Telecaster Love Thread, No Archtops Allowed

[Geert]

Added a little more classic vibes to my new squier classic vibe custom tele.
Love the guitar and the Lollar CC!

[Flat]

Bill's on the cover of Downbeat this month! Holding what i believe to be the black double-bound Bigsby-equipped tele by JW Black shown in this photo. I'd never heard of JW Black before. Guitar looks lovely.

I'm like you, omphalopsychos. I'm suddenly thinking I need a Bigsby on a telecaster...and wondering if I can I install that myself on a partscaster...

[LeGrand]

Here is my G&L Bluesboy with a TV Jones Supertron in the neck position. Really like the matchup with the Leo Fender designed ashtray bridge pu.

[omphalopsychos]

Bill's on the cover of Downbeat this month! Holding what i believe to be the black double-bound Bigsby-equipped tele by JW Black shown in this photo. I'd never heard of JW Black before. Guitar looks lovely.

I'm like you, omphalopsychos. I'm suddenly thinking I need a Bigsby on a telecaster...and wondering if I can I install that myself on a partscaster...

Did you order parts yet? I did! I changed my mind about padouk, but my nicotine blonde TK CC snakehead is officially in progress.

[neatomic]

Great. It sounds intriguing. I'll have to call warmoth and see if they can do a snakehead neck in padouk. While I'm at it I can ask if they have any pine from Jim Jarmusch's apartment.

haha.. that'd be rick kelly/carmine st. guitars!!..he also "reclaimed" 100 year + wood from legendary chelsea hotel and prohibition greenwich village speakeasy - chumleys! apparently ale saturated pine makes for good tone!!

lou reed and bob dylan went for those!!

the wizard in action-rk in his shop



cheers

[omphalopsychos]

haha.. that'd be rick kelly/carmine st. guitars!!..he also "reclaimed" 100 year + wood from legendary chelsea hotel and prohibition greenwich village speakeasy - chumleys! apparently ale saturated pine makes for good tone!!

lou reed and bob dylan went for those!!

the wizard in action-rk in his shop



cheers

I thought about going with rick K, but those guitars are 2k and over a year wait, which doesn't make sense to me for a Tele (to me). I ordered all of my parts online. I didn't get exactly what I originally wanted, but I'm happy with what I found. Swamp Ash blonde body, roasted maple snakehead neck with a 1 3/4" nut, some TK smith pickups. I can't wait.

[neatomic]

Bill's on the cover of Downbeat this month! Holding what i believe to be the black double-bound Bigsby-equipped tele by JW Black shown in this photo. I'd never heard of JW Black before. Guitar looks lovely.

jw black was former fender custom shop master builder..moved to pacific northwest...more local to bill...he's been using his guitars awhile...amongst many others!! apparently bills a gear hound!! haha

cheers

[silvertonebetty]

So cool


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Flat]

Did you order parts yet? I did! I changed my mind about padouk, but my nicotine blonde TK CC snakehead is officially in progress.

You do understand that even saying the words nicotine, blonde, and snakehead in the same sentence obligates you to post pics somewhere down the road! lol

I have had a sonic blue ash body, routed for a neck bucker, and a mahogany (mellower?) neck sitting on the shelf for well over a year. I already have too many guitars, a small place, and have been trying to thin down. Once I sell a couple more (ES-225, Guild F112), then I might resume the Tele build, or just bail out and sell the body and neck. Honestly, I sometimes doubt whether I have the skills to put together a nice instrument, getting a good neck join and stuff.

Good luck with your build!

[neatomic]

Honestly, I sometimes doubt whether I have the skills to put together a nice instrument, getting a good neck join and stuff.

honestly, that's the genius behind leo fenders "parts" designs...as long as the body/neck joint is within basic spec, any problematic neck angles can be tweaked with a shim...many fenders came with shims in place..and of course they later went to the 3 bolt with adjustable "shim" screw

also adding a bigsby to a tele, which can be super cool, almost always requires the neck to be shimmed..no big deal

so don't psyche youself out..it can be done...just be sure to measure out everything 2x before you go for any permanent drilling..and always have fun with it!

let the great craftsman (& player) tk smith be your inspiration!



cheers

[pants]

Added a little more classic vibes to my new squier classic vibe custom tele.
Love the guitar and the Lollar CC!

