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Post subject: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone?
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 1:17 pm
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Roadie
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My stock 1972 Telecaster Thinline reissue with Wide range pickups is going to get some mods under the hood.
1) backing off the hidden polepieces to decrease muddiness 2) adding a concentric Tone knob to give each their own tone control 3) 500k Volume pot to brighten things up 4) .022 cap

Since I already have in the parts drawer a 250k concentric pot, would this be sufficient to use in conjunction with the 500k Volume?


Last edited by warmachine on Thu Sep 06, 2018 7:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 2:29 pm
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I love this idea.
I would start with the 250k since you have it.
The 500k will be brighter, but you are already brightening it up with the 500k volume... going to 500k for both might be a bit much... if the 250k is still not bright enough, you can always change it later.

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Post subject: Re: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2018 11:49 pm
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warmachine wrote:
1) backing off the hidden polepieces to decrease muddiness

Might not be as simple as that.
See this page: https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/cust ... SUEUPGRADE


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Post subject: Re: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 5:51 am
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Roadie
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jmattis wrote:
warmachine wrote:
1) backing off the hidden polepieces to decrease muddiness

Might not be as simple as that.
See this page: https://www.creamery-pickups.co.uk/cust ... SUEUPGRADE


Oh yeah I’ve made a whole youtube playlist of real 1970’s Thinline Teles being test driven. I don’t expect results that come close.

I saw through ebay that Creamery, Brandonwound and another newbie called Revel sell replacements, or have mod services. I listened to some of those. Putting over $200 into this guitar wouldn’t happen for quite some time ;)

For now I’m just looking to put $35-$40 into something to improve the “almost there” tone. Some posts Ive seen even said completely removing all the hidden screws was a sonic solution, some said that made things too brittle.

This is an all around awesome guitar all except for the wound string muddiness.


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Post subject: Re: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 12:11 pm
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Have you read about the "Seymour Duncan trick" to cure muddy humbuckers; it's testable with alligator clips and if it does what you want, it's a very simple and cheap solder job...
Quote:
If you connect a .047 capacitor in series (directly in-line) with the hot output wire from your neck pickup, it will filter out the excess low-end, and clean up the muddy tone.

Another minimally invasive (for the pickups and the wallet) option is to lower the pups (down all over, but more on the bass side). But I gather you already tried that.
One thing to note, many muddinesses are cured by changing the pick hand attack.


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Post subject: Re: Upgrading my ‘72 Thinline RI with 500k Vol and 250k Tone
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2018 1:01 pm
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Roadie
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jmattis wrote:
Quote:
If you connect a .047 capacitor in series (directly in-line) with the hot output wire from your neck pickup, it will filter out the excess low-end, and clean up the muddy tone.

Another minimally invasive (for the pickups and the wallet) option is to lower the pups (down all over, but more on the bass side). But I gather you already tried that.


Thanks for the capacitor tip! ;)

I think if the parts I bought don’t cure things to my liking I will make that the next step. Yeah my pickups have been lowered and raised and they are like you guessed angled more in favor to the treble side. The bass pole screws pieces are also dropped low.

The Fralin Mod / Cure? Is a path Im gonna try. A post I found reads “The mod is to lower the pickups very far down....about flush for the neck pickup and a bit higher for the bridge. The top facing magnet screws are then heightened a full turn and then to volume adjustment. The bottom facing (hidden) mag screws are backed out a full two turns.

This takes a lot of the muffled sound out of these...particularly for the neck and opens them up a bit.”

I might also put a .015 capacitor in instead of my planned .022 , I’ve never tried that with anything other than Gibson type guitars which is awesome for the neck position.


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