Frankenstrat/frankentele

Am trying to decide on what to build - whether to use a Strat (hard-tail) or Tele....and what kind of PUP's. I've already got a stock Strat with Lawrence 280's that I don't want to mess with. I have a custom double bound Tele with a stock bridge PU and a Gibson P-94 in the neck. The '94 really isn't knocking me out, and the gain is way hotter than the bridge. Now that it's routed and the pickguard cut, I'm thinking of either a 'bucker or ?? Suggestions? Saw a Tele somewhere with a Filtertron in the neck, but I hear those are a bit microphonic. Not nusts about the stock bridge PU either. Am also contemplating a center PUP a la Brent Mason/Scotty Anderson for that extra tone and quack. Love some feedback on this....

I've never modded a Tele, but I own two of them that fit into the range you're talking about...a MIM Nashville Tele with the Strat pickup between two Texas Specials, and a reissue Custom with the Fender "wide range" humbucker in the neck position. See below...

The Nashville has a 5-way switch, and positions 2 and 4 give me all of that Strat "quack" you're talking about. Position 4 (middle + bridge) almost perfectly replicates that Sultan of Swing tone. I replaced the original 5-way with a new switch that in position 1 gives me neck + bridge instead of the neck by itself -- I thought the Tele nick pickup just sounded a little dull on its own. With the bridge pickup it's much more usable. Of the 5 positions I use position 3 (Strat pickup on its own) the least.

My understanding is the Japan Custom reissues have humbuckers built with different magnets than the original 70's pickups. Whatever, I love the pickups in my Custom. That guitar can go from all-out Tele twang to a pretty good imitation of a Les Paul, and when you select both pickups the tone is amazing. Great clarity and string separation.

I think you'd love a 3-pickup Tele. As for replacing the P94, it might be interesting to see if you can find one of these Fender wide-range humbuckers. They're probably a good match for your bridge pickup and I think they crank out great humbucker tone that's just a little different than that classic Gibson sound.

Good luck!

Attached Images

	Nashville.jpg (44.9 KB, 15 views)
	Custom pickups.jpg (36.0 KB, 15 views)
	Custom.jpg (49.3 KB, 15 views)

I have a Duncan "58 in my Dave Swisher Relic'd tele. I know he had to do something to the switch to allow the middle position to sound balanced. You may want to take your existing configuration into a tech to see if that's what you need.

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What kind of tone are you looking for? "Twang" "Growl" "Balls Out" "Sparkle" etc. Personally, Teles feel better on my lap than Strats and generally I prefer the necks on my Teles, although there are times when I crave the feel of my Strat. Are you looking for a vintage look & feel or just the most functionality? Are you building it yourself or having some do it for you (like Bill Nash or Dave Swisher?)

I think the current Mexican Fender Nashville Telecasters models are a great value and a good starting point to put mods on. I have the Nashville "Power" model with the Fishman bridge (as seen on my icon/avatar), and I can get a lot of tones out of that guitar that I can't get with any other (plugging the "stereo" signal for running dirty and clean at the same time and a "good enough" acoustic emulation). It would probably take some effort to get a humbucker to work in this guitar...and that's probably why I had my Relic made with a humbucker in the neck position.



I've contemplated putting a Warmoth Vintage C Shaped 11/16th nut width neck on my Nashville with an exotic fingerboard (like flame maple or ebony)....and maybe even striping off the polyurethane paint job and refinishing it with something for vintage looking....but the stock instrument is certainly not "bad"....especially for $600.

My Relic sounds like what you are looking for, except maybe with an extra pickup in the center position. You could probably get Dave Swisher to build you the exact guitar you want at a price less than a new American High End Fender instrument. He wrote me yesterday to check if I needed anything else built....so his turn around time must be faster right about now.

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