Questions about Squier Affinity Tele Special BSB

[bl4444]

Hey guys,

I've been checking out the site for a few weeks, and there's a lot of great information on this site, but this is my first post.

Just this past week, I purchased a Squier Affinity Telecaster Special Butterscotch Blonde from Musician's Friend.



It's my first Tele, and I'm very much interested in upgrading it. I had some questions that I either haven't been able to find the answer to, or that I didn't quite get a complete understanding of in my searches on the site.

The specific upgrades I'm looking at right now are:

Wilkinson Compensated 3-saddle bridge. (possibly string-through body)
New pots and switch (plus switch cap and dome-top knobs)
New pickups
New jackplate


In the interest of being brief and clear, (but not curt, never curt) I'll just put my specific questions about each in a numbered list.

1.) Bridge - I spoke to two techs at shops in town about installing the bridge, both said they could do it for about $50. One advised me against it because of the give and take on intonating individual strings. When asked about doing the string-through, one was unwilling to do it, the other said his shop wasn't equipped with a drill press.

My question is, I think I could handle the install on the bridge myself... but I'm curious if the Wilkinson is a good choice? Does it improve tone? is it good quality? how well does it go on the Affinity? Any thoughts by anyone who is using or has used them would be awesome.

How do you determine proper location for mounting the bridge? Does it simply bolt in where the existing bridge is, or will it need to be repositioned and new screw holes drilled? If so, how do you determine where to position it?

Is the string-through worth pursuing? I could probably find access to a drill press if I looked hard enough, or keep searching for a tech/luthier who could do it.

2.) Switches/pots - I'm not sure if I want to stick with a 3-way switch, or do the 4-way switch mod... Anyone have any experience good or bad?

Any recommendations on pots? I figure I'll get CTS pots, but I'm not sure whether I should stick with 250k or move up to 500k...

The sound I like is vintage clean and pure twang... I like bite and growl more than moan and shriek. I'm partial to blues, classic country, rockabilly... no metal/hard rock and I like a really simple clean sound... maybe just a trace of gritty distortion now and then.

Any advice on combination of pots/pickups to play in that ballpark?

3.) Pickups - I've been reading about the keystones, toneriders, and GFS pickups... but haven't been able to find a lot of sound samples on them. Anyone have any advice on which ones would put me in the neighborhood I discussed above?

4.) New jackplate - I hate the rectangular plastic jackplate on the Affinity, but I think the jack cup or the oval chrome jacplate would leave exposed hoels where the current screws sit on the corners. I was thinking about replacing it with a rectangular chrome plate like this one, but was concerned that it may be too wide, given that the Affinity is a bit thinner than the standard Tele. Anyone have any experience with this or other alternatives?

http://store.guitarfetish.com/recuouplchfr.html


Finally, any advice anyone has about anything that I haven't mentioned would be great... particularly as it pertains to replacing parts on the Affinity, and any parts that will or won't be direct replacements, but will require drilling or filling, or leave exposed screw holes, etc...

I'm just trying to save myself some purchasing missteps... buying things, only to find out they don't quite fit, or require body mods that are more unstable or more extreme than I want to make.

I realize this is a lot to ask in my first post, I'm just very excited about my first Tele (even if it is a Squier), and I want to do it right.

I truly appreciate any help or wisdom any of you guys have to offer.

[bl4444]

Oh, one other question I had about the controls... I was considering getting a pre-wired control plate from eBay...

I'm comfortable soldering, I even installed a mod chip in my old XBox... that was some pretty tight soldering requiring a fairly high degree of precision, and it still works like a champ... but frankly, I've got no love for it.

I can do it if need be, but if the cost of the parts comes up within $10-20 of a pre-wired plate, I'm just as content to drop the bill and save myself the headache.

Anyone know if the control plate on the Affinity is a direct match for the stock Tele control plate? Would it be a simple screw-in?

[mellecaster]

Just my take on your Post....I would upgrade the Pots and capacitor to CTS 250K Pots w/ a .022 Cap....an Oak-Grigsby 3-way Switch and Barrel Tip...A Switchcraft Jack w/ a Flat Les Paul Metal Plate....some decent strings, and a good Set-up, and leave all else Stock for awhile, and chose your Amp to give you a Nice Clean Sound...but that's just me.......

