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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 25, 2006 10:30:50 GMT -7
Well, I finally pulled the trigger on my first Telecaster after jonesing for one for approximately the past 2 years. It ain't no Lentz... heck it ain't even a Fender... Won it on eBay, it's my first Tele-style axe and it's all mine, bought and paid for. ;D Rosewood Tele PicsGranted it's probably got some features that true Tele purists will frown upon, such as individual saddles for each string, a rosewood body, etc., but my favorite guitar over the past 2+ years has been my Turser 335 copy, so I figured I'd try my luck with the Turser Tele. On top of that, I've always been haunted by the idea of owning a Rosewood guitar ever since playing a PRS Rosewood a few years back. As I understand it, Teles are about the easiest guitars on the planet to work on, so I plan on doing some work on it pretty much right away, and I'm looking for a few suggestions. I'm definitely going to start with a pickup swap, and this guitar will primarily be used for rock music (not so much country or blues) with Tom Petty in mind as the primary influence for the tones I want out of this axe. That said, any recommendations? Along with the pickup swap, I was also going to go with RS Guitarworks 'Premium Tele Electronics Upgrade Kit.' What else? New bridge suggestions? Other stuff? Just figured some of you fellow Z-natics that also happen to be Tele-nuts might have some valuable advice on mods and upgrades. Thanks in advance for the help guys!
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Post by Bill on Jan 25, 2006 11:00:20 GMT -7
Welcome to the world of Tele's, that's a fine looking guitar. Check out this site for some of the best Tele parts around. The bridge plate and compensated saddles would be a good upgrade for your Turser: Callaham
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Post by zdogma on Jan 25, 2006 11:04:13 GMT -7
Have tried many bridge pickups in the tele. IN the production stuff I love the SD jerry donahue (that's what I use now). Warmerand just a touch hotter than stock. Great for rock and blues.
For boutique stuff the fralin blues special is great.
In the neck I prefer a Fralin strat neck (you have to cut the pickguard), or one of Jason Lollars charlie christian for tele (like a cool looking P90) but you also need to cut the pickguard a bit. Some guitars may need a bit of a rout too. Worth it, tho'
Madison-I would love to try one of those Callaham bridge plates, good suggestion (+1).
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Post by JoeYello on Jan 25, 2006 13:00:39 GMT -7
Peach - Congrats on the Tele!
Teles are easy to work on but make sure if you remove the bridge (to swap pups or something) that you return any ground wires under there. I had some problems with this that made my tele very noisy.
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Post by Curt on Jan 25, 2006 13:36:54 GMT -7
Hey Peach, +1 on ANYTHING from Callaham. The pups mentioned above are solid choices BUT.... for the price, and what your after...stick a set of Rio Grande "Muy Grande" 's in there and rock on ...............
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 25, 2006 13:47:45 GMT -7
Madison, zdogma, JoeYello, and tele62 - Thank you guys for the recommendations, suggestions, and the warm welcome to the 'telecaster brotherhood.' I've got some good mods/upgrades to pursue now! Might have to put a bone nut on it right away too, as I think the Tursers are always plastic. I always love upgrading a cheap axe... just fun to see how much tone you can wring out of a $200 guitar if you guys know what I mean... I'll end up with something like $400 into the whole project, and have a great sounding axe that doesn't matter if I use it as a beer bottle sheild at gigs! (haven't had one thrown at me... yet...)
