Vintage '52 Hot Rod-style electronics

[SteelyD2]

I'm gathering the parts to build a Vintage '52 Hot Rod-style 'Caster based on a Squier '51 body modded for string-thru. I know some of you have combined a 'bucker with a single and I'm just wondering what values of pots and caps you've found work best. I intend to start with a GFS Vintage Tele in the bridge with a GFS mini humbucker in the neck.

 

D

[SteelyD2]

Bump for the evening crowd in all points east.

 

D

[Tweedledee]

I've made a couple of my own versions of the 52 Hot Rod Tele and I've experimented with pot and cap values in each one with varying results. There's no hard-and-fast rule because it depends on the pickups, but here's what I settled on with the three I made:

 

1. '51 Nocaster bridge pickup and SD SH-1 "Vintage" minibucker (the same one in the Hot Rod): 500k volume pot, 250k tone pot, .047 uf cap. Sounded perfect.

 

2. 1977 Tele with a stock bridge pickup and a SD "Vintage" minibucker: Stock 1meg pots and .047uf cap. A little shrill with the tone dimed and just the bridge pickup selected, but backing off the tone a hair made it sound as sweet as you would ever want.

 

3. My current Tele has a '51 Nocaster bridge pickup and a SD Antiquity minibucker. The pots are both 500k and the cap is .047uf, but I'm thinking of trying out a .022uf one in there to see how it sounds with the Antiquity.

 

Here are pics of the three I did, in order:

 

1. (Though it has a GFS minibird in there because I wanted to keep the Duncan when I sold the guitar.)

 

2.

 

3.

[SteelyD2]

 

I've made a couple of my own versions of the 52 Hot Rod Tele and I've experimented with pot and cap values in each one with varying results.

 

 

Thanks, for the thoughtful response. Don't you (or didn't you) also have a Jap Fender with a Strat-style body and Telecaster electronics with a '69 Thinline pickguard? And didn't you also swap a mini into the neck? That's exactly what I'm trying to do, the ergonomics of a Strat body with a Tele neck and Tele sound.

 

D

[Tweedledee]

Thanks, for the thoughtful response. Don't you (or didn't you) also have a Jap Fender with a Strat-style body and Telecaster electronics with a '69 Thinline pickguard? And didn't you also swap a mini into the neck? That's exactly what I'm trying to do, the ergonomics of a Strat body with a Tele neck and Tele sound. D

 

Yep, that's me! That guitar is the one I always seem to pick up, mostly because the neck is absolutely perfect. I have a Gibson 498T in the bridge, and that same Duncan minibucker in the neck. That one has 500k volume and tone pots and a .047uf cap.

 

Here it is:

 

[unworthy]

One last request.

 

D

[larryguitar]

Yep, that's me! That guitar is the one I always seem to pick up, mostly because the neck is absolutely perfect. I have a Gibson 498T in the bridge, and that same Duncan minibucker in the neck. That one has 500k volume and tone pots and a .047uf cap. Here it is:

 

Never noticed that one before-she's a beauty.