Help - make my squier affinity pretty!

Placidcasual79

Hey people - 

I've never modded any of the guitars Ive owned. I have a squire affinity tele - its way down the pecking order and probably has no sell on value (though is actually really nice to play!) so I figure it's the one to start experimenting on!!! 

Firstly I'd like to change the pick guard - purely for cosmetic purposes - is this easy to do? Are replacements easy to find and fit?

Secondly I'd like to change the bridge from the style it is now (With five little string things - you can see I am a technical expert) to one with three string thingy's like you see on a Baja - purely cus it'll be easier to restring! Is this possible?

Ta people! 

Alnico

Hey man

The simple answer is Yes, it's very easy to do this.

1 - Pickguard.

Work out how many screw holes you have and start looking around.

Allparts

Richtone

Scratch-It will make you a custom plate from a template of your original

Google them to find what you like the look of.

2 - The string thingys are called 'Saddles' and they sit in a 'Bridge'.

At the moment you have SIX little string things, unless one has fallen off. This is known as a 'Modern Style' Bridge and the one you want is a 'Vintage Style' bridge which uses Three 'Saddles', each one carrying two strings at a time.

Getting hold of one of these isn't difficult and as you play an Affinity Telecaster, you should have something called a 'Toploader' which means your strings don't go through the body to the back of the guitar, they should just go to the back of the bridge and be visible from the rear of the guitar whilst you're looking at the top of the guitar.

This will help you in this case because if they went through the body as most of the Fender's do, you would maybe have problems with getting it all to line up.

Still have a Tech do this for you though as new mounting holes will almost certainly be needed and the exact distance between the saddles and the nut (The slotty bit at the top) is called the 'Scale length' and your 'Intonation' (The thing that makes a fretted note above the 12th fret sound as in tune as the same note an octave below on either an open string or a fretted note below the 12th 'Octave' fret ) will be adversely affected if this isn't right, as if using a 3 saddle vintage style bridge isn't enough of an intonation problem (The thing that all the modern 'Unbelievers' keep harping on about !!!)

So,

You need to know

How many screw holes your Scratch plate has and what style / colour / graphic design you would like

and

Look for a Top Loader vintage style bridge that preferably comes with 3 vintage style saddles.

If you use Brass it will give you a warmer sound than what you have now.

If you use Steel it will give you a more twangy, thumpy sound

Also, your electronics won't be giving you the best that your guitar could give - there are plenty of options. My personal favourite and what i have in my Telecaster are from Oil City. The man responsible for these works of art is called 'Ash' and he is a member here

@TheGuitarWeasel

you can find his website on google.

Also, among others, is MOJO pickups who very kindly have supplied pickups for some of the builds our forum members have completed and again, you will find their products excellent quality and very reasonable prices.

If you go this far, do the new pickups some justice and have the Volume and Tone Pots (The twiddly bits the do the turny thing behind the knobs) replaced along with the jack socket (The Pluggy-In bit) and the Capacitor inside (The magical whizzy thing that only the highly skilled wizards know what they do or how they work). This all combined will give your guitar a whole new sound, tone and life you never knew it had.

If you really want to knock the bollocks out of it, take it to a tech for a Fret levelling and set up job. This will make the frets (The up and down lines) feel like glass under your fingers ( The Widdly, dancing spider bits) and make the strings (The left to right lines) resonate (Make noise) much better and feel so much easier to play.

Your 'Nut' (The slotty bit at the top) will also be plastic and it will be holding back some of the tone you could be getting plus it will adversely affect your tuning, making it more difficult to keep tune after bending strings (Making it go "WAHHHHHHHHHHHH") so have the tech replace this with a bone nut. (This does not require you to donate some of your Own Bone - the tech should have some left over from the last person who asked him to put a Bigsby (The tremolo equivalent of a WW1 Bi Plane) on a stratocaster (The one guitar that was NEVER intended to wear such a piece of ****).

You will probably then want to upgrade the tuners. (The turny-round bits at the very top that stick upwards like buttons on sticks).