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Post by rcrecelius on Jan 26, 2006 10:47:31 GMT -7
I'll second that vote for Calaham...nice stuff. BTW, your link didnt work so I'll repost it for others sake.... Rosewood teleHeres a tele I built using Calaham hardware. You might want to check that bridge out...a traditional style may not bolt right up without modifications but...Calaham offers a replacement for the Am STD style bridges also. And BTW...I love these tele pickups made by Jerry Amalfitano
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 27, 2006 9:04:45 GMT -7
rcrecelius - thank you for reposting my link... A little Karma to you for that! I'm not sure why those eBay links change from time to time. Is there a way to post a link to the item that won't move on you? Wow, another recommendation for Calaham too... geez, those parts must be good stuff. Haven't heard anything bad about them yet. Thanks for the tip on the bridge fit as well - I wouldn't have known there are different sizes. That parts tele you put together looks really sweet also. Where did the body and neck come from? I notice that you only have one string tree on there just for the B & E strings... Is that usual? I noticed on my Rosewood tele that it's got two string trees... I figured at the very least I'd have to free the wound "D" string from it's grasps, but maybe I'll just take it off the guitar completely if it's not necessary. I really like the clean headstock look with no logos/writing on it... I'm going to have to find a way to sand the "Jay Turser" off the headstock. I've heard positive things about those Amalfitano pickups before. Which ones do you use? The elite or the plus set? I was just about set to order a set of those Muy Grande's based on tele62's recommendation, but I want to see how I like the guitar and how much potential it has before I take the plunge on more parts... In addition to Tom Petty, a couple other artist sounds that have influenced my love for the tele as a rock guitar -- Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum (particularly on the album 'Let Your Dim Light Shine'), and Counting Crows (particularly on the albums 'Recovering the Satellites' and 'This Desert Life')... Just wanted to cite my sources.
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Post by rcrecelius on Jan 27, 2006 10:05:45 GMT -7
Im not sure why your link didnt work...look at your original post...see only part of the link is in yellow? Its like that last part didnt get put between the tags...anyway, no prob and thanks for the karma Now time to rave a little more about my partscaster. The body is 3lb110z Guitarmill swamp ash body that they finished for me in Mary Kay White nitro. I have to say the pics dont do it justice...it is a thing of beauty. The neck is an Allparts TMNF-FAT neck I got off eBay. The Amalfitano pups are the Tele PLus version...actually tele62 told me about those pups as well as a local luthier had mentioned them so I figured I had to try em. They sound great to my ears...not the ear piercing highend that some of the more traditional tele pups have but they can still be bright...I was concerned when I saw the ohms on his website (10.5 B, 9.5 N)but Jerry assured me that his pups still retain the clarity, just not the harshness...and he was right. And that neck pickup is to die for IMO...roll the tone back a little and it sounds like a tele neck pup...a little darker...dime the tone control and it takes on a very strat like quality...very versatile and useful IMO. Now about that Calaham bridge...it is thicker that tradtional tele bridge plates, which leads to more sustain but less twang. Some country pickers who really want that spanking, bright, twanging sound from their tele dont like the Calaham. It suits me just fine because while I love traditional country and the bright tele sounds commonly associated with it, I have to be versatile and play a little bit of everything so it works well for me. Clean headstock? Those pics were taken the day I got the last pieces and put it together, since then I have added a Fender logo(not an authentic one) on the headstock. String Tree - The older teles only had 1 tree for the E B strings...at some piont in the 60's or 70's they went to the 2 tree setup...probably to accomodate the lighter string gauges that had become common by then. I think 1 is usually fine but some may need that second tree...you'll figure out whether you need the other tree or not after you play it a while.
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 27, 2006 10:55:09 GMT -7
rcrecelius - thanks for the details on your tele! That body is SUPER light - that's VERY cool! Any idea what the neck weighs?
I remember somebody telling me a while back that 5.5 lbs. for a tele is about the weight that might indicate a spectacular axe, if you can use weight as an indicator. Does that sound about right?
The Amalfitano Plus pickups sound cool... Guys, any comments on how they compare to the Rio Grande Muy Grandes for rockin' tele tones?
tele62, sounds like you've used both and your initial recommendation on what I was looking for were the Muy Grandes...
On that Callaham bridge, now I know where to turn if my Tele's got too much twang and not enough sustain for my taste. I'm wondering if the rosewood body will tame the twang or enhance it? Hmmm...
