Help Me Restore My Tele (from dual humbucker to SS)

Hi board,

I've been lurking these forums for a while anytime I needed advice / info on repairs and stuff. Today, I've finally decided to take on the task of "repairing" my brother's 2000 American Standard Tele. See pics in attachments.

It's a long story, but about ten years ago when I was a teen I wanted a guitar with humbuckers but couldn't afford a Les Paul.. so I had the grand idea of putting these pickups in. It's currently fitted with a 498R in the bridge and Dimarzio Super Distortion in the neck.. The opposite arrangement was intended, but would have required routing the body deeper.

Well, now that I'm mostly playing blues I'd put some single coils in it. No more than $100 / pickup.... I love Robben Ford's tone, Matt Schofield, etc. I have a 5-way super switch in the guitar currently and find myself switching to pos 2 & 4 a lot in search of the Fender twang, but my earlier (stupid) modifications really killed most of that good Tele tone.

You can help me choose a few pickups, a bridge plate that will fit, pots/wiring recommendations, and possibly new tuners. I'm spoiled by my MIM Strats locking Sperzel tuners :smile:.

Also attached a pic of the body as currently routed...

I should add: looking at the Fralins, Bare Knuckles, Nocasters, and any others you may think I will like.

I think the humbucker route you put in there is probably quite a bit wider than any "single coil" type bridge plate. I don't know of any bridge built to American Standard spec that would cover up that hole.

You could go with a half bridge and one of these:


http://www.guitarfetish.com/thumbnail.asp?file=assets/images/TB_C.jpg&maxx=0&maxy=300

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Humbucker-Rout-adapter-ring-Fits-Tele-Bridge-Pickup-THREE-COLORS_p_4350.html

The above looks like a good solution!

I think those things are the best solution that doesn't involve a lot of woodworking and refinish.

As for wha pickups to try, give us a better idea of the sound that's in your head, maybe a couple of artists or tunes that showcase it. Some guys play blues with a sparkly clean sound, some play it with a really raunchy sound, some play in the middle somewhere.

What's your amp and pedal setup?

I think the humbucker route you put in there is probably quite a bit wider than any "single coil" type bridge plate. I don't know of any bridge built to American Standard spec that would cover up that hole.

Dang, it seems like you are right on this. The bridge I have measures about 3.5" wide. The wilkinson adjustable on stew-mac is 3.02". Wish I had known the tech did this when he installed the pickups.

Do you know of any better bridge humbuckers? I could switch the neck with a nice lipstick pup and swap the bridge with a better humbucker for blues..

I play through blues jr, and guitar rig (recording in logic) with headphones to practice.

I think those things are the best solution that doesn't involve a lot of woodworking and refinish.

As for wha pickups to try, give us a better idea of the sound that's in your head, maybe a couple of artists or tunes that showcase it. Some guys play blues with a sparkly clean sound, some play it with a really raunchy sound, some play in the middle somewhere.

What's your amp and pedal setup?

Amp - Blues Jr or direct to Guitar Rig with headphones
Pedals - Keeley comp (almost always on) , blues driver. sometimes analogman dd-6, also have crybaby and tr-2 tremolo pedal.

My biggest pet peeve lately tonality wise has been a real "thin" or "weak" sound on both my tele and strat on the high E string, and sometimes B string. I don't know whether to attribute this to Guitar Rig / headphone practicing, or my guitars setup. I started using pick less often and found a much thicker sound playing with the "meat" of my fingers so I'm really trying to focus my playing skill on playing without a pick now. But I still can't get those "Full, ballsy" tones some of the pros have on their tracks... Heres an example. Hard to find a CD-quality track of Matt on Youtube, but you get the picture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ixeluFP4nc&feature=related

You're on to something big with the fingers technique. There's a lot you can do with your bare hands that you can't do with a pick, but sometimes a pick is easier to learn to use.

As for the rig, start by trying to get a fundamental tone you like with just the guitar and the amp. The BJr is not my favorite amp, but a thin sound isn't usually its problem.

Try setting all of your EQ knobs to the middle and add or subtract as sounds right to you. Work with one knob at a time. A Tele is going to need a lot more bass EQ than a humbucker-equipped guitar.

After that, add one effect at a time and play with its tone control to see what settings you like. Again, the settings with a single coil guitar are likely to be a lot different than with humbuckers.

The sound Matt's getting largely colored by his amp (looks like a Hughes & Kettner head at the very beginning) and whatever effects he may have.

Roll back your guitar's tone control a little too, that'll help.

A set of pickups with warmer mids and rounder highs will help get you there as well. Duncan's Five-Two set or the Alnico Pro 2 sets are good choices.

