How easy ( or difficult ) would it be...

skaguitar · February 2019

to convert this tele to a nashville type using a strat neck and middle pick up and leaving the bridge pick up as is..?

I've seen pickguards for teles with the space for a middle pick up but the neck pick up seems to be a smaller hole for the tele neck pick up..?

I imagine the electrics would be fairly straightforward..?

https://imgur.com/a/497YCL4

cheers

ICBM · February 2019

Depends if it’s routed for the third pickup already. If it is, you just need a new guard and the pickups. You can get guards with either a Tele-size neck pickup or two Strat ones.

If it’s not routed you will need to factor that in - but you could do it very crudely and it wouldn’t be a problem, thousands of people have! The guard covers any amount of damage...

skaguitar · February 2019

ICBM said:

Depends if it’s routed for the third pickup already. If it is, you just need a new guard and the pickups. You can get guards with either a Tele-size neck pickup or two Strat ones.

If it’s not routed you will need to factor that in - but you could do it very crudely and it wouldn’t be a problem, thousands of people have! The guard covers any amount of damage...

ok thanks... I haven't been able to find the pickguards with 2 strat pick up sized holes so far but I've only searched briefly..

I'm also going to get it re fretted so my next step is to find a luthier to do all the work

Jimbro66 · February 2019

The pickguard you have seen is unusual. They normally have two equal spaces for two Strat size pickups. I have used that setup with the standard Tele bridge/pu a few times on partscasters.

You'd need to enlarge the neck p/u cavity slightly for the Strat p/u and of course route a new cavity for the mid p/u. I can loan you a pickguard with the two Strat size cut-outs to use as a template if that is any help?

Electrics are straight-forward using a decent 5-way selector switch and the standard Tele vol/tone controls. Making the tone control a push/pull type will let you get the normal Tele bridge/neck combination (which also gives all three pickups in selector positions 2 and 4).

Even more fun can be had wiring so that the pickups can be switched in series for greater output.

skaguitar · February 2019

Jimbro66 said:

The pickguard you have seen is unusual. They normally have two equal spaces for two Strat size pickups. I have used that setup with the standard Tele bridge/pu a few times on partscasters.

You'd need to enlarge the neck p/u cavity slightly for the Strat p/u and of course route a new cavity for the mid p/u. I can loan you a pickguard with the two Strat size cut-outs to use as a template if that is any help?

Electrics are straight-forward using a decent 5-way selector switch and the standard Tele vol/tone controls. Making the tone control a push/pull type will let you get the normal Tele bridge/neck combination (which also gives all three pickups in selector positions 2 and 4).

Even more fun can be had wiring so that the pickups can be switched in series for greater output.

Cheers that’s really helpful... it has a nice mint green guard on at the moment ..I assume that would be quite easy to cut out the spaces for the strat pick ups out of..? It’s a 3 ply guard.
very good of you to offer a loan of your guard for a template ..thank you

Jimbro66 · February 2019

skaguitar said:

Jimbro66 said:

The pickguard you have seen is unusual. They normally have two equal spaces for two Strat size pickups. I have used that setup with the standard Tele bridge/pu a few times on partscasters.

You'd need to enlarge the neck p/u cavity slightly for the Strat p/u and of course route a new cavity for the mid p/u. I can loan you a pickguard with the two Strat size cut-outs to use as a template if that is any help?

Electrics are straight-forward using a decent 5-way selector switch and the standard Tele vol/tone controls. Making the tone control a push/pull type will let you get the normal Tele bridge/neck combination (which also gives all three pickups in selector positions 2 and 4).

Even more fun can be had wiring so that the pickups can be switched in series for greater output.

Cheers that’s really helpful... it has a nice mint green guard on at the moment ..I assume that would be quite easy to cut out the spaces for the strat pick ups out of..? It’s a 3 ply guard.
very good of you to offer a loan of your guard for a template ..thank you

The mint green guard looks good. In fact your Tele looks really nice. You could cut the openings in that pick guard but I’d be inclined to keep it so you can revert to standard Tele config in future if required. Buy a new mint green Esquire guard (no pickup cutouts) and get your luthier to route it for two Strat pickups when he does the body routing. Of course the luthier will need to ensure that the body cavities and pickguard cutouts align. PM me your address if you want to borrow the pre-cut pickguard.

skaguitar · February 2019

Jimbro66 said:

skaguitar said:

Jimbro66 said:

The pickguard you have seen is unusual. They normally have two equal spaces for two Strat size pickups. I have used that setup with the standard Tele bridge/pu a few times on partscasters.

You'd need to enlarge the neck p/u cavity slightly for the Strat p/u and of course route a new cavity for the mid p/u. I can loan you a pickguard with the two Strat size cut-outs to use as a template if that is any help?

Electrics are straight-forward using a decent 5-way selector switch and the standard Tele vol/tone controls. Making the tone control a push/pull type will let you get the normal Tele bridge/neck combination (which also gives all three pickups in selector positions 2 and 4).

Even more fun can be had wiring so that the pickups can be switched in series for greater output.

Cheers that’s really helpful... it has a nice mint green guard on at the moment ..I assume that would be quite easy to cut out the spaces for the strat pick ups out of..? It’s a 3 ply guard.
very good of you to offer a loan of your guard for a template ..thank you

The mint green guard looks good. In fact your Tele looks really nice. You could cut the openings in that pick guard but I’d be inclined to keep it so you can revert to standard Tele config in future if required. Buy a new mint green Esquire guard (no pickup cutouts) and get your luthier to route it for two Strat pickups when he does the body routing. Of course the luthier will need to ensure that the body cavities and pickguard cutouts align. PM me your address if you want to borrow the pre-cut pickguard.

