a couple of tele questions

mrfjones

mrfjones

New member
first, i still have a tele with stock pickups that i don't like. they are pretty weak and well, cheap ad they sound like it too. I have thought of getting a fralin steel pole 43 for the bridge and a phat cat for the neck for a different sounding tele or on a completely different angle i have thought of turning it into an esquire with either an old 8.2k broadcaster pickup or having someone wind me a pickup very similar to that.

What do you guys think? i will have two traditional teles by the end of summer so i really want something different out of this one.

So i guess it comes down to P90ish tele or esquire, which do you think is a more unique sound?

Second, I have a set of compensated callaham tele saddles. I do not use the compensated saddles on my guitars as i like the slightly out of tune sound i get from my teles. My problem come with me knowing that these saddles are much better than the stock fender saddles on the tele that i am going to mod into an equire or P90 type guitar. So i would like to know who uses these saddles and why would i want to use them over a set of fender brass saddles?

thanks for all of your comments guys.
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

I really really dig Esquires. I wish Fender made a Standard MIM Esquire :) I took the money i made from parting out my 50's tele, and bought a new MIM Standard Tele with it, and i actually like this Standard MUCH better than i did the 50's Tele! This Standard Tele already has a pretty mean lead pickup sound, but if Fender Mexico brought out an Esquire counterpart, that guitar would be the sh*t and i would have to buy one the day they came out! :-D I'm working on some pictures of my MIM strat and MIM tele for a new avatar, i'll post it when i take a good one.

Mrfjones......... go with the Esquire! Thought about doing that with the 50s tele i had at one point.

FenderBender
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

Did you ever think about a Tele-Gib project with full size humbuckers?
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

i never thought too much about a tele gib project because i don't really want another dual humbucker guitar. I am looking for something else really, but thanks for the suggestion.

An esquire does sound cool, i just need to find a good, hot pickup if i am going to do it. (at least something hotter than usual.)
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

I like Esquires and they sustain better than a Tele because they have only one pickup's magnets pulling on the strings instead of two. But I always miss the neck pickup and neck and bridge combined for playing chords and rythym.

Lew
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

Lewguitar said:
I like Esquires and they sustain better than a Tele because they have only one pickup's magnets pulling on the strings instead of two. But I always miss the neck pickup and neck and bridge combined for playing chords and rythym.

Lew
Click to expand...

Lew I'm intriqued with your findings on magnet pull and how the pickups effect the overall sustain of the guitar...

I have to ask you this...Have you actually taken the neck pickup out of a Tele and compared the overall tone and sustain of your guitar with and without the neck pickup and that's how you found this phenomena? I guess I always felt that the wood and all components that make up the total instrument had more to do with the sustain properties than the pickups and magnet pull...Give us more on this as I've no prior findings to backup or dispute your findings...It is intriquing though..No sarcasm either Lew on my questioning! :13: :)

John
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

Lewguitar said:
I like Esquires and they sustain better than a Tele because they have only one pickup's magnets pulling on the strings instead of two. But I always miss the neck pickup and neck and bridge combined for playing chords and rythym.

Lew
Click to expand...


well thats easy to fix since i will have two more teles with neck pickups.
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

sorry guys i guess i double posted that last one
 
Last edited:
Re: a couple of tele questions

STRATDELUXER97 said:
Lew I'm intriqued with your findings on magnet pull and how the pickups effect the overall sustain of the guitar...

I have to ask you this...Have you actually taken the neck pickup out of a Tele and compared the overall tone and sustain of your guitar with and without the neck pickup and that's how you found this phenomena? I guess I always felt that the wood and all components that make up the total instrument had more to do with the sustain properties than the pickups and magnet pull...Give us more on this as I've no prior findings to backup or dispute your findings...It is intriquing though..No sarcasm either Lew on my questioning! :13: :)

John
Click to expand...

That effect is mentioned now and then by serious Tele and Esquire players, especially over on the Telecaster Discussion Page Reissue page. The effect of the magnetic polepieces is cummulative so three Strat or Tele pickups have more pull on the strings than two and two have more pull on the strings than just one...especially if that one is a bridge pickup where the strings are harder to pull out of tune anyway because the strings are stiffer and move less near the bridge. Try it with your Strat. Move all three pickups close to the strings right up to the point where the low E is starting be sound out of tune when you play above the 12 th fret. Play it for awhile on the neck or bridge pickup. Then lower the middle pickup as far away as possible...even with or even a little below the pickguard. Now play above the 12th fret on your low E. I'll bet your intonation will be better without the middle pickup pulling on the strings.

