SVL's telecaster mod thread (P90 and quick connect control unit) in pictures

[sunvalleylaw]

and words I suppose. For those interested in the project that came out of my neck pickup not working and my interest into a P90 in the neck, which led to interest in a "quick connect" type of wiring kit/control unit. I am part way through the project now (At the time of this first entry)Day 1: , and have kept some notes that I am now posting.

History: Basically, my neck pickup wasn't working consistently, probably due to a bad solder joint. So I used it as an excuse to put a P90 in the neck, and replace the bridge pup with one wound to match the P90, both from Bryan Gunsher of BG Pups. I also am using a 4 way switch solderless wiring kit from Santellan Sounds. Here we go!


Stock guitar with new parts laid out.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1607_zps38d48bff.jpg



New pickups:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1610_zpse5ba71ab.jpg

Guitar gutted:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1611_zps8bfedaab.jpg


I didn't know Warmoth was in Puyallup. I didn't pay attention when I ordered online. I have driven on 112th in Puyallup many times in my yute!

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1614_zps6faca2d3.jpg

Take out extra wood in control cavity to make room for new Santellan unit. I used a chisel, and my drill to hog out a little bit:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1618_zps4c6d0293.jpg


Dry fit to make sure it all lines up:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1617_zpsf39d441d.jpg

Painted raw wood to make it look nice, and pulled wires. Bridge set pretty close, neck will need some additional foam as I am not happy with how the pup sits in the hole. Needs to get flattened out, and maybe raised a little. Right now I am just using the foam from under the stock pickup, but it is not wide or thick enough. I will see if I can find an old mouse pad to cut up.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1620_zps80d4da0e.jpg

Close up of wiring kit with switches to set for pot values, and wiring connectors:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1622_zps4da49f75.jpg


Wiring diagram for me to figure out.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/4WayWiringDiag_zps6fce2d16.jpg

I will get some new foam, and order some new knobs as the stock ones don't fit. The wiring unit has larger shafts. That's all for this entry.

[sunvalleylaw]

First day notes: Yeah, so here is some of the stuff I just didn't know going into the project, like that tele pickups use springs and/or foam to provide tension on the adjustment screws. Before this, the only guitar I ever opened up was my strat, and of course there, the pickups are attached by screws to the pick guard, and you adjust with them. In teles, usually the neck pickup is screwed down into the wood, with either foam, or springs, or both used to provide tension against the pickup, so you can use the screws to adjust height. Of course, some have the strat style mount, but not most. You probably know how the tele bridge pickup is screwed to the bridge plate with machine screws, and you adjust with them. I didn't though.

That is one reason I am doing this thread. For some of us (me), the obvious is not so obvious. My internet searches did not reveal any definitive answers. For example, when I searched about how to mount the neck P90, foam, and/or springs came up. Most people seem to use foam from whatever source, an old couch, mouse pads, etc. So I bugged DVM about the questions where I could not find sufficient answers. He has been very generous in responding to me and my dumb questions. So, I tried to use the foam that Fender used under the stock pup, but it was not enough. So, I will get some more stuff, and go again, and take more pics. Hopefully it will help another nooby modder to have it all in one place from start to finish.

I am going to have to learn now about set up too, since I took everything apart, and will have to get it all lined up again. Dang! I didn't think about that, and my friend had it all set up with the strings nice and low and no buzzing. I think I can find links about that stuff. I might as well learn how to do it. When I find the info, I will post it here too for reference.

[sunvalleylaw]

Here is an explanation of the quick connect wiring and control kit.

Basically, it is a pre-wired, solderless system so you can swap pickups in and out, and with switches, you can set the pots to different values (250 vs. 500, etc.) so you can customize the wiring if you have humbuckers or single coils or whatever. Plus, it is made out of good stuff. When I have time to get into that part of the project, I will post more about it. Meanwhile, here is the wiring diagram, and the site (http://www.elek-trix.com/collections/telecaster/products/elek-trix-for-telecasters-with-a-4-way-lever-switch ) with their description:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/4WayWiringDiag_zps6fce2d16.jpg

[sunvalleylaw]

Day 2: A new day. Finishing the project at least in rough form. here is the stock CVC neck pickup with the foam used by Squier, as you can see, it is used instead of springs to provide tension against the pickup so the adjustment screws that go into the body of the guitar can be used to raise and lower the pickup.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1646_zpsc97b3f25.jpg

Here is the new P90 with the old foam. It was not enough to provide enough tension, and also allowed the pickup to tilt in the hole.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1647_zps64c5eea2.jpg

So I found some new foam from some packing that I rough cut to fit using the pickup cover as a guide. I trimmed down a little from here. You can see the old foam for comparison.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1650_zps13ff407e.jpg

Then, because I saw some guy do this while replacing a P90 in some video, I got springs to put through holes in the foam, so that both provide support and tension.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1652_zps40f7e5d1.jpg

Here is the wiring kit wired up. The switches were easy to follow and set once I took a close look at it. They will be able to adjust so I can experiment. The solderless connection unit was easy to use, well labeled, and provided secure connections. Really worth the money to me, especially when you consider the quality of the pots and electrical parts used.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1659_zps424b520f.jpg


Put back together. I still need to receive the new knobs, and will tweak the adjustments and height of the pickups etc. Of course I stripped one of the adjustment screws and will have to go get another. I am such an idjit with stripping things. Grr. Oh well, the hardware store is not far tomorrow.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1658_zpsad1bd40d.jpg


Rock machine tele now in the line up!

