What Mods Have You Done To Your Tele?

[refin]

It seems that the old faithful tele is a popular guitar of choice around here------it has always been one of my favorites,and gets played alot more these days. I was wondering----what (if any) mods have you done to your tele,electronically,neck,frets,ect?
I use a white MIM Tele,and had it refretted with a little larger Dunlop wire (don't remember the size,but not the super jumbos),and added a tortoise shell guard.More recently,I took the factory guard and dremeled the front pickup slot a little larger to accomodate a strat sized pickup,and put in an old (believe it or not) Jackson stacked pickup----I then added a Bill Lawrence stacked bridge pickup,so now the guitar is noiseless.The Jackson pickup is surprisingly smooth and buttery,and the tele "honk/spank" in the middle position is sweet! I will eventually get the stock pups rewound to my specs,but for now this is a nice quiet tele.
What's up in your tele world,my brethren? :D

[stephen]

My first mods to my Squier Tele, was 86ing the grim ping tuners, and replacing them with grover 18-1 tuners, and slappin some Dunlop Strap-Locks on there.

Next was adding a zebra wood pickgaurd:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/Zebrawood1.jpg

I also gave the neck the "Kiwi" polish tint: It got rid of the pale look that those Squiers are notorious for.

Had the nut cut to accept 10 gauge DR tite fit strings: Huge improvement in tone!

Everything else is stock, but here is my next upgrade:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020319.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020320.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020318.jpg

My son made this for me: 2 piece swamp ash, with incredible grain, about 3 1/2 lbs. A compensated, vintage style saddle will be going on, and a deep Honey Finish.

this guitar will be with me forever, or until Jesus comes to get me!

[Teleguy]

I'm afraid that around here I'm known as a Tele guy. A drummer even nick-named me "Yetto-Blaster," a play on my last name (Yetter), and claims I can part hair in the back row with a Tele! :P

Anyway, my present ride is a parts-o-tele: Saga rosewood board Strat neck (I had to trim a bit on the Samick tele body); I leveled and dressed and polished the frets, and installed Ping Vintage (metal key Kluson copies) tuner machines; a SD Broadcaster in the bridge, and a SD Vintage stack in the neck.

It worked out well. Plays and sounds great. Looks a little funny with a no-name strat neck on it, but I don't care (it's what I had around)!

I generally like the Fender vintage ashtray bridge with the three brass saddles ('52 RI style), but as the Samick body is likely agathis, basswood, or possibly alder (though I doubt it), and has the three screw type plate with six steel barrel saddles (at least it's back loaded), I figure I might need some extra brightness so left well enough alone there. It's a cheap bridge and will need LocTite, but it sounds fine.

It's my only electric, but that's what I always use is electric (usually). :lol:

[reverbbb]

My ash Telecaster Deluxe sounded thin with the Noiseless pups, so I put Am Std pups in that guitar. When I got the guitar used last year, the finish was chipping off on the back of the neck where the skunk strip met the maple. So, I refinished the neck. It was a very scarey thing for me to do. But it happed to turn out wonderful. You can't tell there was ever any chips or that it was refinished. I also added a Fender cream Pearlite pickgard.

My recent acquisistion of a MIM '50s Telecaster surprised me. I like the sound of it much better than the Deluxe. However, I did replace the pups in that guitar with Am Std pups too. It has a large chip on the back but I am not going to mess with it.

I had a MIK Lite Ash Telecater. It alos had a hidious chip on that back of the body. I made a gallent attempt to repair that chip. It came out pretty good, except that there was no way of matching the honey-scotch transparent finish. I also stained and darkened the very light birdeye-maple neck. Then I put another sealer on the neck. It looked a lot better then. I did not like the Seymour Duncans so I switched them out for some Am Std. But all of these improvements never seemed to do much for me. So, I sold it to a young friend on installments for $500. That was back in May, and so far I have only recieved $100 :cry: .