Very nice! The Lollar CC is loaded with some kind of magic fairy dust. It's like nothing else I've played on. Enjoy!

[jazzbow]

Added a little more classic vibes to my new squier classic vibe custom tele.
Love the guitar and the Lollar CC!

Oh my yes, CC pickup with a Tele bridge, gosh yes.

Geert, do yourself a favour and do the 4 way switch mod and put on some brass saddles.
Kluson Harmonic brass saddles with 12's intonate perfectly.


I've spent a week in the wilds of Scotland with my jazzcaster, micro cube and some abersold backing tracks and it was perfect.
I got back last night and immediately sought out my big box jazzer. 5 minutes later the Tele came out of its gig bag and I was all grins!

[Geert]

Hi Jazzbow,

What are the pros of doing the mod and the saddles in your opinion?
I tend to only use the neck pickup position and don't have any intonation problems with the existing saddles.

BTW, yours looks great

[Doublea A]

Hi Jazzbow,

What are the pros of doing the mod and the saddles in your opinion?
I tend to only use the neck pickup position and don't have any intonation problems with the existing saddles.

BTW, yours looks great

I know that different materials (brass, aluminium alloy, metal etc.) will affect the sustain that you are considerably. It probably affects the tone as well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Robertito]

Hi Jazzbow,

What are the pros of doing the mod and the saddles in your opinion?
I tend to only use the neck pickup position and don't have any intonation problems with the existing saddles.

BTW, yours looks great

Geert, in answer to your question, here is a quote from Marc Rutters, who makes some of the nicest Telecaster saddles around:

Use Broadcaster steel saddles for that woody throaty tone or brass saddles for a thicker warmer tone.

[jazzbow]

Hi Jazzbow,

What are the pros of doing the mod and the saddles in your opinion?
I tend to only use the neck pickup position and don't have any intonation problems with the existing saddles.

BTW, yours looks great

Thanks.

The difference in sound goes from stock 'Channg!' To 'Chrrrranng!' with brass (if that makes sense?).

I can only recommend the 4 way as a extended tonal pallete for different genres. Striking flatwound strings near the saddles with the bridge pickup gives you a straight on 50's rock and roll tonality. Selecting the two pickups in parallel and dialling in the tone control to bleed in some high frequencies can give you a nice solo guitar sound. Whack the selector to both pickups in series gives you a volume boost and you can overdrive an amp with volume control on the guitar.
And then you haul it back to the neck pickup for syrupy yummyness.

I did have the 5 way switch mod with a bass frequency cut on the neck pickup but that extra mode didn't get used much.


The Kluson harmonic saddles dial in the intonation on the 12th and 19th fret easily and they are much cheaper than Glendale parts. I think they were £$€10, not much to pay for brass saddles anyway.

If you are unsure of the 4 way mod go to your nearest fender stockist and try the Baja Tele or any of the more recent USA teles.

[omphalopsychos]

Another proponent of the 4 way switch here. I installed it on my MIM tele with lolllar 52 pickups. My TK Smith CC Snakehead will also feature a 4 way.

[neatomic]

jb. totally agree with your astute observations..but there are less considered options that have equal import...such "simple" things as pickup height or type of string. pick thickness and material etc etc..its endless

people worry about brass vs chrome bridge saddes, yet think nothing of the difference between gore-tex covered elixirs and vintage style pure nickel round cores... all equally important!!


keep digging fellows

cheers

[silvertonebetty]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Geert]

Thanks.

The difference in sound goes from stock 'Channg!' To 'Chrrrranng!' with brass (if that makes sense?).

I can only recommend the 4 way as a extended tonal pallete for different genres. Striking flatwound strings near the saddles with the bridge pickup gives you a straight on 50's rock and roll tonality. Selecting the two pickups in parallel and dialling in the tone control to bleed in some high frequencies can give you a nice solo guitar sound. Whack the selector to both pickups in series gives you a volume boost and you can overdrive an amp with volume control on the guitar.
And then you haul it back to the neck pickup for syrupy yummyness.

