Help me spec up a 51 Nocaster project

rico

Right so this will be the first partscaster I have assembled. I seek advicee on what hardware, electronics and pickups please!

The neck and body will be coming from our own @lonestar with some tasteful relicing. From playing my US Pro tele I would like compensated saddles for intonation purposes, other than that - what say you?

NB it ill be having a humbucker in the neck position. 

Machineheads: ?
Bridge: ?
Pickups: ?
Electronics: ?
Other: ?

GoldenEraGuitars

Awesome

I have two guys that wind pups for me. One in particular does them by hand to spec. 

Jimbro66

Bridge pickup: For that specific early Broadcaster/Nocaster sound an Oil City FortyNiner. For more versatility an Oil City Wapping Wharf.

Zoolooter

I've had the best results with a BK Country Boy low output A3 bridge pickup. Paired with a 51 Nocaster neck. All three positions are great, particularly the middle - sublime.

Gotho vintage nickel tuners.

A treble pass/bleed cap and resistor wouldn't go a miss either.

Funkfingers

rico said:

what say you?

I say that, unless the neck is utterly huge, none of the other components matters very much.

Viewed sideways on, there should be almost no discernible difference in thickness from the flattened rear face of the headstock into the neck shape. At the heel end, there should be no difference at all. At the fifteenth fret, the neck should already be of the same depth as the heel.

I have tried the Fender C.S. Nocaster pickups in a pre-2013 AVRI '52 Telecaster. The sound is good but never quite "there" - especially the bridge/Treble pickup. The one major difference between these two instruments is the neck.

john_r

My blackguard/nocaster influenced keef-o-caster has a mojo esquire pickup in the bridge and a custom low wind mojo paf in the neck, have also had a mojo broadcaster set in there pre humbucker which sounded very sweet, plenty of options out there, at some point would love to try an oil city wapping warf. 
If you are putting a humbucker in the neck I recommend experimenting with the wiring, if it sounds too dark try following the advice from @ICBM in this old thread gives each pickup the appropriate pot and cap values. The great thing about teles is you can change out the wiring without having to dismantle the whole thing!
Agree on the gotoh machineheads, and if it doesn't have to look 100% accurate I recommend the gotoh brass compensated slotted saddles. 

rico

Thanks @john_r ;

You can't tease me and not post a pic...

Teyeplayer

I have recently experimented with 50s wiring in my tele build. Now I know it’s usually a lester mod and isn’t at all authentic for a tele but it does seem to make the need for a treble bleed obsolete and the tonal sweep seems far broader in comparison to my USA standard. Worth a punt for a few wires and a dab of solder imho.

john_r

rico said:

Thanks @john_r ;;;

You can't tease me and not post a pic...

Ah go on then:

rico

john_r said:

rico said:

Thanks @john_r ;

You can't tease me and not post a pic...

Ah go on then:

That's not fair.

john_r

ha sorry forum gremlins ate the picture should be there now!

flying_pie

I'd recommend considering a mini humbucker in the neck. They work really well in Teles - a bit more of a single coil feel than a humbucker. 

I'd also second the recommendation of an Oil City 49er for the bridge for the early Nocaster sound. It's a great pickup 

rico

john_r said:

ha sorry forum gremlins ate the picture should be there now!

That looks pretty awesome mate! What bridge and machineheads do you have on it?

Am I being unfaithful by wanting a cutaway bridge with compensated saddles?!

rico

flying_pie said:

I'd recommend considering a mini humbucker in the neck. They work really well in Teles - a bit more of a single coil feel than a humbucker. 

I'd also second the recommendation of an Oil City 49er for the bridge for the early Nocaster sound. It's a great pickup 

I was half considering a PAF style neck pickup but with tapping options - I really like the look of a full size humbucker and the tapping options would be useful.

Off I go to look at the 49er...

john_r

rico said:

john_r said:

ha sorry forum gremlins ate the picture should be there now!

That looks pretty awesome mate! What bridge and machineheads do you have on it?

Am I being unfaithful by wanting a cutaway bridge with compensated saddles?!

It's an aged fender bridge from axecaster has gotoh compensated saddles though, unaged, tuners are aged gotoh kluson replicas. The humbucker has 4 conductor wiring at the moment is connected to a push/pull pot in the tone position to put the mid position out of phase.

andy_k

i cant remember what i put in the bridge of mine--think its alnico 5 anyway, and i used a gibson burstbucker in the neck--thing is--I think mid position will ALWAYYS be OOP-, with one of the coils in the neck anyway--which one, depends how its wired, if 4 con, mine are both single con, so it was just an experiment to see how it sounded--bridge is loud single coil tele (obv) neck is warm gibson neck tone, a bit too warm, and mid is OOP, but still pretty hot.
i used a pre-wired control plate already specced for neck humbucker, Saw Bonamassa at the BBE gigs with one--had to have it.
YMMV.
cheers guys 
andy k

flying_pie

rico said:

I was half considering a PAF style neck pickup but with tapping options - I really like the look of a full size humbucker and the tapping options would be useful.

Off I go to look at the 49er...

If you want I could record some clips this week and chuck the links up here. I've a 49er bridge in a USA Std Tele and am going to swap between two mini humbuckers in the neck of my other Tele this week. 

rico

flying_pie said:

rico said:

I was half considering a PAF style neck pickup but with tapping options - I really like the look of a full size humbucker and the tapping options would be useful.

Off I go to look at the 49er...

If you want I could record some clips this week and chuck the links up here. I've a 49er bridge in a USA Std Tele and am going to swap between two mini humbuckers in the neck of my other Tele this week. 

What a chap - yes please! 

flying_pie

I hope this link works as my phone has gone a bit mental. Here's a wee sample of the Oil City 49er using a Boss GT 100 straight into Reaper with a generic clean tone and OD. Excuse the  guitar playing but I hope it gives an idea that it sounds thicker than a lot of Tele bridges:

rico

@flying_pie thanks for that! It’s pretty much exactly what I’m going for. Thick and articulate. What tele is it in? 

flying_pie

rico said:

@flying_pie thanks for that! It’s pretty much exactly what I’m going for. Thick and articulate. What tele is it in? 

My pleasure.  I used my 2009 Fender USA Std Tele. This one is a swamp ash body rather than the more common alder ones. It does have modern vintage Strat style 6 saddles which apparently reduces the twang a tiny bit compared to traditional bridge/saddles