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/IMG_1660_zps392757e1.jpg


The new pickups definitely changed the voice of the guitar. Much more rock voiced and much less country or fender single coil sounding. Seeing as I have the strat that sounded similar on the neck, I like it so far. As I said, I have some tweaking and experimenting to do to fine tune the sound. I will likely lower the pickups some, and move up from there. I only have had a few minutes with it so far. But it definitely spreads the sound palette with my guitars, and is going to be really cool! The pickups are definitely stronger and fuller than the stock ones, and sound like will be very musical once I have it all dialed in.

But I am also glad that I can experiment with other pickups given the ease of swapping pickups in and out with this electrical unit. All sorts of possibilities. I will post one last all put together pick once the knobs and switch cover are in, and on.

I hope this is hopeful or interesting to someone thinking about modding their tele. Cheers!

[Monkus]

Very Brave....

Nice !!!

[piebaldpython]

You are a much braver man than I, Gunga Din!! Just reading your story gave me anxiety. Glad you have those skills to be able to do this yourself.........that and the patience to do it.

Very glad to hear that you like the BG Pups.....considering how much I touted them, I would feel bad if you didn't like them.

[marnold]

The single biggest thing for me is pickup height. Until I got some Dimarzio Area 61s, I didn't realize how much of a difference it can make. The good thing is that once you've got it where you like it, you can pretty much forget it. Moving the pickups away from the strings a bit more might give you a little less full-bore rawk characteristic. Although why you might want that is beyond me :)

[sunvalleylaw]

Thanks guys! Yeah, I am happy with it and excited to get it all adjusted. I will enjoy playing with the height adjustment to find some sweet spots. Right now, I am going to make the neck lower relative to the bridge a bit, and play with things from there. Unfortunately, I could not find a replacement screw today (for the one I stoopidly stripped being in an hurry), even in Twin Falls, ID. I have a set ordered from Allparts, but will have to wait a couple days. I could push the pickup down and grab it with a pliers, but I am saving that move for when I have to get that screw back out if I have trouble backing it out with the screwdriver.

Regarding courage, hardly! But that's the thing that is so cool about these CV Squiers: first, they are pretty darned good out of the box for a really reasonable price; second, they are not that expensive so at least I don't feel so petrified about trying out modding/hot-rodding on them a little bit. And with this wiring kit, it will be easy to experiment even further. It makes it so easy. Or put it back to original configuration if I so choose. But I doubt that. The strat is really close enough to those tones, and the new tones are going to be an awful lot of fun to play with. Rawk Tele indeed!!

[mrmudcat]

looks sweet....and complicated...but im losing skills daily so that is not saying much!

[sunvalleylaw]

Hang in there Muddy! And thanks for the complement!

[duhvoodooman]

Looks like it's coming along well, Steve! And as in any mod project, it's the problems & unforeseen difficulties that offer the best learning opportunities. May sound trite, but it's true....

[sunvalleylaw]

Looks like it's coming along well, Steve! And as in any mod project, it's the problems & unforeseen difficulties that offer the best learning opportunities. May sound trite, but it's true....
Thanks DVM. And you are so right. that is part of the motivation of the thread, other than journaling for myself: to share info I learned along the way, and to inspire. "Well if SVL can do it, and he can barely wipe his ***, well I can." ;) As I have said, I was nervous to start out, but once I got into it, and made a mistake or two, I realized, that there was little I could do that was not fixable just by going back a step or two. Also, the process was forcing me to learn things I should know how to do to maintain my own gear.

The wiring kit thing made it very easy to go back and just disconnect and then reconnect, such as when I reversed the hot and ground on my bridge pickup and was getting no sound. Took less than 5 minutes to pop the unit back out and correct it. And I did not have to get out soldering stuff, which to me is worth a few extra bucks.

Also, it will be good to learn to do a set up too. The simplicity of a tele, along with the lack of fear of "ruining" some extra valuable classic instrument is great. The main thing was to be careful by using towels or other materials to protect the surface of the guitar, and to try and not have the screw driver slip and gouge something. And even that was not that big a deal. You can see in the pics how I used a dry washcloth to set the wiring kit down on the body of the guitar when I was working on it.

The new screws are on the way, along with Fender amp style knobs, and I feel well ready to learn to set this thing up. Then I won't have to wait until Spud comes around to adjust the action/relief etc. on my guitar!

[duhvoodooman]

...The new screws are on the way, along with Fender amp style knobs, and I feel well ready to learn to set this thing up. Then I won't have to wait until Spud comes around to adjust the action/relief etc. on my guitar!
Is the guitar really in need of adjustment of the action or neck relief? I can't see where you've done anything that should have affected those things.

