American Pups in Squier Tele?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Logan
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Ben Logan

Ben Logan

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Anyone thrown some American Standard (or similar significant upgraded pickups) into a Squier Tele with good results? How great of a change in tone did you get?

I like the neck on this little Squier down at my local music store enough that I'm debating over whether or not to save for a Highway 1 Tele, or just buy this cheap Squier and throw in some good pups...

Help a guy out, Squier owners!

:)
 
I actually just got done doing this! I put in a set of deltatone PUs and the no-load tone pot into my squire tele. The difference in sound is unbelievable. The squire tele I have is a late 90's one made in indonesia and was kind of a freak to begin with. The fit and finish on it was really up to snuff and it set up nicely. The PU's and tone pot were just under $90. It sounds very similar to an AM tele, except a little brighter and thiner. I can't wait to use it for recording. :)
 
Tele The Truth said:
I actually just got done doing this! I put in a set of deltatone PUs and the no-load tone pot into my squire tele. The difference in sound is unbelievable. The squire tele I have is a late 90's one made in indonesia and was kind of a freak to begin with. The fit and finish on it was really up to snuff and it set up nicely. The PU's and tone pot were just under $90. It sounds very similar to an AM tele, except a little brighter and thiner. I can't wait to use it for recording. :)
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Welcome to the board Tele The Truth. Sweet tag! Thanks for the response. Glad to hear that your pick-up change seems like it's gonna work for you!
 
While its highly debated as to the tonal affects of different woods on an electric guitar, there is no doubt that the pickups ARE the sound you hear through your amp. Better pickups will ALWAYS make your guitar sound better.

Though its not a Squire, I have one of the first year MIM Fender Strats. I have had Texas Specials, custom shop pickups, and now Gibson Burstbuckers in there. Each different set vastly changes the entire tonal character of the guitar. And each is dramaticly better than the cheap-o ceramic pickups that came stock in the guitar.

H2H
 
Thanks hard2hear for the pickups vs. wood info. That helps. The only pickup change I've personally made was a Seymour Duncan Antiquity II into a '70's Fender Mustang. It didn't change the tone all that much. I was disappointed. Perhaps it's because the Seymour and the Stock Fender were lots alike anyway. I was hoping the swap would make the '70's Stang sound more like my '60's stang. No dice.
 
Are those 'stangs the same scale length? Cause I know for a fact they made Mustangs in 2 different scale lengths in different years. That would have a huge impact on tone.

H2H
 
Yeah, they were both the same scale length. Well, at least they were both short-scale. I know that much. The '70s Mustang had a real tin-sounding set of pickups. I sold it. Still have the '60's one. Love that thing!
 
Hard2Hear said:
Are those 'stangs the same scale length? Cause I know for a fact they made Mustangs in 2 different scale lengths in different years. That would have a huge impact on tone.

H2H
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Plus, the pickup windings aren't very consistent during that time period. I have two Duo-Sonic II's, a '64 and a '65. The '64 is a shorter scale than '65, but it sounds warmer than the '65. You would think it would be the other way around, but the longer scale '65 is a good bit brighter than the '64. I love both, though.
 
Yikes. Just make sure its one of the good squiers before throwing money down hoping to improve it. You can't polish a turd, and you can't make a piece of indonesian particle board sound good. Make sure its a Mexican, or at least a japanese. No korean or indoneian guitars or you'll just regret it.

As for me personally, my Tele has American Texas Specials in it and I love it. Its not even a real Fender, just a replacement body from Warmouth with an 80's vintage maple neck and genuine fender replacement parts. I essentially have what Fender sells for $800 and up, but made just how I want it for half the price. (black with 3-ply black pickguard, maple neck and finger board, and custom wiring)
 
personally i think that squres are crap, allthough replacing the pickups will help the sound, your still left witha lot to be desired. i would save up and get a guitar that will last you your life.....
 
srvlover said:
personally i think that squres are crap, allthough replacing the pickups will help the sound, your still left witha lot to be desired. i would save up and get a guitar that will last you your life.....
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Implying that they're all crap isn't completely accurate. Many of them (not all) are excellent values for the money. Most low-end guitars suffer more in the electronics than anything, and swapping pickups is a pretty inexpensive way to make a drastic improvement in the way they sound.

I bought a Squier '51 back in February, and I dug it so much that I bought another one. For $149.00, they're a hell of a deal (1 single-coil @ the neck and 1 humbucker @ the bridge with a coil tap, nice neck, etc.), and they look cool to boot. They're both a bit bright (no tone control), but still have usable tones, and I'll probably upgrade the humbucker in both at some point, but still...
 
hiwatt357 said:
Implying that they're all crap isn't completely accurate. Many of them (not all) are excellent values for the money. Most low-end guitars suffer more in the electronics than anything, and swapping pickups is a pretty inexpensive way to make a drastic improvement in the way they sound.

I bought a Squier '51 back in February, and I dug it so much that I bought another one. For $149.00, they're a hell of a deal (1 single-coil @ the neck and 1 humbucker @ the bridge with a coil tap, nice neck, etc.), and they look cool to boot. They're both a bit bright (no tone control), but still have usable tones, and I'll probably upgrade the humbucker in both at some point, but still...
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Hear Hear!

I'm with you Hiwatt. I just picked up a Squier Tele down at our local music shop. This thing plays nicer than my Les Paul Studio, or my 60's Fender Mustang. No joke. Perhaps my idea of what a "good playing guitar" feels like is unique? Probably so. But, what's important to me is that I simply love playing this little thing!

When scouting for cheap guitars, there's one piece of advice I'm on board with: try before you buy. The Squier right next to the one I bought played like an old dried-out two by four. But mine's a gem. I couldn't be happier. I was going to sell my Les Paul to finance a "real" tele, but then I found this little guy. I'm keeping my Paul now...

Yeehaw!
;)
 
Ben Logan said:
When scouting for cheap guitars, there's one piece of advice I'm on board with: try before you buy. The Squier right next to the one I bought played like an old dried-out two by four. But mine's a gem. I couldn't be happier. I was going to sell my Les Paul to finance a "real" tele, but then I found this little guy. I'm keeping my Paul now...
;)
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I'm glad to see that somebody else got a good one too. I love the guys who bash these guitars blindly. Nobody is claiming a squire to be in the same league as a $2000 LP or custom shop strat, but a good one can certainly be a player with the right set of PUs in it. While it's not a guitar that I'd ever call my #1 axe, it still has it's areas where it will shine.
 
Low budget is nothing to sneer at...

I just bought a MIM Fender Stratocaster from a friend that installed Fender Noiseless pickups in it. This guitar sounds and feels great!

Before that, I traded a crappy sounding AM 94 Tele for a recent issue MIM Fender Stratocaster that has Texas Specials installed. I got the Tele for next to nothing, and the sound I needed was gonna come from a Strat quicker than a Tele for this group. Again, this guitar sounds great (somewhat brighter than the Start with the Noiseless pickups, but great nonetheless).

Years ago, I had a very nice playing '82 Squier Tele MIJ that made me want to play every time I picked it up. It was just damned comfortable..

Granted, I have a '71 Cherry Sunburst Les Paul Custom and an '80 Ibanez AS-100. Both are fantastic sounding and playing guitars, but tough to replace. I don't like taking them on the road. Those lesser expensive Strats sound great and can be replaced. They're fun to play and incredibly easy to get a good sound with. I take them both (accidents *do* happen) and love to play them.

If the Squier/Fender MIM/Epiphone/whatever feels good, get it and upgrade. Or do what goodbyebluesky did and order some parts and build it the way you want.

Y'all take it easy, now...
-jimbo
 
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