[bl4444]

Originally Posted by mellecaster

Just my take on your Post....I would upgrade the Pots and capacitor to CTS 250K Pots w/ a .022 Cap....an Oak-Grigsby 3-way Switch and Barrel Tip...A Switchcraft Jack w/ a Flat Les Paul Metal Plate....some decent strings, and a good Set-up, and leave all else Stock for awhile, and chose your Amp to give you a Nice Clean Sound...but that's just me.......

While your way certainly sounds much cheaper and much more sensible, it also sounds much less fun. :)

Any specific reason?

Admittedly, my reason for wanting to change the bridge is that I simply think it looks much nicer... (plus as a top-load, putting strings on the current bridge is a pain. You have to bend the tip and kind of fish it in from the back and up into the saddle... not exactly torture, but just annoying enough to justify putting in the cooler 3 saddle bridge)

My thinking was if I'm going to do it, I may as well do it now, before taking it in for a proper setup. Rather than taking it in for a setup... ultimately replacing the bridge, and then taking it in for another setup.

As for the pickups, I actually don't mind the bridge pickup. It's really pretty decent, especially for a $170 guitar... but the neck pickup seems pretty muddy and kind of weak.

The main reason I was considering the 4 way switch mod was just that if it was a worthwhile mod that I would likely end up doing later, I figured I may as well do all of it while I'm replacing the switch and pots anyway.

The LP jackplate you linked looks nice, but I measured my current jackplate, and in comparison, I think that one would go edge-to-edge on the width of my guitar, and not quite long enough to cover the screwholes on the length of the curent plate.

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by bl4444

While your way certainly sounds much cheaper and much more sensible, it also sounds much less fun. :)

This is what I like to hear!!! Why do it?? FOR FUN!!!

Anyhoo, my first Tele was a BSB Affinity and I did many of the mods you're considering and more. First, The Bridge:

There are basically two styles of bridge plates (not the saddles, 3 or 6, the metal bridge plate). The Vintage style is mounted to the body with FOUR screws that lie in front of the string-through holes ("front" here meaning closer to the neck). The Modern style bridge plate is mounted with THREE screws which lie behind the string-through holes (away from the neck). The two styles are NOT generally compatible. Here are pics from Callaham to demonstrate the styles:



Note that the location of the mounting holes is different AND the string-through holes are in different places relative to the nut. You can't just drill new mounting holes and use the same string-through holes. Bummer!

The Squier BSB Affinity uses a Modern bridge plate. That means you need to find such a plate if you want to drop it in without drilling any holes. There is only one bridge plate that has Modern holes (3 behind the string-through holes) yet looks Vintage. I think it's made by Glendale or Callaham, but I can't find it on their websites right now. If you search TDPRI, you should find it. Because of the different locations of the mounting screws and string-through holes, this hybrid bridge looks weird to me (you may love it). It's longer than a normal Vintage bridge, to reach the further-back holes. It looks stretched by about a half-inch.

So. What about that lovely Wilkinson bridge at GFS that most people got (I did!)? It's a plain Vintage bridge. That means I had to drill FOUR holes in my Affinity. How do you know where to put it? Well, the bridge pickup needs to fit in the hole in the body cut for it. I used the back-edge of the pickguard as my guide. I kept it the same distance as the old bridge (3-4mm) and it Just Worked. Here's that famous bridge:



BUT! The three original holes from the stock Modern bridge are visible behind the new Vintage bridge!! Oh no!! Some plug them, some use wood putty, others leave them. I left them. After a few days I stopped noticing them.

Because I have both sets of holes, I swapped bridges every time I changed strings for a while. To be honest, I can't hear a difference. It's cosmetic for me. I'm sure other can hear a difference and there's lots of subjective science about bridge plate thickness, ferrous-ness, etc... I think it's mostly Voodoo.

It's a bad angle for the bridge, but here's my Affinity:

If you look at the corner of the bridge plate, you can see one of the Modern holes peeking out from behind it.


The String-Through Holes

Like you, I long for the "real" Tele string-through holes. Like you, I don't have a drill press. I have NOT attempted it by hand. If I get a drill press, I will. Until then, I'm happy with the convertible Wilkinson bridge. Jimmy Page and Jim Campilongo use top-loaders, and they sound better than I ever will. I largely don't think about it anymore.


