MIM Upgrades

blackshoe1 · February 28th, 2008, 01:21 PM

I'm new to the forum and also new to the telecaster. I've owned a lot of guitars over the years. Recently I purchased a new MIM Telecaster. I've been reading a ton of posts on this site for the last several months since I purchased my guitar and have found a great resource. Thanks to everyone. Overall, I'm very impressed with the guitar but like all players I'm going to start the modification process. I've already installed new Schaller Locking Tuners which are certainly an improvement over the Pings it came with. Next on the list is the Joe Barden bridge with compensated saddles. Already ordered and just waiting for delivery. I'll wait a couple of months before I take the next step. I'm a firm believer in one thing at a time and see what you think. Next on the list are pickups and upgraded wiring harness. Here's where I need the advice. I'd like to stay with Fender pickups and am really considering either the SCN pickups or the regular Fender "Noiseless" pickups. The only technical difference that I can see is that the bridge pickup on the SCN is "hotter". Any advice? As for wiring harness, I'm interested in a fairly straight forward setup, just one that is "better" than the MIM. Any advice in that regard.

In an attempt to answer some questions that I know will come my way: I have several amps, Fender FR100, Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, VoxAC15, Fender GDec, etc. So my amps are quality enough. As for music styles, I lend myself more to playing the blues, but play everything (except metal) so monster distortion is not a sound I'm after. I'm relying on you Tele Faithfuls to give me sound insight on a solid (won't regret it) electronics set up for the MIM.

ReddRanger · February 28th, 2008, 01:56 PM

Welcome!!

IMO, I think you should hang with the stock wiring harness for a while. For the trouble, you won't really notice a big difference. Despite what others may say, the stock harness has worked fine for me. I'd just concentrate on getting some pickups you like.

Plus, you'll have fun with the bridge swap. It's easy and will yield results right away.

Back to pups, I know you want to stick with Fender. But consider giving the Dimarzio Areas a try for a reasonably priced great noiseless pickup. I say that because I share your musical taste and have been down this road. I have Areas in my Tele and Strat, and love them.

blackshoe1 · February 28th, 2008, 02:25 PM

ReddRanger, thanks for the advice on both the wiring and the pickups. I think the biggest issue I have with the current pickups is what I hear other people refer to as "icepick". Also, the volume output between the bridge and neck pickups is radically different (bridge being substantially louder). I don't notice this kind of difference on any of the other guitars I own (and I own a bunch). The MIM pickups really don't really "hum" too loud so it's not a static noise issue at all that I'm trying to correct. Thanks for your thoughts.

maestrovert · February 28th, 2008, 04:29 PM

Fender's O.V. P-ups are well thought of, i have a couple sets of 'em myself....
an' the stock switch & controls are fine as is.....

blackshoe1 · February 28th, 2008, 04:47 PM

Thanks for taking the time to respond Maestrovert. I appreciate your opinion.

ChicknPickn · February 28th, 2008, 04:54 PM

Welcome to TDPRI. Unbeatable for Tele knowledge.

The first thing I do for a new Tele is shield the pickup and control cavities. On the two Teles I own, I've installed Bill Lawrence pickups. Most recently, I put one of Bill's 290TL noiseless pickups in the bridge of my partscaster. They're just great, period.

http://www.billlawrence.com

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/tele.php

JDRNoPro · February 28th, 2008, 05:08 PM

Lots of good suggestions here. You said your MIM is new (06 or later), which have hotter pickups than previous years. I found that lowering the stock pickup height made a big difference on my 06 re "icepickiness & balance.......you might want to play with that before changing the pickups out.

blackshoe1 · February 28th, 2008, 06:03 PM

Yes, it is an 07 MIM Telecaster. Great suggestions on lowering the pickup height. I'll certainly play with that one. Also, I like the idea of shielding the control cavities. I'm keeping track of the different pickup suggestions, and I appreciate everyone's comments. I've already learned a lot from looking at alot of different postings. I might also try the "treble bleed" rewiring trick I've read about.

blackshoe1 · February 29th, 2008, 10:04 AM

Based on a couple of suggestions from yesterday I tried moving my neck bridge down and did in fact remove the ice pick sound. That was a great suggestion. I still have a dramatic volume difference between neck and bridge and am hopeful new pickups can bring that closer together. I also took a look at my controls since the suggestions I received said they were good enough. I wanted to look at the possibility of moving the lead wire which has been suggested as a good idea from several. I did notice however that my capacitor is the dreaded .05Uf - Z which "Ole Fuzzy" makes a reference to in an earlier thread. He basically said a capacitor is a capacitor unless it's the dreaded Z and even put up a picture. Based on that alone I'll swap out the capacitor since he seems to be the "Oracle". I guess I'll read all the threads on capacitors and pick one that seems to be the most agreed upon. I expect to get my Joe Barden saddle today so I'll post my thoughts on that once I've installed. Again, thanks everybody.