As for the issue with the links, I just posted the pics to my photobucket.com account, so I know they'll stay good.
How do I post a link with text such as "rosewood tele" instead of just displaying the "http://xxxxxx.com" link text?
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Post by rcrecelius on Jan 27, 2006 12:05:55 GMT -7
I dont know what the total finished weight of my guitar is...I do know that it is the lightest guitar I own. Some folks say lighter is better, some say it is possible to be too light. Hard to say...I personally like em lighter. That rosewood should be a darker sounding guitar... but then again, the density of the wood might offset that...I have no experience w/Rosewood bodies so I'll stop here on that topic. POsting links...I typed this up and saved it as a JPEG so you can see exactly what to do...holler back if it is unclear. I'm going to start doing some help documents at work so I figured I might as well practice
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Post by Curt on Jan 27, 2006 12:07:36 GMT -7
Hey Chad, Jerry Amalfitano's pups are awesome, you heard 'em on one song I sent you "Harmonics jump from the guitar.." But to me they don't have that edgy side I think your looking for, my set (a3/a5 hybrid) is VERY smooth, like Jazz smooth, they love drive and are great rock pups, Jerry is real cool and helpful and can wind for what you want, but for instant gratification and $$ savings for your first Tele, you can't go wrong with the Rio's, Straight into the Ghia= the sound your lookin' for IMO, Both are great options and if Jerry see's me playin' up the Rio's I'm sure I'll get a "what the.." call from him !! LOL
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Post by rcrecelius on Jan 27, 2006 13:30:34 GMT -7
Hey Chad, Jerry Amalfitano's pups are awesome, you heard 'em on one song I sent you "Harmonics jump from the guitar.." But to me they don't have that edgy side I think your looking for, my set (a3/a5 hybrid) is VERY smooth, like Jazz smooth, they love drive and are great rock pups, Jerry is real cool and helpful and can wind for what you want, but for instant gratification and $$ savings for your first Tele, you can't go wrong with the Rio's, Straight into the Ghia= the sound your lookin' for IMO, Both are great options and if Jerry see's me playin' up the Rio's I'm sure I'll get a "what the.." call from him !! LOL I'll always suggest Jerrys pups as I tried some Nuy Grande pups several years back and didnt care for them. However, tele62 probably has a better idea of the tones youre looking for than I do...I recognize the names you listed as influences but they dont instantly bring a certain tone to mind...Im not as familiar with them as I would be if you listed Don Rich or Roy Nichols as influences/tones you wanted to achieve.
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dezee
New Member
Posts: 24
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Post by dezee on Jan 27, 2006 13:36:26 GMT -7
Cool looking tele bro
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Post by zane on Jan 30, 2006 17:17:15 GMT -7
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 31, 2006 9:25:03 GMT -7
Guys, thanks for all the comments, advice, etc. I really appreciate it.
Curt, good thoughts on those amalfitanos... they sound great, but I think you're right... not exactly the sound I'm lookin' for.
rcrecelius - interesting notes on tele weight... I'd always just heard the lighter the better, but maybe there is a point where a tele could even get too light?
I'm also tossing around the idea of having Jim Wagner (WCR) wind me a set of tele pickups, as I'm a HUGE fan of his 'buckers in my other axes... The downside is they're $350 a set, and seems a little silly to put those in a $200 guitar.
He actually winds two different sets... One is a set a lot like a broadcaster set that nails the tone on Roy Buchanan's Second Album, and the other set is a hotter, edgier set that he described to sound almost like a P-90.
Not sure if either of those would necessarily even nail what I'm looking for, but in general, his pickups have always knocked me out.
Any thoughts? I should probably try the muy grandes first based on Curt's recommendation and the great price point...
Zane, that's a gorgeous Lentz... I think I dig the looks of that that new electric blue Lentz of yours even more though!
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Jan 31, 2006 9:38:50 GMT -7
Never mind on the pickups guys... I sort of answered my own question there. I found a set of muy grandes at a local dealer for $130, and at that price I certainly can't turn down trying those out first!