The Electronics

No biggie here. I actually kept the pots, cap & switch on my Affinity. I've swapped them on other guitars, for the joy of it, but not here.


The Jack Cup

I installed the GFS Electrosocket-style screw-in jack cup. I did NOT fill the four little holes. They're still there. I like the rectangular chrome plate GFS sells better than the LP-style football plate. YMMV.


The Pickups

I installed a GFS Vintage Alnico 50s bridge pickup and a P-90 in the neck. I LOVE that bridge pickup and installed the same in my other Tele. I had to use a router to expand the neck pickup cavity for the P-90. Talk about nervous!


The Rest

Other things I did: I tinted my neck (I hate that glaring white maple) and installed vintage tuners and button-style string retainer. All-in-all, I was going for a more vintage look (albeit with a P-90). It's a great guitar and a fun modding platform.

[aunchaki]

Here's the headstock:



(I can only put 4 photos in a single post)

I love my Affinity! Let us know what you do with yours.

[crowden]

Here's what I have done to mine so far:

• replaced the bridge with a Wilkinson compensated bridge
• replaced the nut with a hand cut phenolic (bakelite) nut
• replaced neck pup with GFS Alnico Fatbody Oversized Polepiece neck pup (I37)
• replaced bridge pup with GFS Vintage Alnico 62 bridge pup (I30)
• replaced the flimsy 3 way switch and 500k pots with Alpha 3 way switch and 250k pots from GFS.
• replaced the plastic LP style output plate with a chrome LP plate from GFS.
• replaced the knobs with dome top knobs
• rubbed the pickguard down with #0000 steel wool to give it a Bakelite look
• leveled and crowned the frets

The one thing that I still want to do is replace the tuners with kluson style split shaft tuners. You need the oversized bushings too if you do this.

What aunchaki said about the bridge :)

I didn't do the string-thru either, you need at least a drill press with a 12" swing, a meticulous attention to detail and patience...

Sorry I don't have any sound clips for the pups but I am pretty certain from how you describe what your looking for in a neck pup that you would be pleased with the GFS I37. Then again YMMV...

You might try to (carefully!) remove the chrome cover from the neck pup first. This usually brightens up it's tone.

And, I too love my Affinity!

[collinsman]

Originally Posted by aunchaki

Here's the headstock:



(I can only put 4 photos in a single post)

I love my Affinity! Let us know what you do with yours.

Just curious - what did you do to change the color of the neck ? nice job btw...

[aunchaki]

Originally Posted by collinsman

Just curious - what did you do to change the color of the neck ? nice job btw...

ReRanch Fender Burst Yellow to get the color (this is a tint, NOT a finish), then clear satin nitro on top of it, after I'd gotten the color I wanted. 3 or 4 coats of satin.

Before I started, I rubbed the neck with alcohol, to remove any finger oils. I sprayed straight over the frets, when it was done, I masked each frte with take and buffed the nitro off with a steel-wool pad.

[mellecaster]

As Gilda Radner's character on SNL... Emily Litella said many times..Never Mind....

[Doug Ferguson]

I've modded a couple of Affinity BSB, and they are fun to do. On the first one I put in new pots and cap (.050mf), Original Vintage P/U's, a Wilkenson Comp vintage style bridge, Kluson vintage tuners, jack cup, and a 5 hole black guard. Wanted to make it as close in looks to an early 50's as possible. I also tinted the neck using a method developed by aunchaki -- and like he says about the vint bridges, there will be 3 mounting holes left beneath the new bridge. I filled the ones on mine and dabbed a little Amber Burst on. Doesn't exactly match the body color, but it masks the holes well enough. Did the same with the jack cup to mask the jackplate mounting holes. I left mine a toploader, since I didn't want to mess with drilling the holes for a string through.

The second BSB's become a stealth Esquire. Pretty much the same mods as on the first, but with a GFS Repro '60's hot bridge pup in the bridge and a GFS Alnico Fatbody 10k overwound in the neck. It's running 2 1meg pots and a .022 cap. It sounds very mellow, though; not the least bit ice-picky.

Have fun modding yours. They'er great little guitars.

[aunchaki]

Doug!
I love the white Esquire pickguard on your other BSB. Nice job!

