Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

LatsMcGee

New member
So I've wanted a tele for a long time now, I've kind of decided that my next electric will be a tele or an iceman/explorer type deal,

MY thing is I want an HH tele, I was thinking of grabbing a lake placid blue lefty, converting it to HH, slapping a black or grey pickguard on it and being done with it, what's the route like under the more recent teles? Is it worth spending the money or should I just build it myself....
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

The route depends on the style and country of origin. I have two of them one was factory routed for a humbucker in the neck the other wasn't. There are so many options for doing this. I would suggest starting off with a Tele you like and feel comfortable playing, then changing the pickups to suit your tone. There are are aftermarket humbucker bridges for teles, I think the easiest route is getting a tele sized humbucker pickup. I have a Seymour Duncan Hotrails in one Tele bridge and a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the other. Both sound fantastic but are totally different animals. There are also many Tele humbuckers out there that are less hot than these options. Both of my bridges have coil splitting options because sometimes a tele needs to sound like a tele.

I have a DiMarzio Area-T in my green Tele with the Super Distortion.

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SD Hotrail with T.V. Jones Classic Plus neck

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Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

So I've wanted a tele for a long time now, I've kind of decided that my next electric will be a tele or an iceman/explorer type deal. MY thing is I want an HH tele,

Why in the world do you want a Tele so bad?!

Is it because you like the looks of a Tele? The feel/playablity of a Tele? Or is it because you like the tone of a Tele? But then you just want to convert it to HH and lose all of that Tele tonal appeal!

I just don't get all of the move to make an HH out of a Tele these days. Either you want a Tele or you don't want a Tele. Either you want a LP or you don't want an LP.

I love the LP tone (HH) and I have half a dozen LPs (and many other HH guitars). But I want to get that LP tone from an LP!

I also love a good Tele tone and I have two. But it just adds to the mojo of the Tele tone to be getting it from a real Tele. (I can understand putting in a P-90 or two, and even a mini, because they still have a bright biting tone. But HH?!! Ugh!)

So, tell me, why is it that you even want a Tele? And then you want to rape it with HH. That's sacrilege.
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

So I've wanted a tele for a long time now, I've kind of decided that my next electric will be a tele or an iceman/explorer type deal,

MY thing is I want an HH tele, I was thinking of grabbing a lake placid blue lefty, converting it to HH, slapping a black or grey pickguard on it and being done with it, what's the route like under the more recent teles? Is it worth spending the money or should I just build it myself....
Rather than rout the body, I would go with one of the existing "lil" series bridge pickups or a BG1400.
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

The only real question is... Do you want a Lake Placid Blue MIM tele or do you want to build one?

My vote... buy that tele, get it routed, slap the new humbuckers in it, and ROCK ON! Then if you don't dig it... which the ones of us that have HH tele's know you will lol... put the original stuff back in it and sell it.

I love my tele. It's my #2... There is so much beauty in the simplicity of a tele. Nothing quite compares.
 
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Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

Izzo summed it up, I've played the MIM teles before and I do like the necks enough on them and the shape is very comfortable, I'm a lefty and I don't have the option to just buy an HH G&L off the shelf....If I did I would....

I know if I went and bought all the parts to build a tele myself I would just get frustrated with the whole situation and it would never get done....I come home from working a double shift most days and I just want to plug into my amp and do my thing...
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

I've gotten a chance to play some pretty sweet G&Ls at a great local shop and they never cease to amaze me, it's just I'm so picky about guitars when I buy them and I've always been a humbucker guy.. if it weren't for humbuckers I may have given up guitar, lol...
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

I had an HH tele with JB and Jazz in it and greatly enjoyed it. Didn't convert it or anything, but it was a fun guitar. Rock on!


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Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

Why in the world do you want a Tele so bad?!....

So, tell me, why is it that you even want a Tele? And then you want to rape it with HH. That's sacrilege.


Because it looks cool, sounds cool and I can.
 
Re: Any of you fellas convert your MIM teles to HH?

Why in the world do you want a Tele so bad?!

Is it because you like the looks of a Tele? The feel/playablity of a Tele? Or is it because you like the tone of a Tele? But then you just want to convert it to HH and lose all of that Tele tonal appeal!

I just don't get all of the move to make an HH out of a Tele these days. Either you want a Tele or you don't want a Tele. Either you want a LP or you don't want an LP.

I love the LP tone (HH) and I have half a dozen LPs (and many other HH guitars). But I want to get that LP tone from an LP!

I also love a good Tele tone and I have two. But it just adds to the mojo of the Tele tone to be getting it from a real Tele. (I can understand putting in a P-90 or two, and even a mini, because they still have a bright biting tone. But HH?!! Ugh!)

So, tell me, why is it that you even want a Tele? And then you want to rape it with HH. That's sacrilege.

SDuncan35(1).jpg
 
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