I did have the 5 way switch mod with a bass frequency cut on the neck pickup but that extra mode didn't get used much.


The Kluson harmonic saddles dial in the intonation on the 12th and 19th fret easily and they are much cheaper than Glendale parts. I think they were £$€10, not much to pay for brass saddles anyway.

If you are unsure of the 4 way mod go to your nearest fender stockist and try the Baja Tele or any of the more recent USA teles.

Thanks for your explanation.
I have to say that the combination of the lollar cc with the stock bridge pickup on the squier, gives a weird nasaly 'out of fase' kind of sound in middle position.
maybe the mod helps with this?
For now I'm leaving the guitar as it is.

Allthough I play mostly upright bass these days, I had to have a telecaster again since it was the guitar I learned to play on. I got a second hand fender '75 tele standard from my mom when I was 12 years old, but I had to sell the beaten down (allmost fretless) guitar a few years back.
Allthough the squier is a different guitar that that fender it still feels somewhat like coming home on this guitar

G

[pants]

Thanks for your explanation.
I have to say that the combination of the lollar cc with the stock bridge pickup on the squier, gives a weird nasaly 'out of fase' kind of sound in middle position.
maybe the mod helps with this?
For now I'm leaving the guitar as it is.

Allthough I play mostly upright bass these days, I had to have a telecaster again since it was the guitar I learned to play on. I got a second hand fender '75 tele standard from my mom when I was 12 years old, but I had to sell the beaten down (allmost fretless) guitar a few years back.
Allthough the squier is a different guitar that that fender it still feels somewhat like coming home on this guitar

G

If you are looking to replace the bridge pup, I wholly endorse the Porter 9T. It's a drop in replacement for a standard tele bridge, but approaches P90 qualities. The pair sound great together when I want a little spank and rounder sound than the CC pup alone.
Edit: the Porter also features adjustable pole pieces to dial in individual string volume/tone. Which is nice.
In terms of saddles. I don't have a lot to compare them to in terms of trying different things, but I really like the Joe Barden compensated saddles(available on a bridge or on their own)

[jazzbow]

Thanks for your explanation.
I have to say that the combination of the lollar cc with the stock bridge pickup on the squier, gives a weird nasaly 'out of fase' kind of sound in middle position.
maybe the mod helps with this?

G

Yeah, the stock pickup sounded horrible on mine too. I thought it was the pickup but if your having the same trouble then there must be some sort of voodo from the CC pickup. I cured the problem by replacing it with a Duncan AlNiCo 2 bridge pickup as the CC pickup I have has an AlNiCo 2 magnet in it too.

[jazzbow]

Fellow Telecaster colleagues, please indulge me as I have to testify to the greatness that is called Telecaster!

Just been to a jam session with a buddy and I was having tonality problems with my Yamaha P90 guitar.

I had my Cube 60 set to clean and I just could not find a mellow tone with that Yammie. As the evening progressed we played the Van Morrison tune 'Have I told you lately' and I was having a hissy fit trying to make mellow shapes on that damn guitar. I flapped about with the tone stack on the amp and nothing was working for me.
I halted the proceedings and got my Squier Tele out. I didn't even mess with the Cubes tone settings. I just tweaked the teles volume and tone controls and off I went.

As the Van Morrison tune progressed the lyric played in my head and as I danced around the chords I had an epiphany.

'Have I told you lately that I love you?
Have I told you there's no one else above you?
Fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness
Ease my troubles, that's what you do'

How apt was that!

Bless Leo for this divine musical instrument.

Amen to that

[neatomic]

great van track..so great, rod stewart covered it and had big hit with it..but vans the man..and a supple soulful guitarist in his own right..his phrasing on all instruments, be it his voice, harmonica, guitar or sax playing has been solid influence on me for years...magical musician

cheers

[Hammertone]

I have to say that the combination of the lollar cc with the stock bridge pickup on the squier, gives a weird nasaly 'out of fase' kind of sound in middle position. maybe the mod helps with this? For now I'm leaving the guitar as it is. . . . [ ] . . .

Maybe the two pickups are out of phase with each other. All you need to do is reverse the phase on either of them and the problem should go away. Cheaper/easier than swapping pickups.