NGD - cheap guitar gone metal!

Rex_Rocker

Well-known member
WhatsApp Image 2022-07-19 at 2.02.11 PM.jpg

So this was a couple of weeks ago, but I finished its transformation yesterday. This is a cheapie Squier Classic Vibe 50's Esquire that I really liked how rustic it looked. Even the horrible seam showing kinda gives it this rough around the edges kinda look that I absolutely love. However, the guitar itself wasn't very metal, and while it did sound decent for some twanging stuff, it didn't really chugg all that well. So I took it upon myself to to mod it to fit what I play, and it came out fantastic!

It now has Grover Deluxe tuners, a Gotoh bridge with brass saddles (hated the stock ashtray bridge), and a DiMarzio Super Distortion T. I originally got a Duncan Hot Rails which turned out to be defective, so I ended up returning it. The Super Distortion T is great, though! It's surprisingly hot, and not as thin as some single-coil-sized humbuckers can be. In general, you can tell it's lower DCR than what I'm used to because it's definitely less mid-focused, but I dig that for a change.

Overall, I'm happy. It's a great contrast to my Epis, while still sounding nice and heavy!
 
Very cool vibe to that guitar and I am glad you got the pickup thing figured out. I love my DiMarzio Tele, I get a lot of work done on that guitar The cool thing is when I strap it on people do not expect it to rip the way it does. Most people are pretty surprised when a guy with a Roland Jazz Chorus and a Tele rips their heads off.
 
Thank you! Yeah, that Super Distortion T definitely took it to the next level.

After the failure with the Hot Rails, I was even thinking of routing it for a bridge humbucker, and getting one of those humbucker Tele bridges, but man, the Super Distortion T satisfies that need very well!
 
If you have Epi's with full 'bucker sets, that Tele should provide a nice contrast.

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Thanks!

Yeah, the Classic Vibe stuff is fantastic for the money. My Esquire easily rivals the quality of my Epis which are like what, 2-2.5 times as much?
 
Thanks!

Yeah, the Classic Vibe stuff is fantastic for the money. My Esquire easily rivals the quality of my Epis which are like what, 2-2.5 times as much?

You pretty much can't go wrong with CVs for the money. Strat, tele, jag, stang, jazz. It's always a lot of guitar for the money.
 
Nice. I had an Esquire build with the Chopper T. The 3-way was wired to go Series, Split, Parallel. There wasn't a bad sound with it.
I agree the Classic Vibe stuff is really nice. Love my CV60's Strat.
 
Turning an Esq/Tel into a metal machine is always a fun project! I love Telecasters with black hardware and hot pickups!
 
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