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Post subject: How many mod there Telecaster?
Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:07 pm
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I am wondering how many people mod there teles or do most leave them stock? I have owned three in the past and have not done any mods on them. They all seem to be great players as they were right from Fender and have never had a desire to change anything on them. I have replaced pickups on a few for others and tuners but never my own.

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Posted: Fri Aug 08, 2008 8:46 pm
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I replaced the bridge on my Nashville to the Wilkinson 3 brass saddle bridge.

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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 11:37 am
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I've done some modifications, but mainly for others. I did put a Twisted Tele neck pup in one of my Teles that I eventually sold. I kind of wish that I still had that one.

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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:05 am
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For my Squier Standard Fat Tele, I have a couple of GFS Pro-Tube Lipstick pickups, and I have a set of DiMarzio Twang King pickups for my Fender Standard Tele. For both, I have a Custom Shop Parts Hot Rod Tele Bridge and Hot Rod Tele Control Plate. I've also got two Fender 4-way switches, but the more I think about it, I may only do the switching mod. on my Fender Tele. Once I mod. the Fender Tele, I'll probably use its 3-way switch for my Double Fat Strat conversion (from Strat SSS).

Matt


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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 10:51 am
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I have a 1985 MIJ '52 RI Tele and have installed a "stock" Fralin set of pick-ups as well as new electronics. Some copper shielding was added as well. Not sure what pickguard was supplied with the guitar originally but when I got it, my tele had a three ply black 8-hole pickguard which I changed to a black single ply 5-hole complete with black screws. Upgrades aside, I kept everything and placed in a sealed plastic bag for safekeeping.

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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:23 am
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technically my tele is a build and because of that, it's been modded to hell haha. I have a CIJ 62RI body with a vintage 3 saddle bridge with glendale compensated saddles, the 4 way switch mod, a phase switch added, fender SCN pickups, tortoise pickguard, No load pots, and a warmoth neck (ebony board 22fret jumbo frets, abalone dot inlay, graphite nut, cbs style strat headstock, vintage tint satin finish) and vintage style gotoh tuners. It basically a mix of a 62RI, Baja and an Am deluxe with some other changes too. I love it comletely.
I also have plans to mod my SG standard and my old Ibanez sa160 (first guitar) just for the hell of it.


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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 4:13 pm
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I put on the compensated (tilted) bridge saddles.
That improves the intonation.

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My other guitar is a Strat.

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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 5:43 pm
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Well, I have Telecaster from 1995 that I enjoy to this day. It has a graphtech bridge and upgraded Fender mini machineheads. I'm thinking of putting a Seymour Duncan Mini Humbucker like they do with the Fender Hot Rod series of guitars. I believe it should be rewired like a Strat to use all 3 pickups... I think since it's not Vintage it's ok to mod the Guitar!
At some point modifying any GTR is a personal choice but isn't it supposed to improve it, such as improving stabilty, sustain, intonation and tone? This is obvious to most of us but not all. I once saw Roy Buchanan live in Toronto's Massey Hall. It was amazing what he could get out of his Telecaster guitar!

James :D


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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:00 pm
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Recently I took a Hwy1 and modded the stuffings out of it. I put in a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the bridge, a Quarter Pouder in the neck, Gibson 500k pots, some crazy $20 tone cap, and a Wilkinson compensatesd bridge. It isn't much of a Tele as far as a classic sound. A real growler now. Very cool. Peace. J.J.B.

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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:25 pm
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Oh ya how could I forget. There's an added three way switch series/split/parallel for the Hot Rails.Peace. J.J.B.

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A big rejiggering of the herd this winter
08' Am Standard Ash R/W Tele
02' American Deluxe Toronado Special
07' Gibson Les Paul Standard.
'09 Gibson Firebird WooHoo!!!!


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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 1:36 pm
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I f you're happy with your tele leave it as it is, teles are pretty amazin in the first place. Why risk screwing it up just because other people are moddin theirs. People talk about heir successful mods but i bet you people are less willing to talk about their wasted efforts... and money


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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 6:57 pm
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jmcritchley wrote:
I f you're happy with your tele leave it as it is, teles are pretty amazin in the first place. Why risk screwing it up just because other people are moddin theirs. People talk about heir successful mods but i bet you people are less willing to talk about their wasted efforts... and money
If I happen to not like my mods, I'll either try something else, or go back to original. For putting Lipstick pickups in my Squier Fat Tele, I'm hoping for some Dano like tones, along with the Tele twang. If that don't work, I'll probably try a hotter Fender Tele single coil in the bridge, and a Wide Range Humbucker in the neck. If that don't work, I may sell that one for a few bucks toward buying a Tele Custom.

For my MIM Tele, if the DiMarzio Twang King pickups don't work like I want, I don't know...I may go back to original. My hope from the Twang Kings is more twang. Several of my non-Fender guitars I bought because either it could twang like a Tele, or quack like a Strat, while still having their own tone pallet unique to that guitar.

Matt


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Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:58 pm
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I've done a couple of pickguard changes and 1 Esquire conversion, and replaced bad input cup, but other than that, all my Telecasters are stock electronics and components.

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Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:18 pm
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I have a kinda strange mid-90s MIM Telecaster. I have seen about four of them like this one, but I don't know what the model was called (fat classic, maybe?).

From the factory it had a coil-tapped humbucker in the neck position and a five-way switch (for coil- and phase-tapping) along with a standard Tele bridge PU. This one has a slightly see-through blonde finish, a vintage (1950s) logo, a three-ply glossy black 50s-shaped pickguard, a maple fretboard, and a vintage-style bridge (the kind that can hold the "ashtray" bridge cover) that nonetheless had SIX saddles instead of three. It looked somewhat like a vintage Tele that somebody stuck a humbucker in the neck position. At first blush, you would think that somebody had modded it, but I've seen several like this one that were stock.

I first removed the neck pickup and modded it to Esquire specs, and played it like that for about a year, then I decided that a bit more "Frankenstein-ing" was in order.

I changed the neck pickup to a chrome-covered Mighty Mite Soapbar P-90 and the switch to a 4-way (Neck & Bridge in Series, Neck only, Neck & Bridge in Parallel, Bridge only) and changed the tone pot to a "No-Load" potentiometer (when you twist the knob open all the way, there's a little "click" that takes the tone pot out of the circuit, giving you a "wide open" tone). It really has great tone and a lot of versatility, and ironically, it looks more stock than when it was new (except for the P90).

Having said that, I've played everything from dead stock guitars to axes that no longer even vaguely resemble the original model, and each of them have their own charm, utility and vibe. The only reason I've ever modded a guitar is because I wasn't satisfied with what it was when I bought it.

If you aren't happy, change it; if you are happy, leave it alone. If you aren't sure, try the mods that can be changed back to the original (i.e., don't rout the body!).

Good Vibes To Y'all... 8)


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Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 2:17 pm
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If you want a more powerful sounding Tele just buy the Fender Telecaster Custom guitar. Fender makes them as is with 2 humbucking pickups. Keith Richards of the Stones used the Telecaster Thinline. This model has one Tele pickup and one humbucking pickup as is.

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