Now my EC Strat was just a plain Jane Pewter color with the single ply 8 hole pickguard. I had thought the one of the original Lace pups had gone bad. So, I ordered some Lace Chrome Domes which are an awesome noiseless pup with lots of output. I switched the plain white pickguard for a Fender three ply, 8 hole white Pearlite pickgaurd (very hard to find in stock). This guitar realy started to take shape when I just happen to find an ashtray cover laying around in my closet. I have no idea where it came from, but it fit my vintage bridge just perfectly. Then, I decided to put so chrome Telecaster knobs on and a chrome colored switch tip. I bought a Levy silver sheany guitar strap. This guitar looks WAY COOL!

[Teleguy]

...This guitar realy started to take shape when I just happen to find an ashtray cover laying around in my closet. I have no idea where it came from, but it fit my vintage bridge just perfectly. Then, I decided to put so chrome Telecaster knobs on and a chrome colored switch tip. I bought a Levy silver sheany guitar strap. This guitar looks WAY COOL!

Pics!
We want pics (not that I can post any of mine, but just squint at the next black & white tele you see and you'll have the idea)! :mrgreen:

[refin]

[quote="reverbbb"]My ash Telecaster Deluxe sounded thin with the Noiseless pups, so I put Am Std pups in that guitar.

My recent acquisistion of a MIM '50s Telecaster surprised me.



I have a MIJ '50s reissue strat with a huge V neck,and put the noiseless pups in---they sound good in that guitar,better to me than the tele models,which I agree sound too thin.The MIM '50s reissues are very nice guitars! I almost got one,but couldn't justify it :P .

I did play the Squier Tele Custom today,with 2 P-90s....it sounded good,and didn't have the pencil thin neck that some Squiers have.
Has anyone added a P-90 upfront? I did this for a customer and it sounded really good blended with the rear stock pup.

[jlctele52]

I have an early 80's 52 reish body that I put a warmoth birdseye maple boat neck on.. just love it, also seymour duncan 50's antiquity in the bridge, left fender 52 reish neck pickup in the neck.(hum canceling with duncan) and a fender 4-way switch.. and a hipshot b & g bender, for steel guitar effects and more country style playing.... http://img127.exs.cx/img127/5609/dsc006820bf.jpg

[Teleguy]

Wow!
A real hot rod with a blower an' everything! :shock: :wink:

[stephen]

jlctele52, welcome to the forum!

Yeah that is a hot-rod! I bet that would put a twisted grin on Junior Browns face! You can just feel the rockin twang outta that thang!

So, hows she sound? What are you pushin her through?

[jlctele52]

It sound's awsome! like a good tele should...... I play it through a 67 twin with naylor speaker's and groovetubes GT6l6GE's.. and also a crate VC2012R for EL84 mid range push, and little bit of dirt... I run them both on at the same time, the sound of them together is awsome!!! kind of a Brad Paisley tone, also a legendary MXR Dyna-Comp. and when I want more drive I have a vintage tubeworks bluetube pedal, with a 12AU7 tube, it's very smooth and natural sounding.... I play mainly clean with a little edge to it.... work's perfect for me.... when I want to play a little harder, I've got a reissue 61 Esquire with a 12k bridge pickup, that with my same amp settings for the 52, just rock's......... :Dhttp://img48.exs.cx/img48/6285/dsc006955iy.jpg

[stephen]

:shock: That Esquire is SWEEEEEET! Major 8) vibe!

[refin]

I can feel the tone of this one....nice Esquire! I'm gonna have to do this to a tele. :D

[stephen]

yeah, that Esquire just screams out, PLAY ME!

[randy_mc]

I have a MIM Tele... blonde finish

I put an Antiquity in the bridge, and a Fralin Blues Special in the neck position. ALSO, Stew-Mac compensated brass saddles. I really love the tone's. It can go from bright twang to deep & dark rock tones (using a Fulltone Soulbender). I use a hybrid set of strings (13-16-18-26-36-46) so I can play slide with standard tuning.

