Does awesome pups in a cheap guitar = polishing a turd????

[triantobebrian]

I’ve got a beautiful Warmoth Strat with Bareknuckles in it (& the guy that assembled it for me stayed it’s the nicest one he’s ever heard - credit to the company here...)

I want a tele - for the crazy little thing called love / honky tonk woman sound.  And it can be any colour as long as it’s white. 

I’ve found an unmarked Squire at a cash converters - haven’t even played it. It even has a slight Birdseye maple neck - it looks great.  I own a Hughes and kettner Grand Meister - and the shop there has a H&K triamp that I’ll run it through.

So...  would putting Bare Knuckles into a cheap guitar be a waste of effort / money?

I’m Ssuming the body of this thing is cheap - with no tone.
Anyone know what they’re made of or have any advice?

Cheers.


So

[Dave Sloven]

If it is the Classic Vibe or one of the other better models then it is worth doing up.  If it is one of the cheaper Squier ranges then no.  The Classic Vibe, Vintage Modified, and various signature instruments are generally good instruments. The nut and wiring seem to be the weak points but are easily replaced.  If it was a model with a tremolo like a Strat I might be more cautious but a Tele should be fine in terms of hardware, as long as it is one of the better models.

[triantobebrian]

Ok.
Thanks.

I've got a few really expensive guitars; a Gary Moore Les Paul; a custom Warmoth Strat; a Gretch that I've modded....

This is my 'cheapest' guitar - but I love it.

So what pups would I need for the classic tele sound?  Think Brian May playing Rogers Tele (as ordered by the band) for the Solo of Crazy Little Thing Called Love'

or Stones' Honky Tonk Woman.

Thanks.

[Dave Sloven]

I'll let Telerocker answer that, he's our resident Telecaster expert.

Probably the Brown Sugar or Boss I would imagine

[Telerocker]

Maple or rosewood fretboard? Body is alder I presume.

I like the Blackguard 52. The neck has a stratocaster type of tone, a little atypical. The bridge pickup has the 50's beefier tele tone with enough topend.  If you want more twang, I would pick the 55 stagger or the Country Boys. The 68 is really bright, suitable for dark sounding tellies.

You can play Stones with all these pickups. I did Brown Sugar last night with a splitted Crawler. Guess what? That sounds real tele-esque. ;-)

[Dave Sloven]

The Classic Vibe Teles were actually pine ...

[gwEm]

I fully agree with Dave. The cheapest Squiers aren't worth doing - the ones with plywood and the affinity series.

I've never liked any Squier I tried, though recently I played on a Vintage Modified series hardtail Jazzmaster and got on with it well.

If you like a guitar I always think its worth improving! I never owned a guitar I didn't customise.

[triantobebrian]

Thanks all.

[Dave Sloven]

In my experience if the serial number starts with ICS it's usually pretty decent

That's the Cort factory in Indonesia