blackshoe1 · February 29th, 2008, 11:03 AM

First off I owe an apology to "ole fuzzy" since he was not the one who posted info on the dreaded Z cap. It was Tdowns and he specifically stated that you do not want the IC503Z cap installed in a lot of telecasters because the +/- is way too high. So I'll stop at Radioshack on the way home and pick up a new .047 and also try moving the lead to the center lug of the volume pot.

Brent Hutto · February 29th, 2008, 11:15 AM

Terry is of course unimpeachable in his technical knowledge but just to clarify...the problem with those crummy disk capacitors is that you may well end up with one whose value is way too high by luck of the draw and/or under certain temperature conditions. But the majority of them will be within a workable range of the value Fender intends for that circuit.

So it's the first thing to replace if you want to modify your wiring but it isn't like every guitar will sound bad until you replace it. At worst it will make the tone pot a little squirrelly in its operation and at best it will work fine.

VWAmTele · February 29th, 2008, 11:43 AM

I liked the pickups in my '06 MIM - but they seemed a bit too hot for traditional (IMO) Tele sound and seemed muddy at times. I replaced them with OV's and couldn't be happier. And they are very balanced (neck/bridge).

I also replaced the six saddle bridge with a standard Fender vintage bridge and a set of Glendale saddles - this made a HUGE difference - much more spank and twang.

strummin67 · February 29th, 2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackshoe1

I still have a dramatic volume difference between neck and bridge and am hopeful new pickups can bring that closer together.

I wasn't fond of the volume difference on mine either. I bought a Seymour Duncan Antiquity for the neck position and solved my problem.

blackshoe1 · February 29th, 2008, 12:10 PM

Thanks guys for the comments about the pickups you chose creating a closer volume match. I appreciate it. As long as I'm going to make the minor wiring modification that seems to be popular I thought I would go ahead and change the capacitor to be tighter in tolerance.

Bangbang · February 29th, 2008, 12:15 PM

I have an MIM and I was going to switch pickups but now thatI am playin through a Bandit I have no need to change them. I am going to use the money to get a Gibson SG.

blackshoe1 · February 29th, 2008, 01:57 PM

Good luck with the Gibson. I've got an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra and I like it quite a bit. Clearly not an SG but I love the neck and the chambered body.

blackshoe1 · March 3rd, 2008, 10:31 AM

Thanks everyone for your suggestions to date. On Friday I replaced the existing capacitor from the dreaded .05uFZ to a .022uF +/- 10% (from Radio Shack) Who know's if the old capacitor was on target or not. Just the fact that it could be off by as much as 80% was reason enough to change it. Soldering is not my strong suit, but with a little wrestling I was able to swap capacitors. I also made the modification suggested by several others by moving the wire to the center lug. Now...did it make a difference? The tone knob certainly seems to have been affected. Whether that's because I got a lower impedence capacitor or moved the wire I'm not sure. What I did end up with was less bass response and rolling the volume knob didn't seem to bleed the treble so quickly. For 20 minutes worth of work and $2.00 I'd say it was well worth the time. On Saturday I received my new Joe Barden bridge & compensated saddle. I got it on ebay for $50 total. It was a direct fit for my MIM. All holes lined up perfectly. It probably took an hour to swap the bridge out and get everything properly tuned, inotated and fix the bridge pickup height. I was concerned that it would take a long time to adjust the saddles, but they were almost dead on right out of the package. I didn't have to remove the saddles to get to the screws (I did have to remove all the saddles to take the original bridge off). They included a little allen wrench for me to adjust the saddle height, but the actual saddle adjustment screws were for a small slot headed screwdriver....no big deal. As for sound or "twang" factor. I can't really hear any remarkable improvement....what I did notice was a significant increase in the sustain. Even with the amp turned off, acoustically, the telecaster is much louder and sustains much longer. Not to mention that it is a nice piece of eye candy. All in all, very pleased with the bridge and saddles.

