Modified my Tele - I like it!

[Kind of Blued]

I have less than $200 in this guitar, and it's easily my new favorite. Goes to show what customizing something specifically for YOUR needs can do.

 

 

With the added pickup and rewiring I now have six noiseless pickup combos, and they all sound REALLY cool. I put the 3-Way and mini switch next to each other so I can get from any PU combo to any other combo with one motion while retaining a pick in my fingers. Getting rid of the 3-way blade selector helps assure I won't unintentionally switch settings on a long downstroke also. That kind of stuff is important to me if I'm gonna use a guitar in a live setting.

 

 

I purposely routed the middle pickup a bit closer to the bridge than you'd normally find on a Strat. This, along with the fact that I have a Tele bridge pickup, makes the "Position 2 Strat" setting much punchier than on a Strat. The neck and middle pickups together have most of the roundness of a neck humbucker tone, but the middle PU adds some nice punch and presence. All three PUs on at once is a really full, well-balanced tone too.

 

Since the only PU setting I DON'T like on Strats or Teles is the middle pickup alone, this setup works really well for me. Since neither tone knob effects the middle pickup, there are some really cool sounds to be had by manipulating either or both tone knobs in any position when the middle PU is activated. I'm not sure if having the neck HB up against the neck effects tone much, but this pickup sounds SOO much better than it ever did in the Artcore semi-hollow it came in. I think the scale length, and the location of the pickup in regard to the bridge and nut helped a lot with the neck HB tone.

 

If I figure out a way to get clips from my loop pedal, an adapter, and into my laptop, I'll try that soon. Just need some software to adjust levels and EQ I think.

 

Anyway, whadda ya think? :poke:

[Armchair Bronco]

Interesting how you used 2 switches for the pups instead of a 5-way Strat-type switch. I guess the only setting you can't do is to use the middle pickup by itself (looks like it's always used in combination with either the bridge or neck pickups).

Did you consider trying to put the master volume somewhere on the control plate instead of making a new hole in the body? Seems like there might have been room on the control plate.

Anyway, cool mods. Glad you got things set up the way you wanted 'em.

[Cassette]

that is one screwed up tele. I love it

[docjeffrey]

That's the coolest guitar I've seen in awhile. It's your own signature guitar! Very nice. Clips soon? It should be easy to plug your looper into your laptop. You can use Audacity of some other free utility.

[docjeffrey]

By the way, what is that little thing sticking out behind the high e saddle screw? It looks like a ball end to a string?

[Kind of Blued]

By the way, what is that little thing sticking out behind the high e saddle screw? It looks like a ball end to a string?

It is. I forgot to mention that I also drilled the bridge for a string-thru-body mod and installed ferrules in the back. Since the strings were brand new, I reused them once I finished that mod, but the high E was too curled up to get through the body, so I just used the old method.

I'll fix that once I put new strings on.

[twotimingpete]

It is. I forgot to mention that I also drilled the bridge for a string-thru-body mod and installed ferrules in the back. Since the strings were brand new, I reused them once I finished that mod, but the high E was too curled up to get through the body, so I just used the old method. I'll fix that once I put new strings on.

now that's a frugal guitarist.

[Kind of Blued]

Did you consider trying to put the master volume somewhere on the control plate instead of making a new hole in the body? Seems like there might have been room on the control plate.

 

 

I was hoping to be able to fit it all in the original cavity, but it just wasn't practical. It would have made wiring much more difficult, and it would have made on-the-fly adjustments more difficult. Both the dual concentric pots, and the knobs themselves are pretty huge. Also, in order to get the 3-Way to flip back and forth at the angle I wanted, it had to take up more room left to right in the control cavity.

 

I originally used a push-pull volume pot to activate the middle pickup instead of the mini switch, and I could have fit everything in there that way, but I also found that more difficult to use in a live setting, often requiring two motions to switch pickup combos.

 

 

That's the coolest guitar I've seen in awhile. It's your own signature guitar! Very nice.

 

 

Thanks! I'm actually happy to say that between this and a HSH MIDI-capable Strat-type guitar, I'll have everything I need for anything I'll ever play. So yeah, it's about as close as I can get to my own "signature model" on the cheap. I plan on replacing this guitar with a semi-hollow Warmoth build someday, although I'll have a tappable neck HB and an EMG SPC wired only to the bridge pickup. I plan on using Bardens in that, but it'll be the same concept as this one.

[k4df4l]

Nice complete mod approach...I like!

[Kind of Blued]

The neck HB sounds more "jazzy" than my Epiphone Emperor Regent, but adding the middle pickup and opening up the tone knob sounds STRAT as hell. I can't believe this thing.

[Belva]

http://store.guitarfetish.com/cumatecoplno.html

[Kind of Blued]

http://store.guitarfetish.com/cumatecoplno.html

That is fantastic, although I'd much prefer the whole damn route in a different spot. The empty blade slit doesn't really bother me though.

I'm considering wiring up an EMG SPC to the bridge PU only, installing an On/Off for it between the tone and 3-way, setting the pot however I want it, and storing the pot under the plate where the 3-way blade used to be (like a trim pot), then installing a battery compartment on the rear of the guitar. I should probably just quit before I need a diagram to figure out how to run the guitar.