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Wanted to share details of my cheaply acquired but very playable 3 pup Telecaster style guitar The tones are great. It is always nice to pick up a bargain guitar that you get to love. Some might also be interested in how I have wired it.
I bought the guitar, lightly used, in 2017 while I was on vacation in the US for $195 from the friend of a distant relative. Since the guitar was a Chinese import SX from Rondo, this was more than the actual guitar had cost new but the guy had spent a lot on upgrades .Mainly 3 new pick ups hand wound by Ken Rose ; Sadly Rose pick ups is now no longer in business. Plus you will note that he had routed the guitar and modified the pick guard to take a P90 in the neck. There was also an upgraded 5 way and jack plug plus a 250k fender “no load on 10” tone pot. As he also threw in a nice padded gig bag I thought I did pretty well.
Unfortunately the guitar did not play that well and did not meet his expectations but after I had managed to get it back to the UK ( as hand luggage) I did a few more mods and then handed it over to my excellent local Luthier who I know very well. For not a great deal of money he completely transformed this guitar. This involved a superb fret job, a new nut ,new strings and a set up. He himself remarked how well the guitar now played and what a nice Rosewood fret board it had..These are pretty rare these days on lower end guitars.
My “few more mods” were a set of stainless steel saddles, a DPDT mini on-on -on switch fitted between the pots and a push pull volume pot. And of course a re wire. I also shielded the guitar with copper tape.
The wiring is a little complex and probably would not suit people who like to keep it simple. The push pull Vol pot puts the bridge pup OOP ,the 3 way mini is wired to give the options , neck pup permanently on, while 5 way works as normal , stock 5 way and bridge in series with either the middle or neck.. This is a wiring I worked out many many years ago for my Strat. I posted a thread on it way back This arrangement gives a range of additional pick up configurations all very usable . I have found OOP in series is a particularly interesting sound
The P90 in the neck works well. Thought I might have to upgrade the tuners but I am surprised how stable the tuning is with the stock ones which seem fairly robust.
Hope this has not been too boring
Let me take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.
Am attaching some pics. The neck is C shape with a 12in radius. Fret board Not everybody's cup of tea but I find it very playable.
I bought the guitar, lightly used, in 2017 while I was on vacation in the US for $195 from the friend of a distant relative. Since the guitar was a Chinese import SX from Rondo, this was more than the actual guitar had cost new but the guy had spent a lot on upgrades .Mainly 3 new pick ups hand wound by Ken Rose ; Sadly Rose pick ups is now no longer in business. Plus you will note that he had routed the guitar and modified the pick guard to take a P90 in the neck. There was also an upgraded 5 way and jack plug plus a 250k fender “no load on 10” tone pot. As he also threw in a nice padded gig bag I thought I did pretty well.
Unfortunately the guitar did not play that well and did not meet his expectations but after I had managed to get it back to the UK ( as hand luggage) I did a few more mods and then handed it over to my excellent local Luthier who I know very well. For not a great deal of money he completely transformed this guitar. This involved a superb fret job, a new nut ,new strings and a set up. He himself remarked how well the guitar now played and what a nice Rosewood fret board it had..These are pretty rare these days on lower end guitars.
My “few more mods” were a set of stainless steel saddles, a DPDT mini on-on -on switch fitted between the pots and a push pull volume pot. And of course a re wire. I also shielded the guitar with copper tape.
The wiring is a little complex and probably would not suit people who like to keep it simple. The push pull Vol pot puts the bridge pup OOP ,the 3 way mini is wired to give the options , neck pup permanently on, while 5 way works as normal , stock 5 way and bridge in series with either the middle or neck.. This is a wiring I worked out many many years ago for my Strat. I posted a thread on it way back This arrangement gives a range of additional pick up configurations all very usable . I have found OOP in series is a particularly interesting sound
The P90 in the neck works well. Thought I might have to upgrade the tuners but I am surprised how stable the tuning is with the stock ones which seem fairly robust.
Hope this has not been too boring
Let me take this opportunity to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy new year.
Am attaching some pics. The neck is C shape with a 12in radius. Fret board Not everybody's cup of tea but I find it very playable.
now it has a Strat one but P90 is a great tone. I went with a 4way wiring the middle in series with bridge in the 4th position and a mini switch for adding the middle in parallel. I like your wiring too, creative.
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