Finished my New Brent Mason Tele

[dibber124]

Really nice work, good job and good pickin' with it.

[sdcb27]

Some damn fine picking and singing Terry, I have went back several times since they were first posted to listen to them. IMHO there isnt enough vids of you jammin!

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by tdowns

I don’t know where in the world you would find a maple capped neck.

I've got one, but I'm keeping it! It pretty much deviates from the traditional Tele neck recipe, though (beefy frets, 10" radius, not too chunky). That thing is straight as an arrow, though, and has zero fret buzz.

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by dibber124

Really nice work, good job and good pickin' with it.

Originally Posted by sdcb27

Some damn fine picking and singing Terry, I have went back several times since they were first posted to listen to them. IMHO there isnt enough vids of you jammin!

You all are way too kind. I hope you have an ugly filter for your computer monitor. Hehe.

Originally Posted by 11 Gauge

I've got one, but I'm keeping it! It pretty much deviates from the traditional Tele neck recipe, though (beefy frets, 10" radius, not too chunky). That thing is straight as an arrow, though, and has zero fret buzz.

Heck yes, I would keep it too. So is that a real Fender neck?

The 10" radius surprises me. You all tell me what you think, but Brent's looks like a 7.25" radius to me.

[11 Gauge]

Originally Posted by tdowns

Heck yes, I would keep it too. So is that a real Fender neck?

The 10" radius surprises me.

No, not the real deal. IIRC, the seller said it was a Torres neck (don't know how I feel about that)...

Yeah, the 10" radius is strange. I don't like to go above 9.5". That half inch extra is really noticable...

It's gonna take a little more work (poly finish - too thick and too dark, and the fret ends are not beveled ), but it really sounds good on all the bodies (at least 2 IIRC, been a few years now) that I've bolted it to. Kluson-oids are excellent, and I've got a Tusq nut on it (I like these just about as much as bone).

[tdowns]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

So now I'm wondering why nobody is curious about the Brent Mason "under the hood" pic I posted here. I'll never tell.

[tonehead]

Yes Terry,I was wondering,Is that a real pic of the mans' guitar and not a copy? If it is give us the scoop as to how you obtained a photograph with the pickguard removed.Pretty Please?

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by tonehead

Yes Terry,I was wondering,Is that a real pic of the mans' guitar and not a copy? If it is give us the scoop as to how you obtained a photograph with the pickguard removed.Pretty Please?

Yes, that's Brent's guitar. I'll have to go back through my collection and figure out where it came from. I didn't take the picture.

[camaro65350]

Terry-

I'm new to the Brent-thing, but I'm after parts to build one. I've built other guitars, (perhaps I should say I assembled them, you're way more handy then I would be with power tools...) so the building itself is no big deal. I've checked out Warmoth, and they have routing displays that illustrate that they in fact could to the mini-humbucker route, strat route, and tele route, provided that the route for the mini-pickup ring is the same size as a p90...having a little difficulty getting that info, but I'm trying to track it down. Looks like they would make pickguards to fit also. Do you have any insight or suggestions about proceeding down this line?
I dig Brent's playing as well, just don't have the time to seriously cop too much of it-but I am way envious of his ability. I'm more of a guitar chaser, though...
I've read the thread-great stuff. If you had it to do over, would you still do the primer color, or would you do silver, as blue-water-girl suggests?
BTW, I've seen some Tele's up here in Missouri (not Valley Arts) that are already set up like Brent's, but I'm fairly certain the guy playing them didn't build them. Does Glaser make these for public consumption?
Mark