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Post by Curt on Jan 31, 2006 21:12:07 GMT -7
might wanna upgrade the rest of the electronics while your at it Chad, you can pick up a prewired control panel from Callaham, ACME,RS guitar works and i'm sure there are others, I highly recommed it.
Let me know when U R crankin' out M.J.'s last dance !!!
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 1, 2006 8:25:06 GMT -7
good suggestion Curt, and I'm step ahead of ya! Ordered the complete premium kit from RS yesterday (not the pre-soldered one, but the other one). Check out these new pots that RS is having made for them called Super-Pots. They have the production version available in 500k already for Lesters, PRS's and the like, but they're still awaiting arrival of the 280k version for tele's... So I talked to Lee (at RS), and for a small fee he upgraded my Tele electronics kit to a "super-kit" with a couple of the 280 prototype super-pots... We'll see how they are! I have RS electronics in my PRS already, and it was really a nice tonal improvement over stock... I ordered a new super-pot to replace the CTS volume pot in the PRS as well. Finally, the ROSEWOOD TELE REPORT. [disclaimer: if you're not interested in reading about a low-budget tele, you might want to skip the rest of my post.] The guitar arrived yesterday late afternoon. For $200 shipped I didn't expect much, and once again I'm blown away by this Jay Turser! This is the lightest, most resonant axe I own... Even more resonant than my 335, and much more resonant than my PRS (and a helluva lot lighter than the PRS too). I don't know exactly what it weights, but it's very light. The guitar is very balanced hanging on a strap as well; even with a relatively slippery strap, the guitar sits comfortably where it should. The entire guitar has a very smooth satin finish that isn't sticky in the least. The neck feels particularly great becase of the finish; far less sticky than my PRS or my 335. The neck is on the medium to small side - not a shredder neck, but it's definitely not a big fat boat neck either. With my relatively small hands, this is a big plus for me, but might not be favored by players with big hands. Did I mention the finish on the neck is SMOOTH?! Tuning machines are extremely nice. Very smooth and accurate, and they apparently have a lower ratio than any of my other axes, as this guitar tunes accurately easier than any other guitar I own. So far the guitar stays in tune even on big bends (I also put big bends nut sauce on the nut right away, so that helps too). Fit and finish is pretty good. The neck joint looks solid and pretty tight (I've seen better, I've seen worse). There are a few very slight blemishes in the wood grain and finish here and there, but it's very passable for the price, and certainly nothing worse than the guitar will have on it after I've had my grubby mits on it for a month! The guitar came set up pretty good out of the box. The guitar came with d'addario 9's (I use 11's on my other guitars, possibly 10's on this one), and the action is a bit lower than I'd like, but that's all personal taste. Neck relief is right on the money, there's no buzzing or deadspots anywhere on the neck, and the intonation was pretty close to perfect. The set up is far more impressive than 90% of the Fender tele's I've played at music stores in the past 2 years. This guitar felt and played great right out of the box. It sounds great acoustically - LOUD and resonant with excellent sustain. The great feeling neck and superb resonance made it a very physically pleasing experience to play this axe. When I pick a note or strum a chord it feels like my whole midsection of my body is vibrating more like I'm playing an acoustic guitar than an electric guitar. Next I plugged the guitar in, where I was expecting 'average at best' from the stock pickups and electronics... I was VERY pleasantly surprised. The guitar is exceptionally quiet (after experiencing quite a few notoriously noisy stock teles), and the pickups are actually quite passable. The bridge pickup has the characteristic tele twang and snarl, and while not overly hot or harsh, has pretty good body too it (not overly thin and nasal)... The middle and neck position sound pretty nice... The tones there are silky and bell-like, but a bit dark and muddy at times. The cleans when rolling back the volume control in any pickup position are pretty decent, and I was surprised that the range of the tone control is very useable - not terribly muddy rolled almost all the way off, and not overly earstabbing even