Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Tech => Topic started by: badgermark on January 22, 2008, 11:39:57 AM
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So my Strat sucks balls, and I love the feel of a good tele, so I have a plan.
What does it take to route out the bridge of a tele? I have a drill and a multitude of assorted bits, and not much else. Is it possible?
Also what would be the best way to mount the pickup? been thinking of either a hardtail bridge and mounting rings, or one of these jobbies (http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/TELE_BRIDGE_HUMBUCKER_CHROME_GTC301C).
Basically want this to be as easy as it can be, by buying a cheap MIM tele and ripping a hole in it and whapping in a dirty great Holydiver.
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wouldn't it be easier to just buy a tele with a humbucker in it?
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I'd use a router for that. If you use the bridge you posted in the link you can always change it back to the original if it's routed neatly.
Have a luthier do it for you, if you have doubts about your own abilities.
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I haven't seen a decently priced tele with a humbucker in the bridge, not counting the Deluxe which is a touch out of my budget right now. A router would be the best bet, but I not have one... Unless I can pick one up for cheap...
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yep, router and template will do it and if you havnt done that before get a pro to do it. I would go for a tele bridge with HB cutout rather than a normal hardtail with mounting ring.
There isnt actually that much wood to remove and it could be done with a series of carefully drilled holes and a chisel but i wouldnt do that unless it was a cheapo guitar or you know you are good with a chisel
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Hmmm I am good with my hands, and I'm pretty sure I could do it if I'm careful... How much is a router anyway? I know little of power tools, can I get a hand-held one cheaply?
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This was the result of my ex MIM nashville Tele converted to a humbucker in the bridge:
(http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/4618/tele1rs2.jpg)
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Very nice Ratrod (what's your real name btw?). Not too sure on the flamed hardwear though... Though red tortoiseshell makes my pants tingle.
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Hmmm I am good with my hands, and I'm pretty sure I could do it if I'm careful... How much is a router anyway? I know little of power tools, can I get a hand-held one cheaply?
I don't know how much they cost nowadays (and can't be bothered to find out :wink: ), but if you do a lot of guitar modding a router is a very worthwhile investment. It's so much neater than using hand tools.
But always, always use a template. I make them out of bits of hardboard, stuck down with double-sided tape. It's a bit of extra work, but you can save them for future projects.
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I'm fairly sure there's a template in the back of the Make Your Own Electric Guiar bok (by Melvin Hisc--k). Well worth the £15 just for the read.
Routers can be picked up fairly cheap. I paid about £35 including some bits (although the bit aren't great).
Beware entering into modding guitars, you'll want to build one, I can almost guarentee it.
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Someone on HC routed out a pickup cavity on a guitar they made with a hand drill and a chisel :lol: It didnt look too neat but when the pickup and surround were on it looked fine.
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Someone on HC routed out a pickup cavity on a guitar they made with a hand drill and a chisel :lol:
Yeah, I fitted a couple of Kahler tremolos that way (in 1985!). But I went back a few years later and tidied it up with my router.
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avril lavigne tele and change the scratch plate and hardware?
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basic routers can be got dirt cheap now but they work so much better with good quality bits rather than the ones they come with. In fact i think they can be quite dangerous with those cheap bits. First they are more likely to snap and nobody wants a piece of metal spinning at 30000 RPM to snap!!. they also are more likely to cause mistakes because they are not as sharp or certainly get dull fast and whenever you make a cut with a dull tool you are more likely to have to froce it and it never ends well. they make dust rather than fine shavings and generally leave a lot more scorch marks
Routers are quite dangerous tools and its very easy to ruin a guitar with a cheap router and a cheap/dull bit.
its possibly not worth buying one, and buying decent bits and having to learn how to use it just for a small job like this... much better if you can find a friend that has one or a small router like a dremel.
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Very nice Ratrod (what's your real name btw?). Not too sure on the flamed hardwear though... Though red tortoiseshell makes my pants tingle.
Pretty isn't it? It's candy apple red. Gold sparkle with red transparant coat.
My real name is Gerlof or Ger for short.
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Being the cautious old sod that I am, I would ask if it is worth getting another Tele to try out surgery on-particularly if you like the one you have.
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If you use the bridge you posted in the link you can always change it back to the original if it's routed neatly.
I just thought - the humbucker bridge plate is wider than a regular Tele bridge, so you can't just revert back to original spec.
The regular bridge is only slightly wider than the Tele pickup, but of course the HB has its feet sticking out at the sides - so the regular bridge won't quite cover the humbucker rout.
http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/TELE_BRIDGE_HUMBUCKER_CHROME_GTC301C
http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/product/TELE_BRIDGE_GOLD_GTC201G
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You could always get a singlecoil sized humbucker? I know you cant get Bareknuckle ones but I've heard some great clips of a lil'59 in a tele.
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i put a little 59 and full sized jazz humbucker in a tele i built recently. the jazz pickup was quite nice but the 59 was very dissapointing next to it. The customer only wanted them because he had them already and i advised him to swap it out ASAP
It wasnt really a bad pickup and i am sure he could have got some good sounds out of it.... but it wasnt the instant hit of BKP's or even the full size jazz in the neck for that matter. shame because the guitar deserved better!!
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Being the cautious old sod that I am, I would ask if it is worth getting another Tele to try out surgery on-particularly if you like the one you have.
This will replace my strat, not my super lovely CB tele. That would be silly.
Mini-humbuckers don't float my boat, I want a HD in it...
I'm most likely going to try it, only need to take a little bit of wood out anyway. Will the tele bridges posted above fit a MIM tele though? I got my ruler out and i THINK they line up. The humbucker mounting screw is a little wider, will the mounting screws fit though?
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Always best to assume that it wont fit properly and you will have to mod something.. you will never be dissapointed if you take that approach, you might even be nicely surprised.
the string through holes are the only thing that cant really be moved easily and i reckon there is a good chance they will line up just fine
never any garantees though... no such thing as standard sized even when you think there should be
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True, Im fully prepared to bodge something together. Don't think the scratchplate will fit though, as the humbucker hole is a bit thicker than the standard base plate. I'll sell my strat and see.
Thanks peeps.
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With those Gotoh Tele bridges, I'm 99% sure the holes for the fixing screws will line up.
But if your Tele has a vintage-style ashtray bridge, the string spacing is probably about 2mm wider than the Gotoh spacing.
I wonder if you could get away with slightly enlarging the outer string-through holes, just drilling down a few mm from the top of the body?
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yeah you can alter string holes slightly but it always leaves you in the position where its more difficult to string up - and actually quite difficult to modify accurately in the first place..
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Well the Gotoh bridge arrived today, seems to fit the mounting holes. Will need to file down the scratchplate slightly to fit. Overall a nice heavy piece of kit.
Just need a tele to get my drilling on. As soon as my Strat sells I shall be rocking a seriously beefy tele. Yahoo.
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It's done. And it's a beast... Shall be posting pictures later, here and in the other forums (need a neck pickup, the world is my oyster...) but it will be put through it's paces in a rehearsal tonight. Yay.
AND I only have a little bit of noticable cracking around the edges of the bridge, not perfect but will do for now.
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So have you got another Tele already, or did you put the humbucker on your old one?
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I bought another one. Racial harmony at it's finest. Check it out!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/unsubtle57/30012008.jpg)