new tele thinline mods

Elwood

Elwood

Blues
I got rambling on about my tele changes down in the VJR and realized it was better posted here, so here.

I took my month old Fender Deluxe Thinline Telecaster (MIM) and shielded both pickup cavities and the control cavity with copper foil tape and a little wire (grounded bridge plate, neck p/u cover). I twisted the long leads going to the neck p/u and shielded that channel also. The OEM capacitor was a .022, I just used my own orange drop with a lightly larger body. The vol and tone control pots were 1 meg ohm. This is standard with the noiseless Fender single coils and helps give them that "clear, airy" sound. My thinline was real bright so I changed to what is standard for most single coil pick ups, 250k ohm. From what I have read I should have a dark muddy sound, I hear otherwise. I swapped in some heavy, deep knurled, dome top, narrow diameter knobs, They feel nice. The output jack on many telecasters does not accept a 90 degree plug, it almost goes in and then pops out (interface / clearance problem). The jack plate I use is funneled and I adjust the jack up so the plug engages fully. a switchcraft jack is fine, I just thought I would try this one (a fancy dual contact jack). It does grip tight. Fresh strings and tweak the pick up ht a bit and Voila!
I would not have done this at all but the guitar really had some buzzing going on with no hands on it. Sometimes it was kind of like a theramin, touch it here and get one sound, over there another. it is all quiet now.

Really a nice outcome. Now I have my new thinline I got for $595, with about $30 worth of small parts in it and it is quiet electrically, sounds good, and is fun to play. Honestly 500k would most likely be to most folks taste and if this was my only guitar I would probably change them someday, but the thinline has friends. :)
 
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straightblues

straightblues

Blues Junior
Nice. When I have a guitar I like, I always like to make it my own. A lot can be done to guitars with a little bit of knowledge. Enjoy it.
 
Elwood

Elwood

Blues
Grateful_Ed said:
I'm afraid in my case, a little bit of knowledge is dangerous and a soldering iron is down right lethal.
Click to expand...
the wise words of the prophet -or- if it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

So as time passes I slowly realized that I was not happy with all four tones from the four way switch positions. I did not have the "true" A, AB, B AB series, always some bleed from one pickup to another somewhere. With the vast resources of the internet, my limitless capacity for misunderstanding, and foggy vision I set out to remedy this matter. I moved this to there, cut that one, and soldered that until I realized I had set free one of the microscopic pickup leads. I tried to put it back. Like doing brain surgery with a splitting maul.
My confidence and guitar in shambles I gave up! Took it to a local shop that had set up my std tele well (over a decade ago before I bought it). No pride, I wanted my favorite tele to be my favorite again.
It is now wearing Seymore-Duncan vintage tele singles with a three way switch. I had to relax and get to trust it again, too much tweaking. After my first string change I can safely say I like it just fine. It is still quiet (from the shielding), has three distinct classic tele settings, and I like the pickups. They are not high output. I think they do have a pleasant tone and if it makes any sense at all, they seems to bring out expression in passages. Subtle, could be my imagination, still it made me imagine it. All's well that ends.
Thought ya'll might get a kick out of my misadventures on the cold end of a hot iron.
 
Ted_Zeppelin

Ted_Zeppelin

I’ll agree with you so that both of us are wrong.
Elwood said:
the wise words of the prophet -or- if it ain't broke, fix it till it is.
With the vast resources of the internet, my limitless capacity for misunderstanding, and foggy vision I set out to remedy this matter.
My confidence and guitar in shambles I gave up! Took it to a local shop that had set up my std tele well (over a decade ago before I bought it). .
Click to expand...
I learned a valuable lesson regarding my repair skills a long time ago...If I want it done right, take it to somebody that knows what they are doing:Beer::Beer::Beer:.
 
Elwood

Elwood

Blues
@Ted_Zeppelin , an experience yes, learning experience??? Ha, I have to admit I have had it apart to peek and "tweaked" a couple of little things. Didn't break anything. I should stick to working on acoustics, I change strings OK. :D
 
Rancid Rumpboogie

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
Here is the 4-way switch diagram I use. I have it in three guitars including my MIM Strat. It has never failed me. I searched high and low to find this. The switch positions and what each does is different than almost all other diagrams. I wanted the farthest-forward switch position to be neck-only because that's where I play most. And I wanted to neck/bridge in series to be only one notch away from that for very quick access for when I wanted a little more oomph while still keeping that neck pickup tone. This diagram gives me that.

Yes, I said MIM Strat ... the one with the Zexcoil pickups in it. My MIM Strat is a freak. It can have neck/middle in series, neck/bridge in series and neck/middle/bridge all in series, middle/bridge in series, neck alone, middle alone, bridge alone, and neck/middle in parallel. The main selector is this 4-way Tele switch. The neck and bridge pickups are on a 3-way switch for either pickup or both in series. That 3-way switch is what this diagram refers to as the "bridge". It is a big 3-way toggle switch where the middle tone knob used to be. The guitar has a volume knob and a single tone knob for everything.
4 Way Tele BRIDGE-PARALLEL-SERIES-NECK Diagram.jpg

3-way splitter for either coil or both in series. Note the diagonal jumper wire on the switch.
3-way splitter switch pic.jpg

IMG_0495.JPG
 
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Elwood

Elwood

Blues
Rancid Rumpboogie said:
Here is the 4-way switch diagram I use
Click to expand...
Demon!!! Be Gone!!! I need to sit in a pentagram surrounded by hanging garlic. Those images are everywhere! The red ink leads you to Beelzebub himself!!!

Thanks RR! :thumbup: But that is why I took it in. I had a large scrap pile of those drwngs. :confused: Now I hope to be like TZ and know my limits.:D My better half maintains there is no hope ;)
 
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