Today, I ended up changing strings, shimming the neck, and doing some other adjustments on the guitar. While I had it unstrung, I thought I'd peek under the hood to see what was in there.
First thing I did was look at the bridge pup to see what kind of baseplate it had (if any). Check it out:
I don't know if the baseplates are normally that thick on Teles. That's some serious copper.
While I was at it, I was checking out the support docs and wiring diagrams. I found out that it's wired just like a classic Tele is, but with the connection to the body for the shielding. These come stock with a .03uF cap off the tone pot. I dug around in the parts boxes for some caps to see if there's something I could use to experiment with, and found a bag full of Sprague ODs. I decided to try a .047uF to get closer to the original specs of .05uF to see what it would do to the sound.
I was a little underwhelmed with the neck pickup in the stock wiring, and it was a little lifeless compared to the bridge. With this new capacitor and a slight raise of the neck pickup, I'm noticing a little better dynamics from it and am liking it more. I can really dial in that Tele jazz sound I was after now.
Speaking of pots, I was expecting some cheap, tiny mini-pots that I had in my last Squier. Not here, this one has the nice, full-size Alpha pots that I use in my amp builds. Very nice!
Anyway, the other pic I have is of my first 'mod':
It's a little overkill on the cap, but it's what I had on hand. I doubt it had any major affect on the guitar, but I can tell a slight difference just due to it's higher quality. I may try a 225P Orange Drop in there next. Maybe a .022uF and a .047uF to see what I like more.
Anyway, I'm really liking this guitar more and more as the days go on. I can't wait to finally get my BF amp done and try this through it now!!!
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Originally Posted by melody
