Squire Tele Deluxe Bender

[Dogbear]

A friend of mine was given one of these for free when it was found in a storage locker after the contents were sold for non payment of the rental fees.





Since no one I knew of had converted one to a P/G bender system and my friend really wanted a b Bender, I thought I would give it a shot. The first problem was clearance from the bender hub to the switch on the upper bout. That turned out to be a non issue as I ended up with over 1/2 inch. I also discussed this project with forum member and installer Brian F and he gave me some hints on dealing with the bridge. So basically I copied a Nashville B Bender by using an offset saddle, drilling another hole for the offset screw and using the original hole for the string. I had to slot out the offset saddle to allow the string to pass through to the bender hub.

Nashville Saddle


Tele Deluxe Saddle

[Dogbear]

Next was determining the B line and location of the hole for the hub. I ran a B string down the neck through the center of the B hole in the body to determine my B line.



Next, using a backplate (much easier than measuring) I detemined the location of the hole by alligning the plate on the front of the guitar.

[Dogbear]

I then drilled the tower hole and detemined with a template the location to place my router template. Upon starting the rout, I noticed that this wood called "Agathis" gave off a real stink when cut and that the finish used on this guitar was so thick that it sounded like cutting formica when the router went through it. Bottom line....totaled carbide router bit... and lots of stink....

[Dogbear]

I painted and sealed the raw wood on the inside of the channel (not shown) and installed the bender and screws.



Assembled the guitar and it works as advertised.




I also installed inserts for machine screws in the neck, recut the nut, filled the old strap hole with a ebony colored wood button, fret leveled and recrowned the frets. There may be some who would say this is overkill for a $299 guitar, but all the cost he will have in it is in the Hipshot P/G bender. It gets delivered on Wednesday.....

[Thundersleet]

That's pretty awesome. I have the P90 version of that guitar.

[BrianF]

Awesome job!!!

[Chet Johnson]

Great job.

[jd_elam]

Very nice work!

[TEXXBEND]

Hello...

This Deluxe is really attractive.Beautiful look.

I had a Deluxe/Fender several year ago.

The bridge had been change, and after a year of use, I sold it.

Today, I regret this move.

[J. Hayes]

I've got the Fender version of that guitar, same finish and all. I thought my collection of benders was completed but now you've got me thinking....JH in Va.

[Dogbear]

thought my collection of benders was completed

J Hayes, it was something different than I had seen before. Fun to do....

I delivered the guitar back to it's owner today and he was extremely happy to join the B Bender ranks. This Squire was a light guitar to begin with and with it's alluminum back plated Hipshot P/G installed, it was only about 2-3 oz heavier than before. The owner actually thought it was lighter. This was the first Squire that I have routed and I can tell you the finish was harder and thicker than I have experenced in the past. I did tweak the bender a little and installed leather pads on the upper and lower contact points instead of the rubber ones that come with the unit. The rubber ones tend to fall off for some reason and then the complaints about clunking start.

Brian asked me about the router that I was using as most pro installers use a larger one. I have other larger routers but this 1/2 hp trimmer router works great, giving me control and precise depth adjustment. Also works great for binding. For those thinking to install a P/G bender, it is really not that hard if you are fairly skilled with wood working tools and can make correct measurements. Make a mistake and it's usually pretty ugly. If in doubt, let one of the pros like Brian (Brian F) do the install for you.

[asatfan]

Nice job, Dogbear. I'll bet he's gonna love it!