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by camaro65350

Terry-

I'm new to the Brent-thing, but I'm after parts to build one. I've built other guitars, (perhaps I should say I assembled them, you're way more handy then I would be with power tools...) so the building itself is no big deal. I've checked out Warmoth, and they have routing displays that illustrate that they in fact could to the mini-humbucker route, strat route, and tele route, provided that the route for the mini-pickup ring is the same size as a p90...having a little difficulty getting that info, but I'm trying to track it down. Looks like they would make pickguards to fit also. Do you have any insight or suggestions about proceeding down this line?
I dig Brent's playing as well, just don't have the time to seriously cop too much of it-but I am way envious of his ability. I'm more of a guitar chaser, though...
I've read the thread-great stuff. If you had it to do over, would you still do the primer color, or would you do silver, as blue-water-girl suggests?
BTW, I've seen some Tele's up here in Missouri (not Valley Arts) that are already set up like Brent's, but I'm fairly certain the guy playing them didn't build them. Does Glaser make these for public consumption?
Mark

Welcome to the TDPRI camaro65350 !!

Well, I made my own router templates for the mini-humbucker. I only needed one size since the body route is the same as the pickguard route. If you are not into router work, I'm not suited to give the best advice on finding someone that will do it for you.

I was ignorant at the time about the color, so it gave Julie the opportunity to laugh at me about it (as you can read in an earlier post). It looked gray to me on TV, and I read that it had been painted with automotive primer. So, I painted it the darn thing with automotive primer or course. I didn't know they made silver primer. Most primer is flat gray. But to answer your question, yes, I would do it in silver primer if I could do it over.

[whsjosh]

I've also finished my Brent Mason Mod project last week. It takes nearly 10 years. Because I'm so lazy to cut the pick-guard.



Mine is 1997 American Standard B-bender Telecaster. Not the Nashville Tele. Same or similar pickups and wiring as Brent's Tele, but body material and B-bener system are not the same. It's alder body and person-green B-bender.

I was lucky to see Brent and his tele 3 times here in Japan (I was also lucky to help him to find a coffee shop in Osaka!!!!). Although his amps were rented Black Hot Rod Devil and SF TR (Osaka) or just a Hot Rod Devil(Kyoto), his tele sounded soooo nice. Especially, the front pickup sounded so sweet and jazzy!!! I wanted to have one like his, so I did!!!


Yottie

[nhojie]

awesome guitar!hands down,bro!

[GilmourD]

Terry, did you swap out the middle pickup at some point?

[dcn3]

I got the Valley Arts Brent Mason...and besides the headstock not having the true tele shape and name...it really does play well....I love the guitar.

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by whsjosh

I've also finished my Brent Mason Mod project last week. It takes nearly 10 years. Because I'm so lazy to cut the pick-guard.

...

Mine is 1997 American Standard B-bender Telecaster. Not the Nashville Tele. Same or similar pickups and wiring as Brent's Tele, but body material and B-bener system are not the same. It's alder body and person-green B-bender.

I was lucky to see Brent and his tele 3 times here in Japan (I was also lucky to help him to find a coffee shop in Osaka!!!!). Although his amps were rented Black Hot Rod Devil and SF TR (Osaka) or just a Hot Rod Devil, his tele sounded soooo nice. Especially, the front pickup sounded so sweet and jazzy!!! I wanted to have one like his, so I did!!!


Yottie

Excellent work. Do you have the exact pickups? Sound clips?

Originally Posted by GilmourD

Terry, did you swap out the middle pickup at some point?

No sir. It is a SD Red Hot Stack from the 80s. I had that pickup set in another guitar just to experience it. I later made a gray body guitar to use it on.

[gtrman911]

that looks great!!!!!!!!!

[braderrick]

Originally Posted by tdowns

You all are way too kind. I hope you have an ugly filter for your computer monitor. Hehe.



Heck yes, I would keep it too. So is that a real Fender neck?

The 10" radius surprises me. You all tell me what you think, but Brent's looks like a 7.25" radius to me.

Hey Terry, where did you get that pic? I assume that is Brent's real deal. Got any more? I finally found one of those '80s red stacks and am going to try and assemble one of these.

[GilmourD]

Originally Posted by tdowns

No sir. It is a SD Red Hot Stack from the 80s. I had that pickup set in another guitar just to experience it. I later made a gray body guitar to use it on.

Ah, I was just wondering because in the first pictures it appears to have a rail polepiece and in that last picture it's a solid cover with the Duncan logo.

