Anxiously Awaiting

No, not Transmission Control Protocol. The Telecaster Project. Remember this post? Anyway. I brought the old girl to ATL with me and opened her up to see what I was up against. Ironically, it turns out that there is no way to put a humbucker in the bridge position without some secret routing. I’m not comfortable with that, so scratch the original pickup plan. Introducing the new pickup plan:

The Neck Pickup

Yep. I’m still going with the Fat Bastard in the neck position. I have been cruising the Telecaster forums and Harmony Central and most people say that their favorite pickup config is a P90 on the neck. We shall see how this monster sounds when I get it wired. I asked the only guy that reviewed the Fat Bastard on Harmony Central some questions, and turns out he has an extra that he would be willing to ship me so I can test it! Sweet deal!

I am slightly worried that I might have to rout the neck pickup position. There appears to be enough room in there for the FB to fit. Let’s hope that its not too fat. Else I drop the cash for a professional routing job.

The Bridge Pickup

My two options here are either a Rio Grande Dirty Harry for Tele bridge or a Fralin Steel Pole 43. I think I’m going to stick with Rio Grande to keep the pickups balanced and matched. The DH has semi-P90 output, so it shouldn’t be too far behind the FB. This pickup position is still wide open for debate, but will lean more toward this pickup as I get close and closer to the purchase date for my pickups, unless I find a better choice. Right now I am just collecting the miscellaneous hardware parts I need (to be covered in the next post on this topic).

Control Electronics

This is the only easy part of this project. I need two 500K Ohm potentiometers, a 0.01µF capacitor, a three way selector switch, and an extra input jack. Since the neck pickup I am using will be really hot I chose to go with a two volume control wiring schema. This will allow me to dial down the hotter pickup when I need to, and I can do the cool Les Paul ’stutter’ by turning one pickup all the way off and slamming the switch back and forth.

I went with a different style of input jack because it appears to be alot more stable than the traditional Telecaster jack. I will have to drill some holes into the body of the guitar, but no worries. They will be hidden. I also splurged and dropped the cash for some straploks.

Total Investment so Far:

• 2 x 500K Ohm Potentiometers
• Custom B/W/B Pickguard (Humbucker compatible)
• Vintage Black Control Plate
• Straplok Strap Locking System
• Black Brass Telecaster Knobs
• Custom Jack Cup for Telecaster

I hope this guitar sounds amazing. It’s a helluva lot cheaper than buying a Les Paul, but it is a compromise. I love the Tele tone anyway. I can invest more money in a decent amp. Can we say, Orange AD-30?

Next time: Hardware. Vintage sexy or back in black?