Maximizing Tele Versatility?

[1ManGarageBand]

(My first post. I've spent many hours reading threads in this forum and have been impressed by the knowledgeable and thoughtful responses.)

Preface: I've been playing guitar for 49 years (it's embarrassing that I'm not better at it after all this time). First band in '58; "semi-pro" in the 60's (many saloons); garage bands. For the past 10 years I've played mostly by myself in my home recording studio. I've never owned a "great" guitar or amp. Got tired of multi-effects units/modeling boxes; decided to work on tone.

My only electric for a decade, a '77 CBS tele (maple neck/fat frets/11's/med-high action/6-saddle bridge/VERY heavy), had an SD QuarterPound bridge and Jazz neck. Put in series/split/parallel for the HB plus phase switch. Nice, but didn't sound like a tele. Put in a Jerry Donahue bridge PU and a Torres "blues tone" wiring harness: nice (with a good bridge/neck in series tone and a very nice bridge/neck in parallel sound). Decided that the Jazz neck didn't have enough "character" so I put in an APH-1: way too much bass "boom". After reading Lew's posts in this forum I tried a PG1n: took some getting used to but I like it. The nice parallel sound is gone.

SO, I want my tele to make vintage blues/rock LP/strat/tele tones. (I know, "can't be done"; "get the right guitar/amp").

AND, I want it to do it at fairly low studio volumes. (I've got Hughes&Kettner
micro-amps: Blues Master [tweed-like] and Cream Machine [marshall-like] driving Celestion Blue 12", Celestion Vintage-10, or ToneTubby hempcone ceramic 10" speakers in home-made convertable open/closed cabinets).

Not a "noble" quest, perhaps, but I'm determined to take it as far as I can.

I'm thinking of putting a humbucker in the bridge that can be split to keep some "tele" sounds. A CC maybe?

Thank you for reading through all this. Any thoughts/advice will be much appreciated. (BTW, I pretty much gave up using a pick years ago, if it makes a difference.)

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

A great thing to try might be to install the Duncan Hot Tapped Tele pickup and a five way switch.

Tapped, the Tele Hot sounds like a vintage Broadcaster pickup and at full output it's fat, hot and ballsy. I use one and love it.

The Duncan Custom Shop version is even better and is an alnico 2 bridge pickup with thick mids and smooth highs. You might consider the CS Tele-ala-Strat neck pickup (a Tele neck pickup that sound slike a Strat neck pickup) and the CS Tapped Tele Hot. That's the set I have.

You'll get:

1. Vintage bridge
2. Vintage bridge and neck
3. neck
4. Hot bridge and neck
5. Hot bridge

And you won't have to hack up your Tele.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Forgot to say: WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

Best guitar forum on the planet...

Lew

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Welcome 1ManGarageBand.

There are all sorts of different things you can do to add versatility but there are always trade-offs to be made. The first thing I'd ask about is how is the guitar routed? If the Tele is pool or h/s/h routed you'll have far more options.

The CC is a very nice pickup will solid output and prominent mids. I have a CC and a Pearly Gates neck pickup in a Les Paul with some extra switching and I get awesome tones from those pickups. Add some split wiring and maybe a series-parallel switch between the two pickups and you'll have a very nice sounding guitar.

Another two pickups worth considering are the lil59 for Tele and the Hot Rails for Tele. Both are humbuckers but they are single coil sized. The resulting tone while very full and characteristically "humbucker", still retains some of the single coil feel because of the smaller string area the pickup responds to.

If you have the ability to get another single coil sized pickup in the mid position then your possibilities are almost endless. In that case, a Hot Rails for Tele in the bridge, a Hot Stack for Strat in the middle and the PGn in the neck with series parallel switches for the humbuckers and a bridge pickup on/off switch would be killer. I have a Strat with simular wiring and it does many things well.

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thanks Lew, I'll research those. I know you've counseled that a PAF-type PU can make a tele sound more like a "Gibson" but not like a LP; how close would these PU's get? Getting close to a LP sound is probably my highest priority.

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thank you Robert. I'm intrigued by the 3-PU idea! I have a friend who's good with a router and I'm not concerned about hacking up my CBS tele. Can you suggest a resource that would tell me how to do the hacking??

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thanks Lew, I'll research those. I know you've counseled that a PAF-type PU can make a tele sound more like a "Gibson" but not like a LP; how close would these PU's get? Getting close to a LP sound is probably my highest priority.

Well, like Robert said, if your guitar is routed to accept full sized humbuckers that's going to get you into Les Paul territory better than single coils like I suggested would.

Nothing really sounds like a humbucker except another humbucker and when Jeff Beck had the pickups stolen out of his Les Paul, Seymour put the Tele-Gib together for him to take its place. Seymour put a Jazz neck and JB bridge pickup in a Tele and the rest is history.

Robert suggested the PGn and Custom Custom. That's a great set of pickups.

I use the PGn and Custom...it's like the Custom Custom but it has more lows and more highs and strong mids.

I don't think you could go wrong with either of those sets and the PGn and Custom combo splits into a pair of single coils beautifully and when combined they sound alot like a nice Tele with the neck and bridge pickups combined.

So you really have would have the best of both worlds.

Lew

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thank you Robert. I'm intrigued by the 3-PU idea! I have a friend who's good with a router and I'm not concerned about hacking up my CBS tele. Can you suggest a resource that would tell me how to do the hacking??

 

[Robert S.]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Since you already have some routing in the guitar, your depth is already layed out.

What I might suggest is that you order the appropriate pickguard and if you intend to put a humbucker into the bridge slot you'll need to find a new bridge as well. If you intend on using the lil59 for Tele or the Hotrails for Tele you won't need a new bridge.

Go to warmoth.com and look at some of the body blanks for ideas on how much wood to remove. I'd leave as much as possible but Fender is known to remove a generous portion of wood from under their pickguards.

As long as you dont remove wood past what the new pickguard covers or drill/route out through the back of the guitar, you're golden.

 

[dani]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

slightly off topic. but you may want to reconsider routing your tele. you have a vintage there.

 

[dani]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

btw, welcome to the forum bro!

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

slightly off topic. but you may want to reconsider routing your tele. you have a vintage there.

Thanks Dani. Are you talking about me or the guitar??

Really? It's already been routed for the full-sized neck HB; would routing for a middle PU further diminish it's value?

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thanks again Robert--I'm on my way to warmoth.com. This is exciting!

 

[dani]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

Thanks Dani. Are you talking about me or the guitar??

Really? It's already been routed for the full-sized neck HB; would routing for a middle PU further diminish it's value?

the guitar. trust me. you are not that vintage. :bigthumb:

you meant the guitar has an aftermarket rout for a neck bucker already or is it a factory rout?

 

[1ManGarageBand]

Re: Maximizing Tele Versatility?

dani--

The neck rout was aftermarket. I love the guitar but didn't realize it was considered vintage; could you give me a very rough idea of what it's worth with the aftermarket neck HB rout?

Thanks again!