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by braderrick

Hey Terry, where did you get that pic? I assume that is Brent's real deal. Got any more? I finally found one of those '80s red stacks and am going to try and assemble one of these.

I just pretty much walk up to Brent and say, hey man let me take your pickguard off, and he does whatever I say.

Here's another:

Originally Posted by GilmourD

Ah, I was just wondering because in the first pictures it appears to have a rail polepiece and in that last picture it's a solid cover with the Duncan logo.

Yes, that was a transitional Seymour Duncan thing. They are both rails, but Brent's has a solid cover over the rail. I found a set of those on eBay several years ago and I wish I had bought them. Either pickup from back then I believe are equivalent.

[braderrick]

That's cool Terry, the last time I went to see Brent and players I took some pics of the tele and touched it once when he wasn't lookin'. Maybe I'll try and get him to let me take the control plate out next time. Or maybe YOU can help me... The pickup I found is the old version with the solid cover just like his. I'm planning on getting a gibson mini humbucker and a bridge pickup like his original with Alnico 5 magnets on the three low strings and Alnico 2 magnets on the three high strings. They call this the nashville studio or 5/2 tele pickup now. Anyway I've heard that Seymour Duncan has changed the phase of their pickups or maybe the color coding of the wires since this old one was made. Do you know anything about this? I know if it is just out of phase I can switch two wires to correct it but if the wires are color coded differently I won't know which one's to switch. To test this I checked the pickup with the white and red wires tied together. With the black wire hot and the green tied to ground I got about 6.7k ohms. However with the black wire tied to ground and the green wire hot it read like 13.2k ohms. Shouldn't these two numbers be the same? Or is this even how you reverse the phase? Maybe I have a short in one of the coils? Thanks for any help, sure would like to see the inside of his control plate as it is different from the signature model with a stack in the bridge and a push/pull pot. Thanks

[tdowns]

Originally Posted by braderrick

That's cool Terry, the last time I went to see Brent and players I took some pics of the tele and touched it once when he wasn't lookin'. Maybe I'll try and get him to let me take the control plate out next time. Or maybe YOU can help me... The pickup I found is the old version with the solid cover just like his. I'm planning on getting a gibson mini humbucker and a bridge pickup like his original with Alnico 5 magnets on the three low strings and Alnico 2 magnets on the three high strings. They call this the nashville studio or 5/2 tele pickup now. Anyway I've heard that Seymour Duncan has changed the phase of their pickups or maybe the color coding of the wires since this old one was made. Do you know anything about this? I know if it is just out of phase I can switch two wires to correct it but if the wires are color coded differently I won't know which one's to switch. To test this I checked the pickup with the white and red wires tied together. With the black wire hot and the green tied to ground I got about 6.7k ohms. However with the black wire tied to ground and the green wire hot it read like 13.2k ohms. Shouldn't these two numbers be the same? Or is this even how you reverse the phase? Maybe I have a short in one of the coils? Thanks for any help, sure would like to see the inside of his control plate as it is different from the signature model with a stack in the bridge and a push/pull pot. Thanks

I can't arrive at an explanation for your resistance readings. All those SD stacks as far as I know are two independent coils with a bare ground wire. For general uses, the two coils are connected in series with the red and white wires tied together. Reading resistance between the green and black wires should be about 13K no matter which one you tie to ground. Perhaps the bare ground wire is making connection to the white or red wire back at the pickup by mistake.

The info I have collected says that Brent stopped using the 5/2 pickup a long time ago and is using the vintage stack.

The unanswered question for me is if the switch is series vs. parallel or simply a coil split. The Gibson specs here indicate it is series vs. parallel.

Valley Arts Brent Model

But the Valley Arts wiring diagram I got from Tony King shows it wired as split coil. He opened his Valley Arts up and took pictures of it to confirm that it was wired like the diagram. I'm perfectly happy with the series-parallel function and don't intend to change it. Splitting the coils will take me back to noise condition, and I don't want that.