Pimp my Tele

adamm82

I picked this up when I was on holiday.

Beat to hell telecaster but tried it out and really liked it. looks better condition in the photo than in real life. think it's from 2000ish. not sure I like the black controls plate or bridge saddles. 

not sure what pickups are in it. but looking for something a bit more powerful sounding. any ideas?

rico

Before you spend money on new pickups, try experimenting with pickup height. Small changes can yield surprising results. 

I agree about the bridge and hardware - easily changed though. Have a look at axecaster or axesrus. I’d go for a gotoh bridge with compensated saddles. 

Bridgehouse

Swap the scratchplate too. 

Parchment. Or Black. 

rico

Yup what he said ^

adamm82

Bridgehouse said:

Swap the scratchplate too. 

Parchment. Or Black. 

I like the parchment idea. Maybe replace control plate with something slightly reliced rather than new and shiney. 

adamm82

rico said:

Before you spend money on new pickups, try experimenting with pickup height. Small changes can yield surprising results. 

I agree about the bridge and hardware - easily changed though. Have a look at axecaster or axesrus. I’d go for a gotoh bridge with compensated saddles. 

I might change the string trees too. Don’t know if one was added later but the placement seems strange and I don’t like them very much 

Bridgehouse

adamm82 said:

Bridgehouse said:

Swap the scratchplate too. 

Parchment. Or Black. 

I like the parchment idea. Maybe replace control plate with something slightly reliced rather than new and shiney. 

Yep, and a nicely relic'd bridge would finish it off well. Ashtray style, brass saddles.. 

poopot

adamm82 said:

not sure what pickups are in it. but looking for something a bit more powerful sounding. any ideas?

Seymour Duncan 1/4 pounders... (if you change the pups)

stimpsonslostson

Well done. The only thing I brought back from holiday was an unsightly rash. 

Regarding pickups- if you go this route, chat to Ash at OilCity or Marc at Mojo. Both do amazing things for reasonable prices. 

markjohnson

Yeah it'll look beaut if you take it back in a classic direction - 3 Saddle compensated ashtray style bridge,  etc.  I don't mind the scratchplate although hard to tell from the photo how good it looks, sometimes that cheaper tortoiseshell stuff can look real nasty. 

What kind of budget are you thinking of putting into it? 

adamm82

markjohnson said:

Yeah it'll look beaut if you take it back in a classic direction - 3 Saddle compensated ashtray style bridge,  etc.  I don't mind the scratchplate although hard to tell from the photo how good it looks, sometimes that cheaper tortoiseshell stuff can look real nasty. 

What kind of budget are you thinking of putting into it? 

it's not a bad quality one but not sure of the colour scheme.

I think probably £200 tops to put into it. 

Is the bridge a easy swap? I assume the screws would line up. This is mexican tele.

DannyP

Have you had a look at the neck p/u rout? I think a lot but not all MIM have an HB rout - am I right?

If it were me, I'd go parchment pickguard, p90 in the neck (HB size if you don't fancy routing) and replace bridge and controls with something more trad.

But that's just me!

Johnnyseven

If you want a higher output pickup the Dimarzio Pre B1 is excellent and fairly cheap. For a bridge i'd put in a Gotoh 6 saddle with steel saddles. Definitely needs a black scratchplate.

rico

I have a Mojo Open T neck pickup that i'm not using...

Sassafras

Ashtray bridge, steel saddles.
Maybe a white scratchplate and chrome control plate.

LesbianWithAGun

Active Humbuckers and a Battery Box, new Bridge...

Wood can be glued in to fill the tele pickup 'bays' - humbucker holes and a battery box can be cut out.


Like this, only with out a 'stupid' selector switch, but a toggle switch instead.

ab2017

Duncan little 59 for Tele and install a push pull pot

rico

LesbianWithAGun said:

Active Humbuckers and a Battery Box, new Bridge...

Wood can be glued in to fill the tele pickup 'bays' - humbucker holes and a battery box can be cut out.


Like this, only with out a 'stupid' selector switch, but a toggle switch instead.

What on Earth are you on about?

57Deluxe

The Gay Biker look seems quite popular ...

Jonathangus

Personally I quite like the black saddles, but I'd swap the control plate for the standard chrome.  Naturally, the torty guard should be removed and destroyed with fire ; a black one would give it a sort of Les Paul Special vibe, but I'd go with white or parchment, or if you want a bit of bling, pearloid.  I'd keep the pickups black, as I think they'd look good against the pale coloured guard.

tampaxboo

humbucker on neck. paint the headstock to match the body. get some binding on the body. scratchplate black or chrome. maybe do something to make the controls look more interesting (bit of chrome and/or sexy knobs). definitely all or none of these.