My next project might be to get some copper tape and seal up the interior cavity. I'd like to let a luthier see if he could set it up better so I could continue to use the heavy top strings, but with a little less effort (its tight but still playable).

[Old Believer]

I'd like to get a Butterscotch Tele and do the Keef mod to it. Put a humbucker in the neck position. 8)

[Old Believer]

I'd like to get a Butterscotch Tele and do the Keef mod to it. Put a humbucker in the neck position.

Don't forget to pull one string off that thing, too...

And use Open G tuning with a capo

[Gino]

Mine is a 1994 American Standard 2-tone sb. rw-board.
Rescued it from a punk rocker back in 1996. Didn't like the stock pups and got myself a set of Bardens. The best IMHO! Too bad he's out of business. Next was a set of Sperzel locking tuners. Fell in love with locking keys with my [long gone :-(] PRS. Latest improvement is a 3-saddle Callaham bridge. Great piece of hardware and a real improvement. Of my three electrics [tele,strat, Epi Dot] my tele is my No. 1!

Keep up the twang!
Gino

[Crunchyriff]

I'd like to get a Butterscotch Tele and do the Keef mod to it. Put a humbucker in the neck position.

Don't forget to pull one string off that thing, too...

[Brad]

I've modded several teles over the years. From the ridiculous to the sublime. Middle pickups, neck buckers, pre-amps, hip-shot bender, individual volume control for each pickup, etc. One recent tele had a deaf-eddie inspired 5 way switch to get series in phase and series out-of-phase tones along with a midrange cut/boost switch on a push pull pot. I also had one wired with a mini switch to go between a .033 paper in oil cap and a Lawrence Q-filter. My current # 1 is back to stock with the control panel except a mini on-on-on switch to access either or both coils of the SK Dualtonee ll pickup in the neck position. Cool pickup that can go from vintage PAF to P-90 to strat tones. Sounds wonderful used by itself and pretty darn sweet when combined with the SK T-90 in the bridge. With the exception of the neck bucker and switch, I've pretty much come full circle back to the "less is more" inherent beauty of telecaster simplicity. In other words, a stock tele is just fine!

[stephen]

I've modded several teles over the years. From the ridiculous to the sublime. Middle pickups, neck buckers, pre-amps, hip-shot bender, individual volume control for each pickup, etc. One recent tele had a deaf-eddie inspired 5 way switch to get series in phase and series out-of-phase tones along with a midrange cut/boost switch on a push pull pot. I also had one wired with a mini switch to go between a .033 paper in oil cap and a Lawrence Q-filter. My current # 1 is back to stock with the control panel except a mini on-on-on switch to access either or both coils of the SK Dualtonee ll pickup in the neck position. Cool pickup that can go from vintage PAF to P-90 to strat tones. Sounds wonderful used by itself and pretty darn sweet when combined with the SK T-90 in the bridge. With the exception of the neck bucker and switch, I've pretty much come full circle back to the "less is more" inherent beauty of telecaster simplicity. In other words, a stock tele is just fine!

:popcorn Wow! What a journey! And it sounds like your saying, "Leo done good!"

Now I just wish you were in my area, cause I'd want you as my guitar tech!

[tom grossheider]

Not much of a modder, but a partscaster it is, mahogany burst body from Stringpull Guitars, maple cap Lentz neck, 52 RI pickups and it sounds great. Another parts caster is a MIM body, Allparts rosewood board neck, HD Super 90 in the bridge, Gibson mini bucker in the neck. Sweet tones from that one indeed!

[Teleguy]

Parts-o-tele's rule! :mrgreen:

[stephen]

My first mods to my Squier Tele, was 86ing the grim ping tuners, and replacing them with grover 18-1 tuners, and slappin some Dunlop Strap-Locks on there.

Next was adding a zebra wood pickgaurd:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/Zebrawood1.jpg

I also gave the neck the "Kiwi" polish tint: It got rid of the pale look that those Squiers are notorious for.

