Rebuilt my Telecaster

thermionic

About five years ago I bought a Classic 60s Telecaster off ebay as I fancied a rosewood/alder partner for my Classic 50s. It turned out to have been sprayed black over the original Candy Apple Red - this bugged me and I had plans to get it refinished as the neck is really nice and has a dark rosewood fretboard… then I spotted a genuine Fender replacement body on ebay and figured that would probably cost half of what a refinish would be.

https://i.imgur.com/U3C1i99.jpg

I got some Fender Pure Vintage ‘64 pickups - I did think of supporting my local boutique pickup winder, but the budget killed that idea. These get good reviews and are not very expensive.

https://i.imgur.com/fQk8yxh.jpg

I took the opportunity to rewire with more a more substantial capacitor and cloth covered wire.

https://i.imgur.com/7vae3du.jpg

It passed the screwdriver tap test.

https://i.imgur.com/OFjQgyb.jpg

The original pickguard is a very nice subtle mint green/cream colour and I fancied putting that back on, but it cracked as I screwed it on…

https://i.imgur.com/MQYO1e1.jpg

Back to the anodised gold it is then!

https://i.imgur.com/BLgrhlI.jpg

A quick setup has it playing very nicely, intonation is excellent despite non-compensated saddles, and on first impressions the Pure Vintage ‘64 pickups are a big improvement.

thermionic

I’ve been A/Bing this tonight with my trusty Classic 50s Telecaster and I’m quite impressed with the Pure Vintage ‘64 pickups. The 50s is ash body, maple neck and has Custom Shop Nocaster pickups. Two very different Teles, which surprised me a bit because usually I don’t hear differences - when I got the 50s I put in some 52 RI pickups, then the Nocasters, and I could barely tell the difference between them and the stock pickups. The 60s is much more resonant acoustically - it’s lighter and appears to to have a much thinner finish than the 50s, although I don’t think that completely explains it.