Classic Vibe Upgrades?

[rob5755]

Love the CV my wife got me for Christmas. A couple of issues with the pots, but nothing a Callaham cryo control plate won't cure in the short run. Other than that, this is one REALLY sweet Tele, now that I've had the time to play for a couple of days. I'm thinking of 'investing' in upgraded saddles (compensated), Bakelite 5 hole pg and vintage-style slot screws ala the Callaham screw kit (except for the whopper Chinese phiilips head screws holding the neck on...no siree...ain't fiddlin' with those)..

Don't get me wrong....there is nothing WRONG with this axe. I'm looking to selectively 'upgrade' certain things to increase the 'vintage vibe' fidelity because I am so impressed by the overall quality of the body and the neck. Comments and ad hoc Tele-oriented abuse welcome...

[his dudeness]

beware of crappy jack plate. mine is very very loose but i havent changed it out of fear of losing originality. i need to get a backup before i pull the damn thing completely off

[viking]

So far I have levelled the frets , not that it was needed , and lowered the profile of the nut. The nut material is on par with what Fender uses , a modern plastic type of some kind , not unlike a Tusq nut.The slots were cut exactly right , first time I have seen that on a new guitar.
What problems have you had with the pots ?
To me , they look like the ones I usually buy to upgrade other guitars , LOL..

Future plans : I really like the pu´s , but I have a SD Broadcaster in my Affinity , and I would like to hear it in the thinner vintage-style bridge plate of the CV. Maybe a bakelite pg , some coarse knobs , could order both from Callaham, hmmm.....Probably an Electrosocket and a Switchcraft jack. If I had a CRL switch on the shelf I would probably have changed it already , but I havent got any at the moment.

[RodeoTex]

I'd say just paint it your favorite color. Other than that everything seems pretty good and especially for the money.
(I'm a bit frustrated by the color choices. You might have guessed that already)

[TNO]

electrosocket and oversize strap buttons, that's it.

[Carzee]

strings, jack changed out so far.

I brought the CV to learn (with TPDRI mentoring) how to fix/mod/upgrade/build guitars.

pulled triggers: electrosocket, lawrence pups, 3 way + wiring + pots and 5 hole pickguard ordered.

[JDRNoPro]

Only strings to 10s and 1 ply white white pickguard on mine for the mid 50s whiteguard look. Haven't had the desire or need to do anything else (a rarity).

[agony]

The only thing I've done on my CV is to tighten the output jack with some loctite. Now the thing won't budge. :)

Did a slight PU height adjustment, but otherwise everything was so perfect out of the box it was scary!

[his dudeness]

i agree! i barely messed with the bridge pickup and haven't touched anything else. these things are so nice it makes me afraid to mess with its originality and screw up resale value down the line. however im not too keen on lock tite for the jack plate, maybe i could figure something involving felt or foam to snug up the jack without any permanent repercussions (i'd hate to have to scrape red or blue off the wood later if i decide to mess with anything)

[adamjs69]

Originally Posted by his dudeness

these things are so nice it makes me afraid to mess with its originality and screw up resale value down the line.

There will eventually be thousands upon thousands of these things flooding the market, if there's not already and I don't think there's any danger of these becoming a highly sought after collectible 20 or 30 years from now. Nothing you can retire on anyway If the only thing keeping you from modding it is the danger of ruining its originality and resale value, I think you're safe. I say Mod away.

I have two of them on order that are due the first or second week of January (I got a crazy good deal on them, so it's worth the wait) and I plan to HEAVILY modify one (strip, complete refinish, pups, bridge... I'm a "tinkerer" and I want one in another color so I'm going to make that happen myself) and I will probably make the other one a whiteguard Esquire.

[GEISHA]

Originally Posted by rob5755

Love the CV my wife got me for Christmas. A couple of issues with the pots, but nothing a Callaham cryo control plate won't cure in the short run. Other than that, this is one REALLY sweet Tele, now that I've had the time to play for a couple of days. I'm thinking of 'investing' in upgraded saddles (compensated), Bakelite 5 hole pg and vintage-style slot crews ala the Callaham screw kit (except for the whopper Chinese screws holding the neck on...no siree...ain't fiddlin' with that)..

Don't get me wrong....there is nothing WRONG with this axe. I'm looking to selectively 'upgrade' certain things to increase the 'vintage vibe' fidelity because I am so impressed by the overall quality of the body and the neck. Comments and ad hoc Tele-oriented abuse welcome...

I did exactly what you plan to do.
- changed the thick PG for a Fender 5 screw single ply black one.
Much better looking now.
- installed compensating saddles.
That made a valuable change
- slot screws, for the PG and control plate.
And I made a fix on the jack cup.
Can post pics this evening.

[Rollo Greb]

I'm a notorious tinkerer, so I made some big mods to mine. None of it was needed, though. I routed out a hole for a Nashville style middle pickup, replaced the neck pickup with a strat-sized lipstick tube pickup (I wasn't crazy about the stock neck pup and I love these GFS lipstick tubes!). Also put .011's on it and a push pull pot on the tone control for cutting bass as well as treble.

I've killed the resale value, but there's no way I was selling this thing anyway! It's my #1 guitar now.

[GEISHA]

5 screw single ply Fender PG, slot screws and compensating saddles.

[Carzee]

Nice stuff Geisha. Thx for pix.

Welcome rollo, seen the CV Tele Owner Club thread? I hope you have. Thats a lot of mods there.

So far, pups and electric mods are the norm, you don't hear many bridge change outs -they must be pretty good as they are...

[Gary in Boston]

From what I could tell the three way switch is pretty fragile so I would switch that out myself.
Gary

[Scott57]

Originally Posted by GEISHA

...And I made a fix on the jack cup..
.

How did you handle this fix?

[KingPussBlues]

No changes necessary on mine. Put on a set of .010, .013, .017, .024w, .032w, .042w (Memphis XL-Bottom) nickle plated steels from http://webstrings.com/electric_guitar_strings.html

Awesome playing, sounding instrument by itself. I can't put it down.

[Rollo Greb]

Originally Posted by Carzee

Nice stuff Geisha. Thx for pix.

Welcome rollo, seen the CV Tele Owner Club thread? I hope you have. Thats a lot of mods there.

So far, pups and electric mods are the norm, you don't hear many bridge change outs -they must be pretty good as they are...

Yep, I've seen that thread. It was the main reason I bought the guitar a few months ago! I'd been wanting a Tele for a while as my first decent guitar, and I figured if the folks on this forum have that much praise for it, it was worth checking out. I ended up buying it without even plugging it in, it felt so nice!

[viking]

Im gonna give mine a workout at practice with the band today. So far I like the pu´s but things are often different in a band situation so thats always when the final verdict is made for me....My other tele has a Keystone neck pu , and a SD Broadcaster in the bridge , will compare the two today

[GEISHA]

Originally Posted by Scott57

How did you handle this fix?

Like this
I took the cup out and drilled 2 very small holes (less than 1 mm in diameter) on either side of the cup, not too close and not too far from the edge. Let's say there where the curve of the cup edge flattens. I drilled from the outside otherwise it can't be done.
Next I put the cup back, screwed it tight and drove two tiny, shiny, small headed, sharp, hard steel nails, about 1 cm in length, horizontally (9 o'clock and 3 o'clock) through the holes into the wood. They are hardly visible.
You must really bend your eyes and look into the cup to see the small nail heads.
Beware I mean driving the nails sideways, not into the direction of the front or back of the body, otherwise the nails will protrude!!!
Now the cup is fixed solid, no movement whatsoever.
This is how mine looks.