[sunvalleylaw]

Well, it is really just the high e string that seems to be fretting out/muting when I bend a full step at 9 or 10 or so. Maybe a little bit on the B string too. But I kind moved the saddles around some with my pudgy fingers when I was working on the bridge and bridge pickup. The barrel on the high e side seems pretty low. Maybe I moved it somehow. I may just raise that a hair and see what happens.

Also, I left the strings off it for several days between project days, and shut it in the case without strings during that time. I was thinking that might have affected things a little. The symptoms seem to be easing a little since the strings have been on a day or two, and when I put 10's on, that might change things again.

[sunvalleylaw]

Tweaking the low saddle seemed to cure things. I will probably leave the relief alone for now. Spud has the overall action set up nice and low with no buzzing.

[Duffy]

How would you compare the sound?

Is the neck really more useful now with a lot of different tones available; a good mellow vibe all the way up to a serious growl? How did the whole wiring assembly affect the sound of the bridge pickup? Did the sound change? Is the neck P90 RWRP so you have noise cancelling in the middle switch position? Or whatever switch positions that you have on that assembly? It looks awesome. What happened to the chrome barrel control knobs?

I'm thinking this should be a very fun guitar to play and very satisfying to just plain look at.

Nice job going on there.

[sunvalleylaw]

How would you compare the sound?

Is the neck really more useful now with a lot of different tones available; a good mellow vibe all the way up to a serious growl? How did the whole wiring assembly affect the sound of the bridge pickup? Did the sound change? Is the neck P90 RWRP so you have noise cancelling in the middle switch position? Or whatever switch positions that you have on that assembly? It looks awesome. What happened to the chrome barrel control knobs?

I'm thinking this should be a very fun guitar to play and very satisfying to just plain look at.

Nice job going on there.

1, I am not going to say "more" useful, because the neck pup in that guitar was already pretty useful. it was just too close to the neck pup in my strat. This one is definitely on the more fat, growly side, with a good, fat mellow clean. I will know more once I get the pickup adjusted properly. I anticipate a really nice jazz tone going quickly up to full growl. Right now, if I turn on the ZYS or Bad Monkey, even at moderate gain, it becomes a full throated roar immediately. So the entire voice of the guitar moved a couple/few clicks over to rock zone. But I can teel when adjusted properly, Bryan Gunsher's pickups will be very musical too. Very fun!

2. I replaced everything, the bridge pup too, so the whole sound changed. I may throw the stock bridge back in just to compare at some point. Overall, the guitar is much louder and stronger sounding, and as I said, a much fatter rawk vibe rather than a clean, country vibe as a stock tele with Alnico V's is.

3. Yes, I believe so. He wired the pickups to go together like on a normal tele, and there is no noise in the middle positions.

4. The stock knobs did not fit as they are for narrower shafts and are push on. I have Fender amp style knobs coming that are held on with a knob and are built to American shaft spec. They should hopefully get here tomorrow or Friday.

Yes, it will be fun! In this configuration, it is very different from anything I own, and spreads my tonal palette quite a bit. A solid body rawk guitar with a fat sound the loves to growl! The clean sounds are going to be nice and fat as opposed to the stratty cleans on my strat, and will be discovered more as I get it all properly adjusted. It is fun now, but sounds just a bit over-saturated in the neck, like having recording levels turned up too high on your old tape deck. Once I get the new pickup adjusting screw, that will be fixed. if you look closely at the pictures, you can see that pickup is still pretty high. I will be spending some time with it in the next couple weeks and will follow up when I get to know it more. :D

[sunvalleylaw]

Got the replacement screws in and am much happier with the pickup height and adjustment.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/null_zps79460209.jpg

Nice view from the "workbench" today.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/null_zps71275d87.jpg

I like the new amp style knobs and shorter switch tip too.
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/null_zpsa7c43f4a.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w92/sunvalleylaw/null_zps431ef4d2.jpg

All done and super happy with it! Once I got the pickup height dialed in it immediately gave me the sounds I was looking for. I also put 10's on as I use on my other guitars, and I like that too. Still rock oriented as compared to stock but much better balanced between pickups now. Great growl and raw tones but I can dial back and clean it up now too. . Stoked!!

[Monkus]

Very Nice !!!! great Job, (Wish I had your gumption...)

[Tig]

Very Nice !!!! great Job, (Wish I had your gumption...)

Steve is selling his gumption recipe in the lobby. :dance


What a cool project. :AOK I'm glad it turned out so well. I'd like that control kit for my T style.

[sunvalleylaw]

:D I would really encourage anyone who is interested in trying a tinkering project to do something similar. These Squier teles are a perfect modding project. Good enough to not be putting lipstick on a pig, and simple enough to do a beginner project with. After all, it's a tele! About as simple as it gets!

So get up your gumption and take on your own personalized tele project! It was really fun, and I highly recommend it! Maybe this thread (and all DVM's great threads and info), will help! :dance

[Duffy]

That guitar is really nice. Does it noise cancel in the middle switch position?

By the way I hope you are out of the danger area as far as that fire near Sun Valley goes. It is making the news back East here and they say a lot of homes have been evacuated.

Beautiful view from your deck by the way. Very beautiful lake.