February 28th, 2008, 01:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	MIM Upgrades I'm new to the forum and also new to the telecaster. I've owned a lot of guitars over the years. Recently I purchased a new MIM Telecaster. I've been reading a ton of posts on this site for the last several months since I purchased my guitar and have found a great resource. Thanks to everyone. Overall, I'm very impressed with the guitar but like all players I'm going to start the modification process. I've already installed new Schaller Locking Tuners which are certainly an improvement over the Pings it came with. Next on the list is the Joe Barden bridge with compensated saddles. Already ordered and just waiting for delivery. I'll wait a couple of months before I take the next step. I'm a firm believer in one thing at a time and see what you think. Next on the list are pickups and upgraded wiring harness. Here's where I need the advice. I'd like to stay with Fender pickups and am really considering either the SCN pickups or the regular Fender "Noiseless" pickups. The only technical difference that I can see is that the bridge pickup on the SCN is "hotter". Any advice? As for wiring harness, I'm interested in a fairly straight forward setup, just one that is "better" than the MIM. Any advice in that regard. In an attempt to answer some questions that I know will come my way: I have several amps, Fender FR100, Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue, VoxAC15, Fender GDec, etc. So my amps are quality enough. As for music styles, I lend myself more to playing the blues, but play everything (except metal) so monster distortion is not a sound I'm after. I'm relying on you Tele Faithfuls to give me sound insight on a solid (won't regret it) electronics set up for the MIM.

February 28th, 2008, 04:29 PM	#4 (permalink)
maestrovert Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: West Branch Mi. Posts: 6,542	Fender's O.V. P-ups are well thought of, i have a couple sets of 'em myself.... an' the stock switch & controls are fine as is..... __________________ Sing the Song Bro' Play on Drummer www.godonthe.net

February 29th, 2008, 11:15 AM	#11 (permalink)
Brent Hutto Tele-Holic Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: South Carolina Posts: 657 6 Photos	Terry is of course unimpeachable in his technical knowledge but just to clarify...the problem with those crummy disk capacitors is that you may well end up with one whose value is way too high by luck of the draw and/or under certain temperature conditions. But the majority of them will be within a workable range of the value Fender intends for that circuit. So it's the first thing to replace if you want to modify your wiring but it isn't like every guitar will sound bad until you replace it. At worst it will make the tone pot a little squirrelly in its operation and at best it will work fine. __________________ ON HIATUS

February 28th, 2008, 01:56 PM	#2 (permalink)
ReddRanger Tele-Meister Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: California Posts: 277	Welcome!! IMO, I think you should hang with the stock wiring harness for a while. For the trouble, you won't really notice a big difference. Despite what others may say, the stock harness has worked fine for me. I'd just concentrate on getting some pickups you like. Plus, you'll have fun with the bridge swap. It's easy and will yield results right away. Back to pups, I know you want to stick with Fender. But consider giving the Dimarzio Areas a try for a reasonably priced great noiseless pickup. I say that because I share your musical taste and have been down this road. I have Areas in my Tele and Strat, and love them.

February 28th, 2008, 02:25 PM	#3 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	ReddRanger, thanks for the advice on both the wiring and the pickups. I think the biggest issue I have with the current pickups is what I hear other people refer to as "icepick". Also, the volume output between the bridge and neck pickups is radically different (bridge being substantially louder). I don't notice this kind of difference on any of the other guitars I own (and I own a bunch). The MIM pickups really don't really "hum" too loud so it's not a static noise issue at all that I'm trying to correct. Thanks for your thoughts.

February 28th, 2008, 04:47 PM	#5 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Thanks for taking the time to respond Maestrovert. I appreciate your opinion.

February 28th, 2008, 04:54 PM	#6 (permalink)
ChicknPickn Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Suffolk, VA Age: 45 Posts: 436	Welcome to TDPRI. Unbeatable for Tele knowledge. The first thing I do for a new Tele is shield the pickup and control cavities. On the two Teles I own, I've installed Bill Lawrence pickups. Most recently, I put one of Bill's 290TL noiseless pickups in the bridge of my partscaster. They're just great, period. http://www.billlawrence.com http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/tele.php

February 28th, 2008, 05:08 PM	#7 (permalink)
JDRNoPro Tele-Meister Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Orrington, ME Age: 58 Posts: 431 1 Photos	Lots of good suggestions here. You said your MIM is new (06 or later), which have hotter pickups than previous years. I found that lowering the stock pickup height made a big difference on my 06 re "icepickiness & balance.......you might want to play with that before changing the pickups out.

