Turd-Polishing: Telecaster Style

  • Thread starter Thread starter TelePaul
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Another status update:

Things are progressing well. 80% of my Gold hardware arrived safely, as did my pickups - in a bout of distraction, I ordered not only the wrong volume and tone knobs - split shaft as opposed to solid - but ordered an 'Apache' pickup as opposed to a 'Sultans' pickup; not too bothered though, as with the Country Boy Tele pups the overall output should be similar at least.

I dropped a guitar into a tech here in Dublin. I havn't used him before, but he has a great reputation and he was one of the most pleasant people I have ever met, very affable and genuine. He asked me what the issues were, chatted about the Bare Knuckle pickups and told me to have a seat while he put the guitar on the bench. As I was sitting in the waiting room, the guitarist of an emerging Irish band (The Coronas) came in to pick up an acoustic that had been treated for a broken soundboard - the repair looked and sounded great. This, coupled with a few autographed pictures from various Irish artists hanging in the waiting room, was re-assuring.

After a few minutes, he came back with an assessment: the spacing was indeed out on the top nut. He also said that there were some irregularities in the fretwork, but generally speaking, the neck wasn't in bad shape. He asked me if I thought I could live with the fret issues, as they didn't affect the entire neck; 32-20 stepped in and asked about doing some spot work, and the guy explained that a complete fret dress would run about 200 sheets, but he'd be happy to tackle the problem areas for 75 if I was happy with that, which I was. So the breakdown of the work is as follows:

Pickups installation x 3: EUR 85
Cut & install new top nut: EUR 60
Fretwork: EUR 75-100, depending
Setup: EUR 35 w/ strings (he strongly recommended D'addarios)

So I should get out of this for under 300 sheets. That might seem like alot, but the lion's share of the work is coming from pickup installation, which most of you folks seem to be capable of yourselves. It's really something I'll have to learn. As for the other project costs, the pickups ran to about EUR 233 w/shipping and the hardware (if you ignore my tone and volume knob mix-up) to about Eur 23. So total costs are approximately EUR 511. That's about $680 which seems like a crazy amount to spend on a fixer-upper, but the pickup purchase and installation account for half of that so I'm expecting really good things from them.
 
Okay. Got my guitar back.

First impressions are that the playability issues are pretty much all resolved. Action is a smidge high by comparison with other guitars, but a definite improvement with no high frets or problems with the high e. this cheers me up no end, primarily because the guitar is now in PWO but also because it proves the string-spacing issue wasn't all in my head! :o The new nut looks very neatly cut to my eyes.

I had some issues with the generic gold hardware from Axesrus; the control plate wasn't a perfect fit and I had to take a craft night to the scratch-board, fill the screw hole closest to the strap pin with a cocktail stick and super glue and re-drill a second hole approximately 1mm beyond the original. In all the excitement, one of the cloth braided pickup wires came loose but it was re-soldered without any major issues. Situation's more than tolerable :)

As for the pickups themselves; on the whole I'm quite pleased. However, it doesn't sound like any Tele I've ever played before. The five-way switching and added Strat pickup was always going to make it that bit more versatile, and all the Tele tones are still there - but not necessarily in the places you'd imagine. The neck pickup, for instance, is alot more mellow than the stock neck pickup and I could swear it has a flatter treble response/more pronounced mid-range tone. This makes for very soulful and full sounding lead lines, but as someone who never rolls back the tone on a Tele's neck pickup I have found myself reaching for that extra clarity for rhythm work. (Edit: I spoke with Tim from Bare Knuckle, who said that the Country Boy neck pickup uses Alnico III magnets which are the lowest powered of all alnico pickups which could explain the more mellow sounds.)

The 'fourth' position - neck and middle pickups - is where things start to getting interesting. This is my 'Dave Gilmour' position on a Strat, where I'm used to having some of the woodiness of the neck pickup rolled off and the tone being a little more rounded. The opposite happens in this case, with the Strat pickup adding back in a little bit of treble and clarity - I'm guessing the hum-cancelling helps too. It's a slight difference, but it's definitely noticeable. I like this position alot.

The middle pickup seems a little bit hotter, and a little bit fatter. It's a nice punchy sound and is quite balanced. I rarely use the middle position on a Strat, but I've heard a few guys on YouTube getting sweet tones out of vintage Strats with this position. Definitely the most 'Hank' sounding of all positions, as you'd expect.

The 'second' position is just great. It's not as 'quacky' as position two on a Strat, it cuts through nicely but isn't too brittle. Great clarity and clean tones ring like a bell. Works well for percussive rhythm too. Probably my favourite position of all and given that I'm more prone to clean runs I imagine I'll be spending most of my time here, a la Knopfler :)

Finally, the bridge pickup. No surprises here, lots of twang on offer, cuts through well, very bright sounding but not overly so. Lovely for double stops, slides and bends, especially when played with fingers. Quite raucous when it comes to strumming, which is no bad thing IMO. Not a huge difference from the stock bridge pickup, but does seem that little bit more balanced and altogether more full sounding to my ears.

So, the big question: did spending Eur 500 on a Mexi Fender put it on par with it's American brethren? While the short answer to this question is 'yes', the whole endeavour didn't make perfect economic sense. An American Tele in tip-top condition would probably come in under the Eur 1300 mark and would sound fine in and of itself. I'm glad this Mexi Tele is all-the-more playable after this work, though ideally the neck would have been perfect from day one. The pickups are nice and really add to the versatility of this guitar, but I wasn't expecting any less for the price paid.

So what did I learn? Well, firstly that guitars are incredibly complex instruments. That said, learning a few basic tenets can help in the identification of common problems and with a little bit of work, certain issues can be resolved without the need for a tech. That said, if there's a problem with the fretwork, leave it to a professional. Secondly, be wary when purchasing generic replacement hardware, as one size doesn't always fit all. Do your homework, check your figures and then double-check them. Then ask Muttley what he thinks. Thirdly, a well-playing, issue-free neck is probably the most important thing when it comes to choosing a guitar; a great neck is a joy to play, while sloppy fretwork or an incurably high action are both incredibly frustrating. Finally, it's possible to polish a turd, but it can be an expensive, time-consuming process.

Thanks everyone for your input, especially Muttley. Pics and sound clips to follow.
 
Well done, TelePaul.

I think what knowldege you gained from the experience is worth every penny of the difference between what you put into that guitar and what a ready-to-play MIA Tele would have cost.

Plus you have a unique instrument and a personal investment.

Enjoy! :)
 
Zaphod B said:
Well done, TelePaul.

I think what knowldege you gained from the experience is worth every penny of the difference between what you put into that guitar and what a ready-to-play MIA Tele would have cost.

Plus you have a unique instrument and a personal investment.

Enjoy! :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Zaph. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of myself, even though the only hands on work i did was screwing on some hardware and that one solder join. But yeah, i guess it is one of a kind.
 
Congrats! Now that guitar is truly "yours!" I look forward to the pics and sound samples. Get on it, man!
 
All I did dude was point you towards basic principles and hand out some advice the rest is down to you.

Pat yourself on the back not me. Oh and 32:20 obviously.;)
 
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