sperzels are good, Schaller are great).

-Chris-

I put Custom Shop Texas Tele pickups into a '69 Thinline Tele and love the tone.

You can give that guitar a shot if you want, see what you think.

The thinline bit makes a bit of a difference to the tone, but if you like it then you can plan for the ultimate mod - chambering your Tele!!:D

ball ox

For pickups I'd go with http://www.fralinpickups.com/
Amazing tele pickups.
As someone has already mentioned, a four way selector switch is a great mod if you don't mind a wee bit of soldering.
I'd also consider a bone nut and if you want to go nuts you could upgrade the bridge, electronics & tuners. In that order :P

MattKid

Bare Knuckle Piledrivers awesome pickups

Fingers Mcginty

Trev...lovely lookin guitar mate...Beautiful blue hue. I'd say that sucker looks sweet under stage lighting.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Trev M wrote: »

Cheers for the suggestion, just wondering how much high end is "rolled off" on the HS 3 , looks like a 500K pot refit is required straight away aswell to accomadate the HS3? I dunno the spec for the pot I have in there at the moment ? Anyone know whats in the stock mex tele?

You most likely have 250k pots at the moment. It's not essential that you get 500k ones - I had some in a HSS config and they were fine. As for the high end, not much is missing - just enough to take away the 'crackling' sound at high gain. Because of the stacked design, the position of the two coils means that they don't interact with each other like regular humbuckers do. So it's pretty much like having hotter single coils, but ones which are more distortion-friendly.

rcaz

Make it a Tele Plus! Lace Sensor Dually Red bridge pickup, Lace Sensor Blue in the neck. And then tell me how you did it, because I want to but I'm afraid of routing my Tele

charloman

You could change out everything if you wanted... there is no end to the madness... even when you have changed some of the hardware, there's a good chance you'll be changing it again... Its great to have the expensive bridges, tuners etc... but in my experience, the pickups are the main thing. I had a mexican tele and i found the pickups to be weak... i replaced them with a set of Barden's and haven't looked back. I got a new American standard coming to me via Mr.Claus.... and I'll be swapping out the stock pickups for Bardens. They respond seriously well to playing technique and have that tele feel and sound... even though they are humbuckers. Check em out and check out the sound clips on youtube... search for danny gatton and you'll see them in action on the clean side... other users are springsteen, keith richards, joe perry... Some people love em... some people hate em... its all a matter of opinion at the end of the day. Some people think they are too bright but all you gotta do is replace a capacitor to sort this... and adjust the tone to ur liking..

Anyway, good luck with the modding... I'll be doing some myself VERY soon...

Trev M

Hi Lads,

HUGE thanks to everyone for the input heh heh you guys have given me some great ideas and advice.... I'll be chewing on this over the weekend and will post back some of my conclusions after Ive read the bazillion reviews.

Interesting suggestion on the bone nut - never even considered changing that out but obviously anything that makes contact with the string has got to be a consideration (D'oh) . The nut on there right now actually looks pretty cheap and nasty hahahah never paid much attention to it previously ..... its like when someone asks if you can "hear that alarm"

Someone suggested doing a re finish ..... I considered that, and Im not so much concerned about actually researching and doing the job, its more a time thing.

Last time I looked I found it was hard to source the nitrocellulose to ensure I did i good job (Shiiping restriction on flammables)...

I could always do a stain but I'll definitely do the tech mods first.

These look like an option ..http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Concentrated_Liquid_Stain.html


Anyway thanks again, oh and big thanks to Chris for emailing me the wiring diagrams....I'll do guinea pig and report back mate;)

Trev

Trev M

Fingers Mcginty wrote: »

Trev...lovely lookin guitar mate...Beautiful blue hue. I'd say that sucker looks sweet under stage lighting.

Y aknow I was just thinking there , Ive never actually used this guitar live... definitley gonna use it for my band album launch mext year