February 28th, 2008, 06:03 PM	#8 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Yes, it is an 07 MIM Telecaster. Great suggestions on lowering the pickup height. I'll certainly play with that one. Also, I like the idea of shielding the control cavities. I'm keeping track of the different pickup suggestions, and I appreciate everyone's comments. I've already learned a lot from looking at alot of different postings. I might also try the "treble bleed" rewiring trick I've read about.

February 29th, 2008, 10:04 AM	#9 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Based on a couple of suggestions from yesterday I tried moving my neck bridge down and did in fact remove the ice pick sound. That was a great suggestion. I still have a dramatic volume difference between neck and bridge and am hopeful new pickups can bring that closer together. I also took a look at my controls since the suggestions I received said they were good enough. I wanted to look at the possibility of moving the lead wire which has been suggested as a good idea from several. I did notice however that my capacitor is the dreaded .05Uf - Z which "Ole Fuzzy" makes a reference to in an earlier thread. He basically said a capacitor is a capacitor unless it's the dreaded Z and even put up a picture. Based on that alone I'll swap out the capacitor since he seems to be the "Oracle". I guess I'll read all the threads on capacitors and pick one that seems to be the most agreed upon. I expect to get my Joe Barden saddle today so I'll post my thoughts on that once I've installed. Again, thanks everybody.

February 29th, 2008, 11:03 AM	#10 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	First off I owe an apology to "ole fuzzy" since he was not the one who posted info on the dreaded Z cap. It was Tdowns and he specifically stated that you do not want the IC503Z cap installed in a lot of telecasters because the +/- is way too high. So I'll stop at Radioshack on the way home and pick up a new .047 and also try moving the lead to the center lug of the volume pot.

February 29th, 2008, 11:43 AM	#12 (permalink)
VWAmTele Tele-Meister Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Palm Harbor, FL Age: 53 Posts: 470	I liked the pickups in my '06 MIM - but they seemed a bit too hot for traditional (IMO) Tele sound and seemed muddy at times. I replaced them with OV's and couldn't be happier. And they are very balanced (neck/bridge). I also replaced the six saddle bridge with a standard Fender vintage bridge and a set of Glendale saddles - this made a HUGE difference - much more spank and twang.

February 29th, 2008, 12:10 PM	#14 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Thanks guys for the comments about the pickups you chose creating a closer volume match. I appreciate it. As long as I'm going to make the minor wiring modification that seems to be popular I thought I would go ahead and change the capacitor to be tighter in tolerance.

February 29th, 2008, 12:15 PM	#15 (permalink)
Bangbang Tele-Meister Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Walled Lake Michigan Age: 57 Posts: 295	I have an MIM and I was going to switch pickups but now thatI am playin through a Bandit I have no need to change them. I am going to use the money to get a Gibson SG.

February 29th, 2008, 01:57 PM	#16 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Good luck with the Gibson. I've got an Epiphone Les Paul Ultra and I like it quite a bit. Clearly not an SG but I love the neck and the chambered body.

March 3rd, 2008, 10:31 AM	#17 (permalink)
blackshoe1 TDPRI Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: flemington, nj Age: 51 Posts: 54	Thanks everyone for your suggestions to date. On Friday I replaced the existing capacitor from the dreaded .05uFZ to a .022uF +/- 10% (from Radio Shack) Who know's if the old capacitor was on target or not. Just the fact that it could be off by as much as 80% was reason enough to change it. Soldering is not my strong suit, but with a little wrestling I was able to swap capacitors. I also made the modification suggested by several others by moving the wire to the center lug. Now...did it make a difference? The tone knob certainly seems to have been affected. Whether that's because I got a lower impedence capacitor or moved the wire I'm not sure. What I did end up with was less bass response and rolling the volume knob didn't seem to bleed the treble so quickly. For 20 minutes worth of work and $2.00 I'd say it was well worth the time. On Saturday I received my new Joe Barden bridge & compensated saddle. I got it on ebay for $50 total. It was a direct fit for my MIM. All holes lined up perfectly. It probably took an hour to swap the bridge out and get everything properly tuned, inotated and fix the bridge pickup height. I was concerned that it would take a long time to adjust the saddles, but they were almost dead on right out of the package. I didn't have to remove the saddles to get to the screws (I did have to remove all the saddles to take the original bridge off). They included a little allen wrench for me to adjust the saddle height, but the actual saddle adjustment screws were for a small slot headed screwdriver....no big deal. As for sound or "twang" factor. I can't really hear any remarkable improvement....what I did notice was a significant increase in the sustain. Even with the amp turned off, acoustically, the telecaster is much louder and sustains much longer. Not to mention that it is a nice piece of eye candy. All in all, very pleased with the bridge and saddles.