My quasi Brent Mason Tele

BigJoe77

BigJoe77

New member
I've posted a few times about my affinity for the Valley Arts Brent Mason Tele. It's a ton of fun to play and versatile enough to do darn near everything I would ever want. Well, here's my quick and dirty story of making my own version.

It started life as this a nice, but underwhelming Nashville Telecaster. I say underwhelming because of the stock Tex-Mex pickups that just didn't do it for me. Maybe it was the Strat switching or something. The body seemed really snappy, but it just wasn't translating.

It started as this:

nashorigfull.jpg


nashorigbody.jpg



And turned in to this:

nashupdfull.jpg
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

Here's a better shot of the body:
nashupdbody.jpg


Here are the gory details of the updates:
* SD Vintage Tele Stack - Bridge (STK-T3b)
* SD Hot Stack for Strat - Middle (STK-S2)
* SD Lil 59 for Strat - Neck (SL59-1)
* 500k mini pots
* .022 Orange Drop
* Gotoh Modern Tele Bridge
* 3-way standard Tele switch
* Kinman Treble bleed on the first volume pot

The wiring is set-up nearly exact to the way the Mason works. A 3rd hole was drilled in the control panel for the blend pot. The switch works as a standard bridge-bridge+neck-neck and is tied into the first volume pot. The second volume pot is a 'blend' pot which blends the middle in with the neck and/or bridge. With the first volume pot turned to zero, the middle will still control output for the middle pickup alone. Third is a master tone that is tied in with all 3 pups. I don't have a push-pull like the original. Mainly because I couldn't think of a good reason to put one in there.

As far as tones, the bridge is awesome. I have been blown away by how versatile that sucker is. Blending the mid with the bridge gets some of the coolest quacking and clucking I've ever heard. The Lil 59 in the neck has some nice versatility. With the tone on full, it's more of a hot humbucker sound. Rolling back the tone and the volume some puts it much more in the PAF territory. Blending the mid in with the neck gets a really fun jazzy type of tone. The middle strat pickup is a bit hot to sound like vintage strat, but still provides a great tone standing on its own.

The bridge itself was replaced because I prefer these saddles and because I like the openness to access the strings. Just a personal preference.

If anybody would like the wiring diagram I used, drop me a PM. It's a wee bit different than the one on the SD site. I'm not sure there is any output difference, but it works nicely.
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

very very cool ... love the pearl guard on red ...

i've seen the exact schematic for brent's flying around the web a time or two ... glad you got it set up in your own way to work for you ...

i bet she sounds as good as she looks .. i have the vintage stack set in my tele clone - i was blown away by how good they sound, soi bet that bridge pup sings in there .. how's the balance of the vintage bridge with the hot stack middle and lil59 neck?
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

Hey Joe...That is a great job!! Looks beautiful and I will bet it sounds even better! I am loving the G&L, happy to see you are happy with the Tele!

-dave
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

tone4days said:
i bet she sounds as good as she looks .. i have the vintage stack set in my tele clone - i was blown away by how good they sound, soi bet that bridge pup sings in there .. how's the balance of the vintage bridge with the hot stack middle and lil59 neck?
Click to expand...

As far as the balance of the pickups, I think they work really well together. I tried a couple of different full size and mini buckers in the neck and couldn't find anything that didn't blow away the other two pickups in terms of volume. This single size bucker seems to fit really well. Because of the volume blend, the middle does pretty much whatever I want to throw at it.

darnright said:
I am loving the G&L, happy to see you are happy with the Tele!
Click to expand...

Thanks, Dave. This was my main driver in switching up. I knew I wanted some flexibility in the pickups and didn't want to start hacking wood out of a perfectly good instrument. I'm so glad it all worked out on both ends.
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

I'm back for more punishment...

Couldn't leave well enough alone and started tinkering again. This time I replaced the Lil59 in the neck with a Zhangbucker Mini PAF. All I can say about this pickup is: WOW. Decided to go with the vintage pearl pickguard from Warmoth. Think it pulls it all together a wee bit better than the white pearl. Wiring Still the same as above in Post 3.

telefull.jpg


telefront2.jpg
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

Looks like you put a lot of love, time and energy in this...looks great and sounds like it's a fun player as well. :friday:
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

I wonder what the rationale behind a hot pickup in the middle position is? Most people go with a weak pickup in the middle to accentuate 2/4 positions.
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

idsnowdog said:
I wonder what the rationale behind a hot pickup in the middle position is? Most people go with a weak pickup in the middle to accentuate 2/4 positions.
Click to expand...

Interesting question. you've got me wondering now, too.

Great axe Joe --- my Phinn Guitars T3 model will have that exact wiring schema --- I love love love the 3 way switch serving as a neck / both / bridge with a middle pickup on a blender.

My T3 will have pretty different pickups from that, but will go for the same spirit.

I am very excited to get it underway!
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

Doh' !!! Thanks Rich...

I was thinking..."there is no way anyone would put a component there... would they?"

I appreciate the prompt reply.

Tom
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

Very very nice! I love the aged pearl pickguard. The mini-hum interests me. Care to describe the tone?
 
Re: My quasi Brent Mason Tele

The only thing I don't like about Warmoth pickguards, and I own a bunch of them, is where they position the mini-humbucker neck pickups. I think they're set back too far toward the bridge.
 
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