on the bridge pickup with both volume and tone all the way up. While the pickups and electronics are certainly passable, gutting the stock stuff and replacing it all is without a doubt the single best thing I can do for this guitar. I honestly could have taken this guitar out of the case, tuned it up, and been happy with it at a gig the same night without any other work. It was that nice! With good set-up to tweak it to my preferences as well as the electronics and pickups upgrades, I have no doubt this thing has potential to be my number one guitar. I'm a real believer in these inexpensive Jay Tursers... Maybe I'm just not as fussy about my axes for some reason as I am about everything eles, but I've played a lot of Fender Tele's that there was no way I would have put my money on the counter to buy, and after playing this guitar it would have been a no-brainer even if the price was $300 higher! If we're using the harmony-central scale (with hopefully a little more credibility here on this forum) I'd honestly give this guitar about a 7 right out of the box, with the potential to be a 9 after I've done some work on it. If we're taking satisfaction per dollar spent into consideration and considering it only to guitars in the $500 or under price range, I'd say this guitar would even be a "10" out of the box. I also picked up one of those "featherweight" cases for it... The ones with the nylon shell and the form-fitting protective insides. Man, I wish I had these cases for all my guitars! Lightweight, tough, and with a nice shoulder strap... like the a hard case and a gig bag had a baby with all the best attributes from each. One last thing, this guitar came from a store called Sew Fine guitars (I really only know this because they sent me a t-shirt with the guitar). If you decide to buy a Jay Turser, I'd highly recommend them based on this transaction. OK, sorry for the babbling review... You guys should know me well-enough by now to know that I just do that... can't help it. ;D
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Post by rcrecelius on Feb 2, 2006 11:37:52 GMT -7
And what a babbling it was! Glad youre happy with it. I bought a Turser ES 175 copy a few years ago and its actually a decent guitar for the money. I took it to a tech for a fret dress/setup and he was quite impressed with the build quality as well.
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 14, 2006 8:45:21 GMT -7
Well, got my tele gutted and all fixed up with new tone-makin' digs... RS Guitarworks Premium Electronics Kit and Rio Grande Muy Grande p'ups. Very cool tonal improvements! There were a few hiccups with the RS Guitarworks electronics upgrade... nothing major. If anybody ever buys a Turser Tele and is going to do the RS electronics upgrade kit, shoot me an e-mail and I'll let you know what extra steps to expect. It's hard to separate which aspects are attributed to the better electronics (full-size pots, hovland guitarcap, better switch with no pc-board on it) versus the pickups, so I'll just say that the tones are vastly improved over the stock electronics and pickups... This guitar definitely had ice-pick capabilities before, and all that is gone now. Still plenty of cut, spank, punch, and twang on the bridge pickup, but no ice-pick. The bridge pickup has a nice 'sizzle' to it, and is hotter than the stock bridge pickup (drives my amp harder), but some how it's also clearer and more articulate... Much easier to hear individual notes ring out on complex chords now... Overall, the tone is richer and more powerful, yet also clearer. The middle and neck positions are now very useful as well, where as before they were too dark and muddy unless the tone and volume controls were up full. The neck pickup seems far more balanced with the bridge pickup now than with the stock set... I think this pickup set might be producing my favorite 'middle' position tones of any guitar I've ever owned. OK, I usually have a tendency to ramble, so I'm gonna cut it short and just conclude by saying that I'm a lot happier than with the stock pickups and electronics. Thanks for all the suggestions and help guys! Curt - good suggestion on the Muys... they're definitely very Tom Petty. I'm definitely going to stick with these pickups at least until I get the itch to try something different! Anybody tried the Lollars? Particularly that limited edition GVCG set? Been hearing great things about Lollars now that I started paying attention to tele posts! Certainly these Muys are great pickups though, and the price is certainly very likeable! Thanks again guys!
