I Need A Guitar Tech's Help! (Customizing a thinline)

I am planning out my customized guitar I will be buying next week and keep running into issues. This is the guitar I will be purchasing...'72 reissue fender telecaster thinline (http://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender-Classic-Series--72-Telecaster-Thinline-Electric-Guitar-103147013-i1146393.gc).

I plan on swapping out the humbuckers and getting seymour duncans.


ISSUE 1: This guitar has widerange humbuckers. This means their dimensions are actually bigger than normal sized humbuckers. In order to swap them out, I BELIEVE I will need to order a custom pickguard with regular sized humbucker holes. I would get the pickguard from here (http://www.wdmusic.com/pickguard_tecp_100.html). (They can make ones with regular sized humbucker spaces).



ISSUE 2: Some people say that they guitar's humbucker cavities are shallow due to the fact that widerange pickups are not as deep as regular sized humbuckers. I'm not sure if this is true or not. Basically, it would mean regular humbuckers wouldn't even fit in the guitar.


ISSUE 3: While looking up pickups, I came across the F-spacing problem. Basically, since this is a telecaster, I believe I would need an F spaced bridge pickup (would I need an f spaced neck pickup as well?) Anyway, since I am looking at Seymour duncans, I would be looking for a "trembucker". Specifically the TB - 4 (which can only be purchased on Amazon in order to get the nickel cover): LINK (http://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-Trembucker-Pickup-Nickel/dp/B002VJS91K/ref=sr_1_8?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1342205298&sr=1-8&keywords=seymour+duncan+tb+4)


ISSUE 4: Apparently seymour duncan trembuckers are longer and thinner than the seymour duncan humbuckers. As you can see in the link to the TB -4, the pickup comes with a black ring around it. I do not know what sized hole this is meant to fit. Does it fit into widerange pickup holes? Normal sized humbucker holes? Normal sized humbucker holes if you don't use the ring? Very confused.

Side question: The neck pickup I'm looking at is the SH 1 '59 Model (http://www.amazon.com/Seymour-Duncan-Humbucker-Pickup-Nickel/dp/B0002D05ZA/ref=sr_1_8?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1342205543&sr=1-8&keywords=seymour+duncan+sh+1). It only has two holes for screws. If I look at any guitar, the pickups have four screws that the pickguard screws into....how are they getting away with only having two screw holes?




Basically, I am running into LOTS of issues that are way over my head. Trying to put together my dream guitar and it's getting to seem impossible. I really need somebody to tell me how I can do this. ALL HELP IS VERY APPRECIATED!

You may find that, as a novice, building your dream guitar is a little beyond your reach right now. That doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't try, but it's advisable to ratchet down your expectations a little. For your first project or two, you should be very happy if you don't break anything and that the result is a playable guitar.

As your skills increase, you'll undoubtedly realize you could have done something better, or maybe that you needed to do something better to make it your dream guitar.

The fact that you're running into "LOTS of issues that are way over [your] head" should be a red flag that this is not something you should try yet.

Now, on to your specific questions:


Yes, you'll need a custom pickguard
According to Jack Wells in this thread (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-technical/70484-tele-thinline-build-questions.html), the pickup cavity is .850" deep, just enough for the TB-59 pickup you're looking at. You may find that you need to drill cavities for the height screws that are a little deeper.
F spacing is helpful, but not as absolutely necessary as people might believe. I use a standard SH-1 in the neck of my Tele and it lines up just fine.
The ring doesn't fit in a hole. It surrounds the pickup and covers the edge. I don't use the mounting rings when I put a humbucker in a pickguard. With a pickguard, the choice to use a mounting ring is cosmetic only. I think it looks better without.

I don't know what other guitars you're looking at, but the wide-range humbucker is one of the few pickups with 4 mounting screws. Standard humbuckers have 2. Maybe you're looking at the screws for the ring?

If you have 2 mounting screws, you can adjust the height of either side of the pickup. If you have 3 or 4, you can adjust the height and the forward or backward tilt.

First of all take a deep breath. You ahave a million questions about a guitar you don't even have yet. Wait until you have it and then measure all the stuff you are wondering about. PG thickness etc. Be a little more thorough in your research before you ask all these questions. For example, you can find the dimensions of Seymour Duncan pickups ontheir website!!!

Better yet, play the guitarfirst and maybe you will like it as is. Good luck!

You may find that, as a novice, building your dream guitar is a little beyond your reach right now. That doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't try, but it's advisable to ratchet down your expectations a little. For your first project or two, you should be very happy if you don't break anything and that the result is a playable guitar.

As your skills increase, you'll undoubtedly realize you could have done something better, or maybe that you needed to do something better to make it your dream guitar.

The fact that you're running into "LOTS of issues that are way over [your] head" should be a red flag that this is not something you should try yet.