A good tech will be able to fit any decent aftermarket tuners for you. You need 6 in-line, right handed tuners and as long as you don't mind left over holes from the original ones on the back of your headstock (The bit at the very top that looks like a cock in a sock) then you can choose any style you like, within reason.

I would wager that you could get a decent used Fender for the money you would spend doing this but that will only be standard parts on there and then you will still have to have the work done to that one so don't be afraid to do all this to an Affinity, although do be aware of you come to sell it, you won't get much more for it than you would if it was totally standard, just a fraction more because it plays and sounds really nice.

I spent £1500 on my Baja, including buying it brand new but it's the perfect Telecaster for me and it will be with me for the rest of my life; In that way it was worth the investment to me but if i sold it, i couldn't ask for much more than about £500 as it will only ever be a Baja, albeit a really nice one.

Best of luck and if you need any help as you go, there are plenty of people here who will help, including me.

Welcome to the #1 Guitar Forum.

There's nothing else you need !

Placidcasual79

Hey Alnico - 

Thats a pretty comprehensive answer for this time of the morning!! much thanks! I've been on the forum for a few days now and had lots of help and friendly advice - glad I found it. 

Saddles!!!! that the technical term! thank you. I will change the scratch plate and the bridge. I may even get to the pick ups but truthfully I rarely play this guitar anymore - which is why I don't mind having a play around with it. 

I think I'll post before and after pictures if i can work out how.....

Again thanks for the informative reply. 

Alnico

Placidcasual79 said:

Hey Alnico - 

Thats a pretty comprehensive answer for this time of the morning!! much thanks! I've been on the forum for a few days now and had lots of help and friendly advice - glad I found it. 

Saddles!!!! that the technical term! thank you. I will change the scratch plate and the bridge. I may even get to the pick ups but truthfully I rarely play this guitar anymore - which is why I don't mind having a play around with it. 

I think I'll post before and after pictures if i can work out how.....

Again thanks for the informative reply. 

No problem and good luck.

That's what the early hours of the morning are for man.

Well, it is when your 43 and not famous !!!

Placidcasual79

Lol - there's still time!

Have you ever modded a guitar then?

Alnico

Placidcasual79 said:

Lol - there's still time!

Have you ever modded a guitar then?

A few yes.

Mainly Fenders although i'm not clever or skilled enough to do the 'Tech work' and i've never cut the wooden bits out or sprayed them, so really all i've ever done is bolted a few together.

I have owned quite a few modified guitars over the years and commissioned a lot of work to be done on them so i understand a lot of what's done to them but these shovels i call hands can barely play the damn thing, let alone fettle them into the magical wonderment that some of our more experienced Tech's and Luthiers can.

I seem to have gained a rather worrying amount of trivial knowledge about Fenders over the years though, so i can buy one like a fucking demon !

Placidcasual79

what do you play? I've been looking at a Baja tele recently......

Alnico

It went from this......

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/tn1_22500_zpsa6c518ec.jpg

To this......

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/859476_735282259852194_5101320761770785447_o_zps994e8a6d.jpg

and then to this with the new pickups and steel threaded 60's style saddles.........

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/20150606_114924_zpsakvs9s5v.jpg

Alnico

I've since had the control plate put back to the correct way around and fitted strap-locks and this weekend a Heistercamp Leather Strap but that's it really.

Placidcasual79

Alnico said:

It went from this......

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/tn1_22500_zpsa6c518ec.jpg

To this......

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/859476_735282259852194_5101320761770785447_o_zps994e8a6d.jpg

and then to this with the new pickups.........

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/roogie14/20150606_114924_zpsakvs9s5v.jpg

that is a beautiful guitar - how did you get the original finish off?

Alnico

Thank you very much.
I didn't.

It was @FelineGuitars who did it for me.

Jonathan is an artist, one of the countries top luthiers and a friend.

http://www.felineguitars.com/index.html

Here is the original Build thread...............

http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/25693/ngd-born-to-run-baja-telecaster#latest

Placidcasual79

Interesting read - thanks. It's such a beautiful finish. I have to confess to not being a Springsteen fan - but i think having a guitar you love helps the creative process - you just feel better about picking the thing up! 

