TelePaul
J to the R O C
Thanks Mutt, will measure this arvo.
Thanks Mutt, will measure this arvo.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
Okay. I've measured from the groove in the Low E barrel to the groove in the High E barrel and it's 55mm. The distance between the left-most side of the Low E saddle and righter-most side of the High E saddle is 65mm. Does this tell you anything?
muttley600
Banned
55mm is the figure you need. It's more likely 54mm as thats a common fender spacing as I mentioned above. I assume these are the original saddles? If so you need to replace them with saddles that are listed as 54mm string spacing.
Take a look at the attached image. 2mm may not seem like a lot but it can throw off the set up quite a bit.
Attachments
TelePaul
J to the R O C
Thanks Mutt. I've been trying to find some 54mm-spaced saddles online, but the majority of vendors don't actually list width. I'm considering this as a straight swap; I think it has 54mm (2 1/8"? )spacing and I think the gold looks pretty nice.
Incidentally, do you know what 7/16" is in metric? I can divide 2.5cm by 16 and multiple by 7, right?
TelePaul
J to the R O C
So I ordered a generic Vintage Tele bridge from Axesrus with the right saddles and spacing. Am I right in assuming that this'll be a straight-forward swap? Unscrew old bridge, screw in new bridge, set-up? As soon as this is done, I'll order the pups.
loveofjazz
Sheep Defiler
Got my older brother/guitar tech to swap out the pickups on the aforementioned mid-80's Japanese-made Squier Telecaster. I went with the Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups. They sound great, and were worth every penny. Still a bit bright to use for my regular gig, it's good for a back up and great for blues, country, and some soul & funk.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
That sounds awesome. I've always wondered if those Noiseless pickups are essentially humbuckers with a little more top end?
Tremaine
Chancellor of the EOPA
Garbage Guitar
I just wanted to add, that if your going to spend time and money fixing a cheap guitar, make sure the body is made of real wood first, as opposed to plywood or some type of glue and saw dust. you can probably do more with a cheap guitar made of wood because the guts and hardware are what made it cheap. <make sure its got a good neck first>
If its made of plywood or dust, then i suggest you drag out the rip saw and customize the body too, its not like you can make it sound worse... imho
I <we> did this to a cheap harmony guitar i bought for 10 bucks, gave it a new cut, then bolted a extra peace of wood on the back to make it the same thinkness as a real guitar, and give it weight and sustain. and spray bombed it black. we dubed it "The Garbage Guitar" it sounds like hell, but kinda has built in distortion. its been sitting in a closet for years, i think were gunna use it as a stage prop or something.
one good thing about a really crapy guitar is that is it not intimadating to play, you know the guitar makes you sound crapyer, so you got nothing to loose, and sometimes you need that to get past wrighters block
Hope someone learns something from that.
Peace World
Tremaine
I just wanted to add, that if your going to spend time and money fixing a cheap guitar, make sure the body is made of real wood first, as opposed to plywood or some type of glue and saw dust. you can probably do more with a cheap guitar made of wood because the guts and hardware are what made it cheap. <make sure its got a good neck first>
If its made of plywood or dust, then i suggest you drag out the rip saw and customize the body too, its not like you can make it sound worse... imho
I <we> did this to a cheap harmony guitar i bought for 10 bucks, gave it a new cut, then bolted a extra peace of wood on the back to make it the same thinkness as a real guitar, and give it weight and sustain. and spray bombed it black. we dubed it "The Garbage Guitar" it sounds like hell, but kinda has built in distortion. its been sitting in a closet for years, i think were gunna use it as a stage prop or something.
one good thing about a really crapy guitar is that is it not intimadating to play, you know the guitar makes you sound crapyer, so you got nothing to loose, and sometimes you need that to get past wrighters block
Hope someone learns something from that.
Peace World
Tremaine
muttley600
Banned
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
You are showing remarkable self-restraint, I'd say.must.....
control....
urge......
to.......
reply.........