You're on to something big with the fingers technique. There's a lot you can do with your bare hands that you can't do with a pick, but sometimes a pick is easier to learn to use.

As for the rig, start by trying to get a fundamental tone you like with just the guitar and the amp. The BJr is not my favorite amp, but a thin sound isn't usually its problem.

Try setting all of your EQ knobs to the middle and add or subtract as sounds right to you. Work with one knob at a time. A Tele is going to need a lot more bass EQ than a humbucker-equipped guitar.

After that, add one effect at a time and play with its tone control to see what settings you like. Again, the settings with a single coil guitar are likely to be a lot different than with humbuckers.

The sound Matt's getting largely colored by his amp (looks like a Hughes & Kettner head at the very beginning) and whatever effects he may have.

Roll back your guitar's tone control a little too, that'll help.

A set of pickups with warmer mids and rounder highs will help get you there as well. Duncan's Five-Two set or the Alnico Pro 2 sets are good choices.

Thanks for those tips Koko.. Any tips on practice techniques? I've fallen into a groove of playing along with music I like, and when I try to play with jam tracks now I feel much worse than if I'm simply playing along with another lead playing and taking their cue for ideas.

Also, I have a Seymour Duncan set of pickups in my strat I'm not too please with. I think it was the JB Jr, Little 59, and Duckbucker in the middle. Based off what I heard of the "Mothers Milk" pickups I'd love to get a set of those. What do you think about the pickups currently in my guitars though, and what kind of sounds they would be capable of (and really stellar at)? I built these when my band was playing mostly rock but now only play at home for my own joy.

I'd put in a pair of Wilde L609's from Bill Lawrence.

I would put in a set of Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90 that fit in the HB routes.

Also would cut a bit more if needed and put the neck & bridge p/u in the proper places rather than having something that probably isn't workable on a gig like it is now.

Or a SD Jazz neck, JB bridge with coil splitting volume pots. You won't get a great single-coil sound by splitting but it's nice to have the variety and can get pretty close to being ok.

I think your best bet is to start with a fairly standard set of pickups and play them for a while, see how you how you like them and see what range of tones you can get out of them. After you get used to them, figure out if there's something missing in your tone that you're looking for.

That will give you an excellent baseline to start from. It's tough to figure out what matches well when you say "I want a set of pickups for ____." It's easier to figure out what will work if you can describe what qualities you like about a pickup, what qualities you don't, and what might be missing. (More mids, more highs, etc.)

I'm not a fan of the duckbucker, and as best I can figure out it's best use is as a middle pickup that matches well in output to the single-coil sized humbuckers to use for the out of phase sounds.

The JB and the '59 are both excellent humbuckers. The little versions of them are pretty close to the originals, but not quite. What is it that you don't like about the set you have?

I'm away from home right now, but in response to the comments..

I've just acquired the blues jr and have been playing through guitar rig with headphones (audio technica m50s) for the past five years. Before that I owned a twin reverb ri, and before that a Mesa dual rectifier with 2x12 closed back Mesa cab and v30s.

On the tele : I think the pickups are currently poorly matched for volume between bridge and neck. They were supposed to be installed opposite config, but the depth didn't allow it. The bridge is much too quiet relative to the neck, and the neck wasn't installed properly and is not very adjustable. Neck positions really lack any sort of mids or treble, and don't sound tight like I would like. Bridge positions are very shrill but not thick, lots of mids with no bottom end. It distorts nicely, but is difficult to clean up. The guitar is generally running too hot and hard to keep a clean without overdriving the amp or recording interface.

On the strat-this guitar is much better. I like the pickups, but find myself missing the twang of that fender tone and switching to the 2 & 4 positions to try to get a taste of it. Tone knobs are wired to bridge and neck... Would like a master tone or one of the tone knobs wired to two pickups.

The main tones I want are the cleans at beginning of Little Wing (cliche lol), any SRV I can think of, etc. Texas blues. I rarely use the mid heavy, trebly positions heard in many zeppelin records and other classic rock. Also like Bonamassas tone, but he plays Gibsons mostly. Robben Fords "Freedom" has amazing clean tones I would love to achieve (much of this is his playing, I know), and also Larry Carlton's tone on the Kid Jeans album is incredible.

Once again, thanks for the help and keeping ideas flowing.

I would put in a set of Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P-90 that fit in the HB routes.

Also would cut a bit more if needed and put the neck & bridge p/u in the proper places rather than having something that probably isn't workable on a gig like it is now.

Or a SD Jazz neck, JB bridge with coil splitting volume pots. You won't get a great single-coil sound by splitting but it's nice to have the variety and can get pretty close to being ok.


Gotta ask - what do you mean by "in the proper places"? I assume the neck pickup is too close to neck. How does one determine the appropriate placement?