TRICK OUT MY TELE......

[arkjack]

I got a standard American Telecaster a few months ago and have been using it in recording and saying "it shouldn't ... but this sucks..."..... I get horrible humming on all my effects settings with unusable tracks there is so much distortion.... It played pretty clean at the store.... but now the intonation is way out.... basically.... it sucks.....So after thinking it through (and being a long-time Tele player...) I figured that I don't need to trash it.... I need to Trick it.... So I'm doing a little research on my options to take to the master luthier and have him customize it out the wahzoo.... So I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who has any on what the best configurations are for tuners, pickups, bridge plates... rewiring .... I'm looking to get the classic country Tele sound without all the hum and noise on an axe that keeps the strings in tune and stays with intonation ..... Rock on...ArkJack

[jeffe]

I was reading somewhere that some problems like hum and buzz etc on guitars can be helped by using an earthing lead.It makes sense I suppose.However, I've never seen one, and don't know where to get one.You might find one by doing a bit of searching, or maybe some of the guitarists on here will be able to advise.

[sgs4u]

Quote:So I'm looking for suggestions from anyone who has any on what the best configurations are for tuners, pickups, bridge plates... rewiring .... I'm looking to get the classic country Tele sound without all the hum and noise on an axe that keeps the strings in tune and stays with intonation ..... Rock on...ArkJackI have a thinline. It's noisier than hell, especially with all the software amp simulators & stuffI find I can reduce it's noise substantially by attaching a wire with alligator clips on it between my volume knob and tongue. Much less noise, but you have to put up with the shocks. But you should have seen the one that got awayl

[booker]

Try this site out: edromanguitars.comI know they can trick out most any guitar. They're in vegas. Ed has some nice displays of his work, and he does list some pricing.

[kouly]

Yea, I was in Eds shop and there is just an impressive selection of everything. I was thinking about getting one of his hand made custom job for about 15,000. Fortunatelyreality came back around and tapped me on the shoulder.

[booker]

LOL . Yeah...well... I did say he was in Vegas. But I didn't think everything was terribly expensive. I dunno...I've only seen the web site. Allen bought one of his creations. he seems to like it.

[kouly]

Ed thinks his stuff is the best. Which I think is ok if you want that kind of guitar. He has a team of people and if you have the right one make it for you it probably is one of the best. I was a bit put off when he came to town becasue you had to make an appointment just to come into the store. He has lightened up a bit, except on the pricing. He has a nice collection of famous peoples guitars and his store is the biggest in town so it is worth a look. Just bring a friend to keep you grounded becasue it is something like going into one of the strip joints. All these beautiful creatures going "pick me"!!!!

[edteja]

From a guitar tech I work with.... A lot of times, it’s a fairly simple thing, like a loose ground wire ‘tween the bridge and electronics. I’ll sometimes solder a small wire from the plate in the underside of the lead pickup to the back of the volume control. However, a lot of newer Teles (60s-on) never had the “reflector plate.” The original concept was that a copper-plated steel plate would “reflect” the magnetism from the pole pieces and increase the strength of the magnetic field. You know as well as I do that real early Teles sound different from newer ones, which is probably a result of the ash body (painted ones are alder, which is less dense), irregularly wound pickups, the tendency of early Teles to be strung with .011 or .012 strings, and variations in maple density in the neck. Even with modern electronics, Lace Sensors, and overwound pickups, ya just don’t have the mass of metal moving through the magnetic field when you use .009s.

[bc]

Have a pro make sure your pickups and grounded properly. 'Lately I've been using a Zion with Joe Barden's in the studio -- zero hum. I love my tele, but the Zion with the Bardens gets the nod most of the time these days. With it, I can dial in any color I wish, from Les Paul oink, to Tele bite. Love that Tele neck tho, so I'm probably going to replace the current pickups (stock) with some more Bardens. Anyone else making a killer pickup for Tele's these days?bc

[normbowler]

I have a mexican tele that I am getting good results with. A couple things to think about --1. make sure your pickups are properly grounded. go to a guitar tech you trust. I had grounding checked and fixed on my bass and it cost me 60 bux. (seattle usa)2. Check your gain structure throughout the signal path when you record. You don't mention whether you are recording a mic'd amp, a direct preamp, or recording the guitar direct and doing all effect and preamp inside the computer. BUT -- no matter which you do, if at any point in the signal chain the gain is low, that puts it near the hum and noise at the bottom of the signal range. At some later point you have to turn it up to get loud enough, and you turn up the signal AND the noise. The rule is "hot but not too hot" (i.e., not overloading but in the upper third of the gain range) at every step along the way.3. if you are recording direct (pod, sansamp, etc), make sure your line from your preamp to your sound card or board is *balanced*. The easiest way to do this is to get a direct box (often called a DI for direct insertion) that converts your unbalanced high impedance signal on 1/4" plug to a balanced low impedence signal on XLR. ART makes a passive DI for under 30 dollars; go to your nearest music store that sells PA gear and ask about passive DIs.4. The one trick I have done to my tele that makes me happiest of all is I put a coil splitting humbucker in the bridge. I used a seymor duncan that is designed to drop into a tele bridge slot. I kept my stock neck pickup. the duncan and the fender are electrically opposite, so we had to go back to the bench to get the phasing right, but I now have the following sounds --A. classic fender single coil neck pickup.B. classic fender single coil bridge sound (humbucker with push-pull volume poiled out in coil tap mode, running as a single coil)C. humbucker bridge pickup. high gain, more mids, LESS HUM. great for heavy distortion when you want to shred or throw power chords. Push-pull volume pushed down for humbuckerD. Classic fender "middle position" both pickups on single coil with the push-pull up. Because the two pickups are opposite polarity, you get significant hum reduction.E. fender single coil neck with humbucker bridge. push-pull down. Ballsy. Like no twin-single-coil tele you have ever heard.Since I don't have an all-humbucker electric, dropping the SD little 59 in my tele gives me more sounds out of one guitar, and I have two settings where I get major hum reduction over a standard mexican tele with little or no routing cavity shielding.Best of luck tweaking your axxxenb