[Sollophonic]

I got mine for a song really, it is a 1998, with a rosewood fingerboard. It has two pretty high output pickups, so all I did, was remove the cover of the neck one, and cut out a slot so the pole pieces show through. Instant change in tone, no more muddiness, more trebble and bite from the thing, which I have measured at 8.3K, which is pretty high for a Tele neck p/u.

I have also wired the switch to give parallel operation, and as I usually do, replaced the nut with a bone one with wider string spacing. Oh and the old grotty, white scratchplate went as well, replaced by a homemade black one.

Plays and sounds superb now, for a guitar which I got for £50.

I would suggest just playing the guitar for a bit, and mods will suggest themselves to you as you play it more.

[Doug Ferguson]

Originally Posted by aunchaki

Doug!
I love the white Esquire pickguard on your other BSB. Nice job!

Thanks. The guard's actually mint, but it turned white in the photo. (I'll try to get a better one up.) But white looks so nice I may get one. Then I'll have mint, black, tortoise shell, and white; or enough pickguards to make 3 more Esquires!

Sollophonic, that's a sweet looker you've got there!

Here's a slightly better shot of the pickguard. (I keep meaning to reset the aperture on my camera to get better closeups....)

[hockey_head]

i just drilled out the stock bridge for the string thru, you're right restringing that stock bridge sucks.
i have twenty five years of machining behind me so doing this mod was easy,
but very worthwhile. anyway just use the string holes in whatever bridge you choose as the template for a 1/8 drill. drill all the way thru the body on a drill press. flip the guitar over and using the 1/8 holes as drill guides, drill them 5/16 with the depth stop on the drill press set for 3/8 depth. tap in the ferrules and voila. this is the abridged edition.
new tuners helped my affinity alot also.
i love the thing, i really dig the smallish frets.

[Gary in Boston]

Great thread! I love what can be done with these guitars. It is, in so many ways the spirit of a Tele or Squire if you prefer.

I wonder if Fender knows they are are really selling guitarvkits when they sell these guitars?

Gary

[Sollophonic]

I'm not going to change the bridge on mine just yet, as because it is a late 90s Squier it is through body stringing, and I cant bring myself to leave holes to be filled just yet. I may though find someway of getting three saddles on it, but for now I just love the fact that these BSB Squiers look so nice, are easily modded for little outlay, and because they are so cheap to start with both new and used, you dont worry so much if they acquire a few dings as they get played and used.

One other mod I might do is reverse the controls, either that or replace the switch tip with one I dont keep bashing my hand on.

Its funny, because on mine my initial thoughts were to "Esquire" it, but that front pickup just surprised me so much with its output and tone. Do all the Squiers from this time have such lairy pickups? So I left it in there and I think this is my only Tele where I play it more on the neck p/u. My others tend to be played either bridge or middle, or have the front p/u replaced with something brighter. This one is a gem though!

[Doug Ferguson]

Originally Posted by Sollophonic

One other mod I might do is reverse the controls, either that or replace the switch tip with one I dont keep bashing my hand on.

I like the barrel tips because they sit a little lower than the top hats'. I've got mine pushed down as far as possible on the blade, so it's about the same height as the control knobs -- nor does it pop off when switching.

The pups in yours sound like they're pretty good. My only complaint about the Affinity Series is the stock pickups -- too thin and weak. But hey, for a $170.00 guitar I wasn't expectng Bill Lawrence ! I've heard complaints about the stock hardware, but it's fairly good in my estimation. I've hung on to the tuners and bridges for future mods or builds.

[collinsman]

Originally Posted by Doug Ferguson

I like the barrel tips because they sit a little lower than the top hats'. I've got mine pushed down as far as possible on the blade, so it's about the same height as the control knobs -- nor does it pop off when switching.

The pups in yours sound like they're pretty good. My only complaint about the Affinity Series is the stock pickups -- too thin and weak. But hey, for a $170.00 guitar I wasn't expectng Bill Lawrence ! I've heard complaints about the stock hardware, but it's fairly good in my estimation. I've hung on to the tuners and bridges for future mods or builds.

Really all you need to do is change the pups and you have a decent guitar you can even gig with.

[Doug Ferguson]

Originally Posted by collinsman

Really all you need to do is change the pups and you have a decent guitar you can even gig with.

Yep. That's why one has Original Vintage pups in it and the other (the Stealth) has an overwound tele bridge in the neck and a Repro 1960's in the bridge. Both are highly gigable, and are occasionally the main guitars I use.