Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

[DirtyBluesBoy]

So I'm in love with that searing tone from the bridge position of a tele, especially Albert Collins. My sister is also getting into some folky stuff, and it would be nice to provide a little more twang than I can get with my semihollow. Definitely don't have the money to buy a tele, not even a Squier at the moment. So a friend of mine went off to school and left a cheap guitar in his basement. I think I could convince him to give it to me. I forget the brand. It's nothing special, but perfectly playable. It has a 25 1/2" maple neck, basswood body, tunomatic bridge, and dual humbuckers. I forget the pot arrangement, but I think it's two volumes and two tones. So if I get it, I'm thinking of putting a cheaper telecaster pickup (like GFS) in the bridge position. I've seen these humbucker to single coil conversion pickup rings on places like Guitar Fetish and Allparts. Has anybody ever tried this, and if so, is it even worth my trouble? And has anybody ever seen one of these conversion rings made of metal? I would think that would help to reproduce the effect you get from the ashtray bridge on a real tele. How important is that ashtray bridge for that searing Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan sound? I've seen T-style guitars like the Reverend Buckshot and there's another Fender signature model where the pickup is mounted in the body, rather than to the metal bridge plate. Also does tunomatic versus string-through make that much of a tonal difference? I know the Reverend Buckshot has a tunomatic bridge as well. Is the string spacing on a tunomatic guitar different enough that I would want a rail style pickup, or will the pole pieces on a regular tele pickup be fine?

Sorry for the whole list of questions. I'm young and pretty new to pickup swaps and guitar mods. Up until recently, I've just been playing dirty blues with the equipment that I already have, and I haven't worried too much about what I didn't have. But now some older, established musicians are taking interest in me, and I'm going to start some home recording this summer as soon as I graduate. With this, I think I'm starting to experience what you forum guys call GAS.

And thanks for any help or advice you can give.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

The tele tone is part bridge, part pickup and part body. Someone like allparts can have cheap bridges too - if the configuration allows you might be able to replace existing bridge and pickup surround with a proper tele bridge and have it cover the existing humbucker rout.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

What pickup is currently in the bridge/Treble position of your semi-hollow guitar? Adding a series/parallel mode switch to the circuit might give more twang.

If your budget will stretch to it, TV Jones now makes Filter'Tron style pickups in regular humbucker-sized covers. Chances are, budget makers such as GFS offer something very similar.



EDIT - Better yet. GFS is doing a DynaSonic clone in a humbucker dimensions format.

 

[DirtyBluesBoy]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

I have a set of P-Rails with the triple shot in my semihollow. So there's a full range of sounds, and i can definitely get a little twang out of the P-90. Those things are incredible in that guitar; I wouldn't switch them out for anything in the world.

I've checked out those dynasonic reproductions by GFS. They seem cool and I'd be interested in trying them out, but every buck counts, ya know? How tele-like are they? I'm less worried about the country twang, and more interested in that incredible tele blues lead tone.

It hadn't occurred to me to try putting a tele bridge on the guitar. How involved is that project? would it just be drilling in a few screws? And aren't standard telecasters string-through? This guitar doesn't have the string-through holes. Can I get a T-type bridge that doesn't require a string-through body?

Thanks for the replies

 

[AlexR]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

You can certainly get toploader tele bridges. That would certainly remove 1 aspect of 'matching' from the equation. If you are happy to drill 4 holes for mounting screws then that takes the other major one out too.
The final issue is making sure that the bridge will sit the pickup in the existing rout and also be able to intonate within saddle range. (oh plus making sure the tele pickup will actually fit in the rout dimensions too.

The slightly hotter tele bridge.....7-8k should give you the fatness needed. A. Collins has a stinging tone, but as his amp was probably cranked it got some fatness from that.

 

[DirtyBluesBoy]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

Are the telecaster base plates larger than a humbucker route? So I know it's heresy, but honestly, if the cavity needs to be widened a bit, is there any big reason why I shouldn't just hack away at it a bit? If it's going to be covered by that bridge plate anyway, is there any structural problem with doing that?

And I play through a Peavey Delta Blues with a 15 inch speaker, so that thing is pretty darn fat already.

 

[agdtec]

Re: Humbucker to T-style conversion? (Nube: many basic questions. Sorry)

I think it is easy to take on more than you expect in modding guitars.
First question is your friends guitar an arch/carved top? That might make things more fit problematic.
Or is it a flat top like an SG, Strat, Tele? Can you post Pictures?
What pick ups do you want to put in there? Do they have any hd youtube vids demoing the tone of that pickup? is it what you want?
Are there any modern blues players that have that Albert Collins tone? Do they have any vids? Can you find out what pickups they use?

I was in your shoes many years ago no money, but wanted to fix up guitars to get the best I could out of them. I went to a few repair places, and told them right off I can't afford much so could you just advise me is this or that doable and how can I do it. You know what happened I got a job at one of the places (as an apprentice) and the other shops were all very helpful as well. I went to several shops wanting to see if they agreed with the first guy, and also just to talk.
It is alway better to have all the pieces before you do any thing that makes the guitar, un restorable to workable condition.