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Post subject: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Mon Apr 11, 2016 4:06 pm
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Roadie
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I've decided to toy around with moding a Tele, probably a squier, so I can have a slide guitar to learn on. It will be tuned Open G. I've done plenty of setups for regular axes, but setting up slide will be a new one. What I do want is action probably no more that 5/64ths so I can still fret notes and I might do only a single pickup, unless having two is a benefit.

Basics I understand...
1) raise up the action and shim up the nut. Change to a heavier string gauge. No prob.
2) expect to possibly to use longer saddle height adjustment screws. No prob.
3) expect to sound like sh*t as I learn. No prob.

Questions...
1) do I focus on a build utilizing the neck pickup? Or bridge pickup? Or should I route a spot somewhere in the middle?
2) humbucker or single coil? and how low of an output?
3) do I want to set up my action to follow the radius of the neck or set all the strings flat?
4) do I want to do a top mount bridge, or do the typical string thru the body?

Any suggestions much appreciated! :)


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Post subject: Re: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2016 6:34 pm
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Rock Star
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Location: ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝsoɹ pןıʍ
I think you've got the basics already sussed out.

That said I think a P90 would be an excellent choice for a slide pup.
Humbuckers work well too, though.
I think I would hate to have the strings saddled to a flat profile.
I think that would make finding one string with the slide a lot harder.
One thing you left out is F/X. You're going to want compression.
To my way of thinking whatever is your normal favourite OD/Dist pedal will be fine as long as you add a fair bit of compression.
Good compression, not the cheap stuff.

The Origin Slide Rig pedal is specifically designed for slide.
It is basically two good quality compressors in one pedal.
Guys who use it swear by it.
It's like the secret weapon of slide guitar.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.


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Post subject: Re: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 12:52 am
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Rock Star
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Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 1:53 am
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This may be harsh, but anyway: put the focus on practicing, not the gear.
When I think of slide, Telecaster and my personal favorites, that spells guys like Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Muddy Waters (etc. etc. etc.). Compared to today's usual gear, they might have had a bit heavier gauge strings and a little higher action, but that's about it - the rest comes from the player.


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Post subject: Re: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 6:30 am
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Roadie
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 9:31 pm
Posts: 205
Very good tips. I will not be going overboard spending much. Probably just picking up a Squier body and an appropriate pickup if needed. Already have in the random parts drawer a tele neck with 9.5 radius, cts pots and a set of Samariun Cobalt Noiseless pickups. So just a used body and strings and Im set. Less than $100 in the end Im sure.

If i shim the nut and put on 11's for Open G tuning should I keep the string t's, or delete?


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Post subject: Re: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:28 am
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Professional Musician
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I'm a big fan of Muddy Water's tone and style, so I went with Telecaster.

Having just did this, this is what I've learned:
1. I use Dimarzio Area T pickups.
2. Proper practice is most important.
3. Thick strings are helpful.
4. I also use compression.
5. Learn to mute your strings using both hands (at the frets and at the bridge)
6. Use your fingers, not a pick.

The goal is to control sound, tone, and remove harshness. Aroneous sounds aren't always bad if you're looking to create a mood when you play.

Here's a quick video I did when I first start playing slide. I've since modified how I play this song.


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Post subject: Re: Tips for setting up a basic Tele for slide please!
Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2016 5:23 am
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Aspiring Musician
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I agree about a P90 pickup (or two)...that's my favorite kind of pickup, no matter what the playing technique--slide, Spanish, fingerpicked or whatever...

However...I disagree about heavier strings and higher action.

Lately, I play more slide than "straight" (or whatever you call "regular" guitar playing)...and I do not have any of my guitars set up specifically for slide.

On all of my electrics, they're set up with extremely low action (as low as it will go without fret buzz) all the way up the neck. I put a set of (fairly light) 9-gauge Willy G's Mexican Lottery strings on all of them (except my G&L F-100, which prefers a 10-gauge set for some unknown reason, assumably based on construction technique). I do not raise the nut, and the saddles are set up in a normal fashion as well.

I don't use any different or specific effects, either--just the normal "always on" TS9 and "often on" MXR Micro Amp pedal for overdrive and boost, respectively.

When I "got serious" about playing slide, I started taking guitar lessons for the first time in my life. When I asked my instructor, Fort Worth bluesman Rollo Smith, about the "customary" adjustments people make on their guitars to play slide, he said,

"Do what you want to, but it will just make more work for you. You'll have to carry an extra guitar, you'll have a harder time playing slide on a borrowed guitar, and it'll make it harder to play 'regular' style guitar on your guitar set up for 'slide'...instead of jacking up a guitar just for slide, you need to adjust how you use your 'sliding' or 'fretting' hand."

I did just as he said, and developed a lighter touch with my left (sliding/fretting) hand...and I think I have become a very proficient, if not pretty decent, slide guitarist. There's a little flub at the end of this sloppy and rushed demo clip, but you get the point.

(Click in the picture for a video clip)

Image

That was recorded on a cheap guitar whose neck was waaaaaaay too small for my liking (the main reason I sold it); the action was very, very low, the strings were 9's...also, I was using a thick-walled Dunlop Pyrex slide; I usually use a (heavier) T-Bird Jones Socket Slide (a deep-wall socket with the clunky drive end cut off).

Adjust your playing technique, and you can play slide on any guitar.

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