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Post by Curt on Feb 14, 2006 9:24:29 GMT -7
Cool, Chad..glad they work for ya... +1 on the #2 with the Muy's..........Tom Petty tone w/Ghia !!!! You'll be workin' on double stops and open string pull offs in no time !! VERY country friendly rig there too..mighty versatile rig, Muy loaded Tele>cord>Ghia + "I can't get no....Satisfation...." will come out unknowingly as well Curt
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 14, 2006 9:33:51 GMT -7
Curt -- Man, I'm finding you're right on! I just spent another 15 minutes with the tele, and these pickups seem to be HUGELY versatile... I mean, with the volume cracked full open, these pickups have major cajones/stones/muscle, but start to roll it back and there's a bunch o' great shades o' dirty all the way to clean... Holy dynamics too! Pick attack changes are rewarded in a whole new way with this axe versus my other 'bucker loaded axes... These pickups seem to nail Petty, but also as you said 'Satisfaction' also lives in there (with a fuzz), I'm nailin' some of the early Zep tele-tones pretty well.. This axe with these p'ups is going to work well for variety of unique tones with just a guitar cable and the Ghia, just as you said... Some very rockin' tones, and some great country tones are livin' in this axe now. The bridge pickup seems to have just about the perfect blend of tight fat punchy bottom, greasy thick snarling mids, and articulate twangy top end without being harsh... With good as this axe feels out of the box, and now as good as it sounds, it's going to be very hard to put it down and want to play my other axes now. Could be the honeymoon, could be a new old favorite... not sure yet!
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Post by Curt on Feb 14, 2006 11:19:06 GMT -7
I have soldered in my share of Tele pups (Strats too) and for the $$ ya can't beat the Muy's IMO....you can drive your self crazy lookin' for "That sound" in your Tele...do yourself a favor and DO NOT start down that endless trail....whatcha got will cover anything you need....spend the time PLAYING you guitar !!!!
Curt
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 14, 2006 11:41:10 GMT -7
Curt, that's some solid advice, and I think I'm going to take it. It was so easy to work on a Tele - moreso than any other guitar I've ever modified... I could change pickups in a matter of 10 minutes tops, and I could feel that luring me in initially, but I think 'play them and enjoy them' is a much better philosophy to follow... Thanks for that advise as well -- you're a wise man!
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Post by Curt on Feb 14, 2006 13:27:24 GMT -7
Chad, Tele pups are VERY sensitive/responsive to adjustment. With the three screw set up You can not only tilt +/- treble/bass but can also tilt forward/backward toward bridge or neck....lots of variation there with out swapping..loads of fun tweakin' in THAT sound. FWIW, YMMV, IMO...yada..yada
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 14, 2006 14:52:21 GMT -7
I TOTALLY hear ya man! I've already been workin' on tweaking the height and angles to my liking... It's funny, I always bend the pickup mounting screws on my other guitars so that when you raise/lower the pickups, the front/back angle of the pickup will also change, so that way you can get them dialed in perfect! It's very cool that a tele accounts for this intentionally by design -- old Leo was well ahead of his time, wasn't he?!
I can't remember where I got that tip, but I think it was posted by a guitar tech on another forum a few years back.
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Post by zdogma on Feb 15, 2006 12:23:56 GMT -7
I understand what you're saying, but how do you bend them precisely? would a vice work?
I love the bridge on the tele, but my LP and strat are a pain to adjust the angles.
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Post by G'OlPeachPhan on Feb 27, 2006 11:04:58 GMT -7
Sorry man, missed this earlier... Yeah, I just used a vice and a pliers... precision isn't as important as you'd think, just don't bend 'em too much as it's easier to bend them more than it is to try and unbend them, and it doesn't take too much bend to change the angles a bit.
You could always order some extra pickup screws and try it with those first too.
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Post by zdogma on Feb 27, 2006 19:56:08 GMT -7
OK. Sounds easy enough, I'll give it a shot. thanks.
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