Had the nut cut to accept 10 gauge DR tite fit strings: Huge improvement in tone!

Everything else is stock, but here is my next upgrade:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020319.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020320.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1020318.jpg

My son made this for me: 2 piece swamp ash, with incredible grain, about 3 1/2 lbs. A compensated, vintage style saddle will be going on, and a deep Honey Finish.

this guitar will be with me forever, or until Jesus comes to get me!

OK, just to keep this up to date, here is a picture of my Tele:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1030679.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/PraiseCaster/P1030680.jpg

Besides the new body, I also installed a vintage style bridge, with compensated brass saddles. WOOOOOO-WEEEEEEEE! Gotta tell you, I havent picked one up off the rack that feels this good!

She's much lighter now, and the sustain is through the roof! And the swamp-ash body as added some beautiful coloration to the tone!

And next goin in her, is a Seymore Duncan 1/4 pounder in the bridge!

Pretty darn good lookin for a "franken-tele"!

[Teleguy]

Which compensated vintage bridge ya get?
I put the AllParts compensated on my ash partso. Seems pretty good to my blown old ears.

Enjoy the Quarter Pounder. Your ears will ring like mine soon enough! :-p

[f69tele]

I have a 2000 model Fender '69 reissue mahogany that I modified with a strat middle pickup. I recently added a Lindy Fralin Blues special bridge pickup, Stew. Mac. compensates brass saddles, El Dorado engraved parts, and while changing the stock neck pickup cover I fried the pickup, so I replaced it with a cheap Mighty Mite Alnico neck pickup, which sounds really good. Also did a cavity shield. Really is quiet now.

by the way...how do you post a picture here? I promise I'm not illit, ulitt, iliter... uh, stupid! :crazy [/img]

[stephen]

Which compensated vintage bridge ya get? It's either a gotoh, or an AllParts no-name, the dealer wasnt sure.


Enjoy the Quarter Pounder. Your ears will ring like mine soon enough! :-p

What? What did he say? No you cant get onion rings witha quarter pounder, only fries!

[stephen]

by the way...how do you post a picture here? I promise I'm not illit, ulitt, iliter... uh, stupid! :crazy [/img]

OK, you first need to have a photo host like either photobucket, or the PixPlace (the PixPlace is at the bottom of the forum index page). If you have an account at one of those places, your almost there.

So now you wanna post a picture, but, first things, first: You gotta make sure it is no bigger than 400x400 pixels. Oh you can post one bigger than that, but it makes the forum page all screwy, and can make the webmaster all :banghead :crazy :mad: So if you have to resize the photo.

Once that is done, in the post you want it in, hot link it to the photo storage site, by:

1) clic on the tool button (your post page, where your typin in the post your making) "Img".

2) copy the photo http:// address right next to this html code, then select right underneath the "Img" button "close tags".

finish typin in the post, hit preview, and see if it turned out.

Hope that helps

copying the http:// address info to the post

[rkymtnhi]

The body, lead pickup, and tuners are all that remain of the factory MIM tele I had purchased mid 90's. I installed a Seymour Duncan '59 (or is theirs the '57) 4 lead humbucker in the neck and a Duncan Antiquities P-90 in the middle position. The bridge was changed to a strings-through-body unit with the sides wrapping up around the strings. My knuckles are bloodied on that assembly all the time. I put graphtech saddles and a tusq nut on the guitar, changed out the neck to a rosewood mighty-mite neck, and gutted the electronics. It now has a 4 way switch--1) bridge, 2) bridge plus P-90, 3) P-90, 4) dead. The humbucker goes into a mini-switch to cut one of the coils, and then goes into it's own volume/tone stacked knob. The single coils go into their own stacked volume/tone knobs as well. I think the jack plate got changed to a switchcraft plate as well. It also has strap locks. The guitar is probably totally unsellable now--but it's a great player! It looks pretty vibey as well--sunburst with mother of toilet seat pickguard.

[Crunchyriff]

I will not have tele envy...

I will not have tele envy...

:angel