Good plan ... I now need to find a good luthier to do the work ... I’ll have a look through the recommended ones on here.
thanks again for your input

Winny_Pooh · February 2019

A middle pickup is not worth it. A strat neck pickup, yes.

Jimbro66 · February 2019

Winny_Pooh said:

A middle pickup is not worth it. A strat neck pickup, yes.

Why?

ICBM · February 2019

Winny_Pooh said:

A middle pickup is not worth it. A strat neck pickup, yes.

I would say the exact opposite.

A middle pickup is worth it if you want either the Strat in-between sounds or the middle pickup on its own, since you can't get those sounds with the standard Tele pickups. Going to any trouble to replace the Tele neck pickup with a Strat one isn't, it won't make that much difference and it still won't sound like a Strat. Replacing it with a better Tele neck pickup might, if the stock one isn't very good.

But overall I don't like Nashville Teles, they never sound as good as either a stock Tele or a Strat in my opinion.

skaguitar · February 2019

ICBM said:

Winny_Pooh said:

A middle pickup is not worth it. A strat neck pickup, yes.

I would say the exact opposite.

A middle pickup is worth it if you want either the Strat in-between sounds or the middle pickup on its own, since you can't get those sounds with the standard Tele pickups. Going to any trouble to replace the Tele neck pickup with a Strat one isn't, it won't make that much difference and it still won't sound like a Strat. Replacing it with a better Tele neck pickup might, if the stock one isn't very good.

But overall I don't like Nashville Teles, they never sound as good as either a stock Tele or a Strat in my opinion.

Just out of interest why don’t you think they sound as good... this tele sounds good and has a set of bare knuckle yardbird pick ups at the moment but I thought it would give more options as a Nashville type tele.
Does adding a middle pick up affect the sound from the neck or the bridge in some way..?

Jimbro66 · February 2019

ICBM said:

Winny_Pooh said:

A middle pickup is not worth it. A strat neck pickup, yes.

I would say the exact opposite.

A middle pickup is worth it if you want either the Strat in-between sounds or the middle pickup on its own, since you can't get those sounds with the standard Tele pickups. Going to any trouble to replace the Tele neck pickup with a Strat one isn't, it won't make that much difference and it still won't sound like a Strat. Replacing it with a better Tele neck pickup might, if the stock one isn't very good.

But overall I don't like Nashville Teles, they never sound as good as either a stock Tele or a Strat in my opinion.

I agree about the virtues of the neck and mid pickups. The sound compared to a Strat is an interesting observation though. I used a three pickup Tele through a 4x10 Super Reverb in a rock band in the late 90s because I’m comfortable with Teles but don’t particularly like the feel of Strats. We made an album and I have lost count of the number of guitarists who’ve heard it and said “That Strat sounds really nice”. When I explain that it was a 3-pickup Tele they are surprised. It’s all in the ears of the beholder

Then again, there are Strats and there are STRATS

paulnb57 · February 2019

Another solution could be to just remove the cover from the Tele neck pickup, then a more common 2 pickup plate will do......

ICBM · February 2019

skaguitar said:

Just out of interest why don’t you think they sound as good... this tele sounds good and has a set of bare knuckle yardbird pick ups at the moment but I thought it would give more options as a Nashville type tele.
Does adding a middle pick up affect the sound from the neck or the bridge in some way..?

Yes, the magnetic field damps the string movement to some extent - so they don't sound as good as a 2-pickup Tele. They also don't sound as good as a Strat because there's no trem cavity and springs. It's possible they might sound more or less the same as a hardtail Strat, but I've never A/B'd those.

It's a relatively small difference though - if you prefer the feel of the Tele, or simply don't want an extra guitar, and you want the Strat in-between sounds, then adding the middle pickup is the easiest way to do it. I would definitely do as Jimbro66 said and have some way to retain the bridge+neck sound though, either with a switch to add that or with a Superswitch which will give it in the middle position if you don't use the middle pickup alone. (You need a single-wafer/12-tag switch, the double-wafer ones won't fit in a Tele cavity.)

skaguitar · February 2019

hmmm.. ok now I'm thinking some things may be best left well alone as this tele sounds great.. it's an MIJ Squier which has been heavily modded which I bought as a basic body and neck a few years ago.
I do still want it refretted and the control plate put back to the original way round but may leave it as is.

thanks for all the advice people...much appreciated

Jimbro66 · February 2019

skaguitar said:

hmmm.. ok now I'm thinking some things may be best left well alone as this tele sounds great.. it's an MIJ Squier which has been heavily modded which I bought as a basic body and neck a few years ago.
I do still want it refretted and the control plate put back to the original way round but may leave it as is.

thanks for all the advice people...much appreciated

That, of course, means building a new 3-pickup partscaster from scratch. We look forward to your thread in Making & Modding

skaguitar · February 2019

Jimbro66 said:

skaguitar said:

hmmm.. ok now I'm thinking some things may be best left well alone as this tele sounds great.. it's an MIJ Squier which has been heavily modded which I bought as a basic body and neck a few years ago.
I do still want it refretted and the control plate put back to the original way round but may leave it as is.

thanks for all the advice people...much appreciated

That, of course, means building a new 3-pickup partscaster from scratch. We look forward to your thread in Making & Modding

this is true... excuse me while I start hunting for parts.. !!

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