Mutt, here's a question for you. On a string-through Tele, should the string path from the string holes and across the saddles to the nut be a straight shot, or are the saddles' width intended to establish the proper string spacing?
muttley600
Banned
You are showing remarkable self-restraint, I'd say.
Mutt, here's a question for you. On a string-through Tele, should the string path from the string holes and across the saddles to the nut be a straight shot, or are the saddles' width intended to establish the proper string spacing?
Either is good but ideally they would be inline.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
Just by way of update; the new bridge (complete with what I hope are correct saddles!) arrived this morning. I'll fit it when i get home and do a set-up. I'm also going to order the replacement pickups tonight; Bare Knuckle pups (The Country Boy set) and a Sultans single coil for the middle. Once they arrive, and I'm happy that I've taken things as far as I can, I'll leave it into a tech for a new nut, pickup installation, and a good set-up.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
So I fitted the gold bridge and it looks damn nice. Did a very 'ballpark' setup last night, and while the new saddles do fit better than those Graph tech ones, I'm sure this is a nut issue.
I'm ordering the pickups today, BareKnuckle 'Country Boys' and a 'Sultans' strat pup; gold, mint green and black
Thought it'd further underpin the Ad Hoc vibe. I'd like to get some new volume and tone knobs; does anyone know whether MIM Teles have 5.9mm Split Shaft Pots or 6.3mm Solid Shafts?
I'm ordering the pickups today, BareKnuckle 'Country Boys' and a 'Sultans' strat pup; gold, mint green and black
Thought it'd further underpin the Ad Hoc vibe. I'd like to get some new volume and tone knobs; does anyone know whether MIM Teles have 5.9mm Split Shaft Pots or 6.3mm Solid Shafts?
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Sultans
Who makes a Sultan? Never heard of it. I'm assuming it's to recreate a Sultans of Swing sound.
Who makes a Sultan? Never heard of it. I'm assuming it's to recreate a Sultans of Swing sound.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
N
notCardio
I walk the line
Thanks for that link
I've heard of Bare Knuckles before, but I never really went looking for them. Some pretty interesting stuff, and I've just scratched the surface. I might be interested in the Stormy Mondays myself.
Is the Sultans strat p/u going to fit in your tele without routing the body any?
I've heard of Bare Knuckles before, but I never really went looking for them. Some pretty interesting stuff, and I've just scratched the surface. I might be interested in the Stormy Mondays myself.
Is the Sultans strat p/u going to fit in your tele without routing the body any?
loveofjazz
Sheep Defiler
Nah, they're just a kind-of-stout version of Tele single coils.
I really, REALLY thought about going to a Lil '59 in the bridge and a Vintage Rhythm Stack or Hot Rhythm in the neck position. It's very possible I could go that direction. It depends on how useful this guitar becomes. I'm still getting used to these pickups.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
I've had a few emails from Tim, the MD, and if their customer service is anything to go by, the pickups should be great!
The Nashville Teles come with a Strat pup in the middle position as standard, so it'll be a straight-forward swap. I've ordered these pickups (along with some more gold hardware from Axesrus) so I'm fully committed to the project! The next step will be to find a tech that really knows what he's about - there's one guy that's constantly being recommended, so it'll probably be on the pricey side, but I'm going to see this through.
Incidentally, I measured the distance from the nut slot to the edge of the fingerboard on the Tele and it came in at approx. 2mm. I measured the same distance on a spare MightyMite Tele neck and it was 3mm. 1mm sure does seem to be making alot of a difference.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
It's weird, I've seen the Little '59 praised and criticised in almost equal measure. Does seem to get an awful lot of air time though. You should post some audio clips; I hope to get around to posting clips of my new MIJ Mustang later.
TelePaul
J to the R O C
Danger Will Robinson! Sub-par as my initial set-up no doubt is, it seems that I have a high fret. On the high E, the 17th fret chokes out while the 16th and 18th ring true. As I understand it, the problem may not necessarily be with the 17th fret itself but with one before or after...Muttley, if you're reading, is this a difficult fix?