You like the Baja then....

Alnico

It's going in my Coffin with me and i'm not being cremated.

( I may now have to keep the location of my grave a secret though !)

EDIT: I won't be able to tell anyone, i will be dead !

Alnico

Sorry, that's not really a proper answer..........

Yes it's incredible (To me).

Jon has made the frets perfect and the resonance of the body has improved ten fold. The bone nut means no tuning issues at all and the action is just low enough to still be able to dig in when you want to.

I fitted a Bakelite scratchplate from the American Vintage Re Issue 52 Tele which is a Fender Spare part from @RichtoneMusic and Ash from Oil City made me the pickups; A Californian neck pickup which is essentially a strat pickup built to fit in a Tele and an Alligator Bridge pickup which is a hybrid Ceramic magnet P90 in a single coil size unit.

On the bridge position it growls like fuck until you turn the volume down a bit then it cleans up to be a well behaved twangy thing and on the neck it's as close to a strat as you can get a Tele to be but turn the tone down just a touch and it's almost back to being a Tele again. In the middle it's something quite unique but again, it's all so interactive with the volume and tone, there's a lot to get out of it.

It's a medium weight guitar and now it has straplocks and a decent strap it's a joy to have round your neck.

It's one of the few Tele's i've ever had that can do almost anything and whilst it's not ever going to give the power of a Les Paul, it's got enough growl to play most rock songs should you want to.

The set up on the neck has meant you can play the top end of the neck without any problems and as it's a 9 1/2" Radius it's comfortable to bend notes anywhere. The Soft V Profile isn't to everyone's taste, it is to mine though as my first ever Fender Strat had a V neck and to me, that's where Fenders begin and end.

It's a solid rock n roll guitar but ask it to play something delicate and it will do happily (Sometimes without me !).

It's the best guitar i've ever owned and now the only guitar i own.

To me, it's perfect.

GuitarMonkey

Fitting the bridge will require new mounting holes and will leave the old holes exposed behind the bridge as the Affinity bridge is a bit longer than a vintage one.

A better solution if you can do this might be to drill the existing bridge to accept three saddle intonation screws.

Placidcasual79

GuitarMonkey said:

Fitting the bridge will require new mounting holes and will leave the old holes exposed behind the bridge as the Affinity bridge is a bit longer than a vintage one.

A better solution if you can do this might be to drill the existing bridge to accept three saddle intonation screws.

Ah - thats really helpful. It sounds like a bit more that I can manage then. I wouldn't even begin to know how to drill in the existing bridge or have the equipment to do it. 

Guess it'll just be a change of scratch guard then : ( 

GuitarMonkey

Sorry but do check first that a standard one will fit. Here http://pickguards.us/pricetele.html they require a tracing for Affinity Telecasters.

Here is the bridge problem illustrated

Alnico

Tim at Scratch it will Make you one from a Template of your existing plate.

He's a really great guy and a friend who is local to me. He's also incredibly helpful.

jd0272

Alnico;987226" said:

Hey man

The simple answer is Yes, it's very easy to do this.

1 - Pickguard.Work out how many screw holes you have and start looking around.AllpartsRichtoneScratch-It will make you a custom plate from a template of your original

Google them to find what you like the look of.

2 - The string thingys are called 'Saddles' and they sit in a 'Bridge'.At the moment you have SIX little string things, unless one has fallen off. This is known as a 'Modern Style' Bridge and the one you want is a 'Vintage Style' bridge which uses Three 'Saddles', each one carrying two strings at a time.