Now, on to your specific questions:


Yes, you'll need a custom pickguard
According to Jack Wells in this thread (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-technical/70484-tele-thinline-build-questions.html), the pickup cavity is .850" deep, just enough for the TB-59 pickup you're looking at. You may find that you need to drill cavities for the height screws that are a little deeper.
F spacing is helpful, but not as absolutely necessary as people might believe. I use a standard SH-1 in the neck of my Tele and it lines up just fine.
The ring doesn't fit in a hole. It surrounds the pickup and covers the edge. I don't use the mounting rings when I put a humbucker in a pickguard. With a pickguard, the choice to use a mounting ring is cosmetic only. I think it looks better without.

I don't know what other guitars you're looking at, but the wide-range humbucker is one of the few pickups with 4 mounting screws. Standard humbuckers have 2. Maybe you're looking at the screws for the ring?

If you have 2 mounting screws, you can adjust the height of either side of the pickup. If you have 3 or 4, you can adjust the height and the forward or backward tilt.


I should have been a bit more clear. I will have a guitar store put it all together for me. I, myself, will not be swapping things out and working with the wiring. Right now I am just looking at all of the pieces because I want a solid plan before I commit to buying anything. I am trying to make this my "dream guitar" because my grandma surprised me by saying she'd give me 1000 to buy one. If I don't get my dream one now, i'll have to wait a long long time.

Thank you for the cavity dimension! I knew I could find the pickup dimensions but this was much harder to figure out!

As for the screws, that makes sense. Thank you. I guess i'm just curious why the pickguard would have 4 screw holes when I'd only use 2 of them. I think I realize now that on the custom pickguard that I would need, I would have to have them put in two screw holes instead of four around the corners of where the pickups would be. Am I right? I would rather not use the ring.

First of all take a deep breath. You ahave a million questions about a guitar you don't even have yet. Wait until you have it and then measure all the stuff you are wondering about. PG thickness etc. Be a little more thorough in your research before you ask all these questions. For example, you can find the dimensions of Seymour Duncan pickups ontheir website!!!

Better yet, play the guitarfirst and maybe you will like it as is. Good luck!

I just feel like I should have a solid plan before I spend all that money. I have played the guitar and the pickups just aren't hot enough for me as is, but I still love the punchiness of the thinline. So I know I'd want to make some changes, but I want to find out if the changes I'd like to make are even possible first.

Since this is at least your second thread about this guitar my guess is that your board name is some indication of how anxious you are about all of this. Still, I'd take the advice offered and just take it one step at a time. Ask all the questions you need and collect as many different opinions as you need.

I admire your organized approach but if it doesn't all get done tomorrow granny won't pull the plug on you will she. I've been working on modifying one of my Tele's for three weeks now and I still won't have it done this weekend. Take your time and set the purchase back if you can't be certain you can customize it as you like.

Like they say, "measure twice, cut once".

Since this is at least your second thread about this guitar my guess is that your board name is some indication of how anxious you are about all of this. Still, I'd take the advice offered and just take it one step at a time. Ask all the questions you need and collect as many different opinions as you need.

I admire your organized approach but if it doesn't all get done tomorrow granny won't pull the plug on you will she. I've been working on modifying one of my Tele's for three weeks now and I still won't have it done this weekend. Take your time and set the purchase back if you can't be certain you can customize it as you like.

Like they say, "measure twice, cut once".

This very moment is actually my band's name. I was debating deleting the other thread because I didn't want to seem annoying by having two threads. After the first pickguard thread, i realized I needed a lot more help.

If you're having someone put it all together for you, why don't you just have them put it together with the pickups and pickguard you want the first time around? Leave the procurement of custom parts to your tech, that way it's their responsibility to make sure everything fits and works properly.

It happens pretty regularly that someone sends me a bunch of parts to assemble into a guitar, and they may have purchased parts that don't fit together perfectly, forgotten parts, etc., and I'm always trying to suggest gently that it might be better if they just bought their parts through me.

Listen to Koko, you'll live longer...
:)

If you're having someone put it all together for you, why don't you just have them put it together with the pickups and pickguard you want the first time around? Leave the procurement of custom parts to your tech, that way it's their responsibility to make sure everything fits and works properly.

It happens pretty regularly that someone sends me a bunch of parts to assemble into a guitar, and they may have purchased parts that don't fit together perfectly, forgotten parts, etc., and I'm always trying to suggest gently that it might be better if they just bought their parts through me.

Well I would buy the guitar from guitar center, and then I planned on buying the humbucker, trembucker, and pickguard online so that I could bring them to guitar center and have their shop put it together. I'm just nervous that I'll buy all the pieces and they'll say its not possible.

You're in Chicago, so there are far better places than Guitar Center to do this.

You need to find a smaller shop that does in house repairs and parts sales and talk to the guys there and tell them what you want to do. If you're a good haggler you'll find a place that will give you a deal on having them mod a new guitar purchased through them.

At GC, you're likely to pay more, and potentially be less than enthused with the results.

I did a mod on my Thin-line. Check it out. Click on my pic. I used it last sat. for the first time on a gig. It was very easy to get use to. Nice sounding Seymour Duncan pick ups. Had a custom pick-guard made for the project also changed the pots and wires,jacks. Good luck.