Now play some stuff on the bridge pickup. Then lower the neck pickup as far away as possible and see if you hear a diff. I think you will. Guys who only occasionally play a Tele or Esquire may not have noticed this, but it's true.

On my Strats, I have the middle pickup adjusted further from the strings than the neck or bridge pickup because having the middle pickup further away allows me to move the neck pickup a tiny bit closer, without pulling the wound E string out of tune.

Lew
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

When I built my Esquire, I was blown away at the great tone it had. Unlike anything I've heard. It a Bill Lawrence Tele bridge I got from Steve and it's so crisp and full of mojo. I wired it like the old Tele's...wide open with no tone is classic twang, I would'nt call it ice pick, but it's a snappy bite. I leave middle position with the tone rolled back 1/2 way and it smokes...pushed through a Reverend OD pedal and it's sweet and nasty. I have brass saddles (comp) on my Tele Gib and Esquire, just received my threaded (non-comp) brass set as I have a Bigsby in the Esquire now. My buddy who makes the killer kuston SS knobs is sending a custom wiggle stick for the Bigsby, I'll do the swap out soon. I have no intonation problems (as well as professional training :laugh2: ) with the comp saddles, I hope the new threaded ones won't have issues. I do prefer brass over the steel. I tell ya, you hear EVERYTHING with this Esquire, I cleaned up my playing and it does sharpen up your fingering and touch just by the way it 'hears'...like a good teacher should. Good luck.
da Esquire...twaaaaaang!
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

thats a nice esquire. Butnut, you do very good work.

I guess from the sounds of it i should make myself an esquire and see if i can clean up my playing :)
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

mrfjones said:
thats a nice esquire. Butnut, you do very good work.

I guess from the sounds of it i should make myself an esquire and see if i can clean up my playing :)
Click to expand...
Thanks bro. Wait till you see it with the new wiggle and matching 'top hat' knob...I swear, this is really a 'tool' for really cleaning up your chops...you can't hide any bad notes or sloppiness, it will hit ya square. I really did improve and enjoyed working on my technique. I can nail early Led Zep with this and some gain from the amp...it's a rockin' tone. Not sure if only the Lawrence can pull this off, I got a few more Tele pups from Steve...I'm almost afraid to experement, but knowing me...I'll swap just because...modaholic ya know.
:rolleyes:
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

i have looked at the wiring diagrams for an esquire, but what exactly does each position on the 3 way switch do?
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

Position 1 bypasses the tone pot...wide open twang. Position 2 brings in the tone pot which I back off a bit...position 3 was kinda meant to simulate a bass...from what I understand, this was before the first Fender electric bass was born...I stuck in a small mini pot instead of the cap so I can dial in how much 'bass' I want...I maxed it out, but I don't use it...not a tone I have much use for, with this Esquire, I wanna bark! :13:
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

if i would use a tapped single coil pup in the bridge, could i have it wired like this: Position 1 full pup with no tone, position 2 full with tone control, position 3 tapped with tone? I don't think i would use that last setting you were talking about butnut.
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

I don't know how a tapped steel pole would sound, but when I think of an esquire, I think of a muscular and gutsy guitar, so I personally wouldn't go for that. I like Butnut's switching scheme with the tone pot bypass. Top off that surf green w/ the JC pickguard and you'd be right as rain!

Interesting comment on the Callaham comp saddles. Mr. Callaham emailed me and said that his saddles intonate perfectly-I gather from his statement and your claim that this is true? Were they steel or brass?
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

lew that pickguard is something else

those saddles will intonate a tele perfectly, but i only got them because i wanted his bridge for my new guitar that blueline is building. I put the old fender style brass saddles on that bridge but i think i am going to put these callaham saddles on this esquire case it still has the stock steel saddles and i don't want to waste $30 saddles so i will give you a report once this thing is all put together.

the only reason i want to find a way to lower the output in one position is because it could be a usable tone instead of the "bass simulation" that was discribed. It would be something to back it off and make it a little more versitile for me.
 
Re: a couple of tele questions

Personally, if you're going to make a Franken-Tele (and aren't they all?), I'd go with a hard biting bridge pickup (QP Tele comes to mind), switch your bridge plate to the newer brass ones with the bullet saddles, switch the saddles to Graph-Tech's and be done with it. I have a love/hate relationship with mine (I love to hate the bastard), but would you like to guess which instrument goes along to EVERY show?
 
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