Getting hold of one of these isn't difficult and as you play an Affinity Telecaster, you should have something called a 'Toploader' which means your strings don't go through the body to the back of the guitar, they should just go to the back of the bridge and be visible from the rear of the guitar whilst you're looking at the top of the guitar.This will help you in this case because if they went through the body as most of the Fender's do, you would maybe have problems with getting it all to line up.Still have a Tech do this for you though as new mounting holes will almost certainly be needed and the exact distance between the saddles and the nut (The slotty bit at the top) is called the 'Scale length' and your 'Intonation' (The thing that makes a fretted note above the 12th fret sound as in tune as the same note an octave below on either an open string or a fretted note below the 12th 'Octave' fret ) will be adversely affected if this isn't right, as if using a 3 saddle vintage style bridge isn't enough of an intonation problem (The thing that all the modern 'Unbelievers' keep harping on about !!!)

So,

You need to know

How many screw holes your Scratch plate has and what style / colour / graphic design you would like

and

Look for a Top Loader vintage style bridge that preferably comes with 3 vintage style saddles.If you use Brass it will give you a warmer sound than what you have now.If you use Steel it will give you a more twangy, thumpy sound

Also, your electronics won't be giving you the best that your guitar could give - there are plenty of options. My personal favourite and what i have in my Telecaster are from Oil City. The man responsible for these works of art is called 'Ash' and he is a member here@TheGuitarWeaselyou can find his website on google.

Also, among others, is MOJO pickups who very kindly have supplied pickups for some of the builds our forum members have completed and again, you will find their products excellent quality and very reasonable prices.

If you go this far, do the new pickups some justice and have the Volume and Tone Pots (The twiddly bits the do the turny thing behind the knobs) replaced along with the jack socket (The Pluggy-In bit) and the Capacitor inside (The magical whizzy thing that only the highly skilled wizards know what they do or how they work). This all combined will give your guitar a whole new sound, tone and life you never knew it had.

If you really want to knock the bollocks out of it, take it to a tech for a Fret levelling and set up job. This will make the frets (The up and down lines) feel like glass under your fingers ( The Widdly, dancing spider bits) and make the strings (The left to right lines) resonate (Make noise) much better and feel so much easier to play.

Your 'Nut' (The slotty bit at the top) will also be plastic and it will be holding back some of the tone you could be getting plus it will adversely affect your tuning, making it more difficult to keep tune after bending strings (Making it go "WAHHHHHHHHHHHH") so have the tech replace this with a bone nut. (This does not require you to donate some of your Own Bone - the tech should have some left over from the last person who asked him to put a Bigsby (The tremolo equivalent of a WW1 Bi Plane) on a stratocaster (The one guitar that was NEVER intended to wear such a piece of ****).

You will probably then want to upgrade the tuners. (The turny-round bits at the very top that stick upwards like buttons on sticks).A good tech will be able to fit any decent aftermarket tuners for you. You need 6 in-line, right handed tuners and as long as you don't mind left over holes from the original ones on the back of your headstock (The bit at the very top that looks like a cock in a sock) then you can choose any style you like, within reason.

I would wager that you could get a decent used Fender for the money you would spend doing this but that will only be standard parts on there and then you will still have to have the work done to that one so don't be afraid to do all this to an Affinity, although do be aware of you come to sell it, you won't get much more for it than you would if it was totally standard, just a fraction more because it plays and sounds really nice.

I spent £1500 on my Baja, including buying it brand new but it's the perfect Telecaster for me and it will be with me for the rest of my life; In that way it was worth the investment to me but if i sold it, i couldn't ask for much more than about £500 as it will only ever be a Baja, albeit a really nice one.

Best of luck and if you need any help as you go, there are plenty of people here who will help, including me.

Welcome to the #1 Guitar Forum.There's nothing else you need !

So, what's these 'string' things you've mentioned? I'm a bit lost...

Alnico

^^^

@jd0272

The left and right lines !

The ones that go from little to big and hurt when you touch them.

(Think of them as Women if that helps you !)

Placidcasual79

Thanks for the reply's - The affinity isn't worth a great deal of money and is way down my list of guitars so I wasn't planning on spending much on it - was hoping it'd be doable myself.

Changing the bridge looks abit of a pain in the arse - I prefer the three sadle set up over the six. Maybe a straight pick guard change will stop me neglecting this guitar!