New guitar day today.

Hey Everyone,


Well, I can definitely say that I have been well and truly bitten by the G.A.S. (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) bug today, so I guess you're wondering what I've gone and bought myself this time?, okay then, this time it's a second-hand 2014 (I think) sunburst Fender Mexican Telecaster with a white scratchplate, chrome hardware, and all maple neck, I've just been doing some TLC work on it this afternoon, basically giving it a clean, polishing the frets, and putting some fresh strings on it before I start giving it a decent setup.

The neck feels really nice on it, no excessive bowing, or twisting in it, looks pretty straight as far as I can tell with my eyes anyway.

All the stock tuners seem to be in pretty good condition, both pickups work and sound great through my Marshall amp, I'm going to swap-out the stock pickups later on for some new Tonerider Hot Classics, but the stock ones will do fine for now.

Okay, enough of my rambling, here's a pic so you can see what she looks like:

Attachment 30125

Oh my, 6 string Viagra :D

Nice nab you got there Doc

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dave.king1

Oh my, 6 string Viagra :D

Nice nab you got there Doc

---

Cheers mate, yeah she's a nice one, I think she is the closest I'll ever get to owning a real Fender Telecaster since the USA made ones are not that much different, same woods and manufacturing techniques and etc, just made in Fender's Ensenada factory in Mexico, the fretwork is actually pretty good, no sharp fret ends on the edges of the neck, I had a look at the serial number printed on the back of the headstock and it looks like she was made in 2014 as far as I can tell.

Update:

Just finished doing a general setup of my Mexican Telecaster to get it in the ballpark, and I gave it a test-play through my Digitech RP50 FX processor pedal, and all I can say is....man, it has some wicked sustain, especially with the neck pickup, tuning stability is pretty good too.....is he happy?......happy, he is!!!


Going to leave it alone till tomorrow and check the setup again in the morning and give it a tweak if needed, but I reckon she's in the ballpark.

All it needed was the action raised on the A,D,G, and B strings and the 12th fret intonation adjusted, and she's all good.


If anyone is interested in knowing how thick the body is, it's 46.5mm thick (including the thickness of the finish).


P.S.....Let me know if you all want me to post some more pics, and maybe a link to a demo.

Please post more pictures and a link to a demo!

Here's another pic of the Mexican Telecaster, I took the pic after I had let the guitar settle in overnight, I think I got the setup pretty much where I want it to be, it's set up according to the specs listed in my Stewmac Guitar Player Repair guide for a 1952/James Burton Tele, action is nice and low, there's only a hint of fret-buzz on the low E-string from about the 5th fret to the 8th fret, but not enough to worry about, I might look at doing a fret-level/re-crown job on it at a later date.

Attachment 30134

nice score Doc!

I did have some trouble with the output jack being a bit lose and intermittent yesterday but I managed to fix the intermittent-ness so that the output didn't keep dropping out, I couldn't really do much about the socket being a bit lose so I decided to order an Electrosocket jack mount from Stewmac as well as some Pure-Tone multi-contact output jacks and some black plastic Barrel Knob pickup-selector switch tips, they should arrive in the post next Tuesday.


Okay, so what is an Electrosocket jack mount?, it's a piece of metal that fits in the hole in the body of a Telecaster where the output jack fits, traditionally, the output jack of a Telecaster is held in place with a thin piece of metal with a hole in the middle of it, a chrome metal cup is used to cover the output jack hole, this works pretty well when first installed but over time the thin piece of metal works lose, the Electrosocket is a replacement jack mounting system that holds the output jack firmly in place, here's what they look like:

Attachment 30135

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dedman

nice score Doc!

---

Cheers mate!!, I think I got lucky with it, it's definitely a keeper.

Later on this year, I'm going to upgrade the stock pickups to my current favorite single-coils, Tonerider Hot Classics, the stock string saddles do look a bit cruddy under a magnifying glass, so I'll also upgrade them to some better quality ones, but the stock ones will do for now, might even consider upgrading the stock tuners to a set of Fender Lockers.

While I was fixing the intermittent-ness of the jack socket yesterday, I gave the pots and pickup switch a spray with some contact cleaner, I noticed that the pots were 250k Log CTS types.


I'll see if I can post some close-up pics for you guys later on today.....stay tuned.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

I did have some trouble with the output jack being a bit lose and intermittent yesterday but I managed to fix the intermittent-ness so that the output didn't keep dropping out, I couldn't really do much about the socket being a bit lose so I decided to order an Electrosocket jack mount from Stewmac as well as some Pure-Tone multi-contact output jacks and some black plastic Barrel Knob pickup-selector switch tips, they should arrive in the post next Tuesday.


Okay, so what is an Electrosocket jack mount?, it's a piece of metal that fits in the hole in the body of a Telecaster where the output jack fits, traditionally, the output jack of a Telecaster is held in place with a thin piece of metal with a hole in the middle of it, a chrome metal cup is used to cover the output jack hole, this works pretty well when first installed but over time the thin piece of metal works lose, the Electrosocket is a replacement jack mounting system that holds the output jack firmly in place, here's what they look like:

Attachment 30135

---

They are my weapon of choice for all side mounted solid body jack sockets and not just on Tele's.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wazkelly

They are my weapon of choice for all side mounted solid body jack sockets and not just on Tele's.

---

They definitely make a lot of sense to me, they're a recommended upgrade for all Telecasters.

Update:


Just gave my Mexican Telecaster a play through my Fender Super Twin amp, and it sounds really good through it, nice and fat without any tendency towards ice-pickiness, the "Twang" is still there though, really good setup for playing Blues, I was pretty surprised, I read an online review of the 2014 Fender Mexican Telecaster that said that the sounds are a bit bland and boring, I actually didn't find that to be the case at all for my Mexican Telecaster, I think I must have been lucky and managed to get one that's made from some nice pieces of wood, checked out the specs for the 2014 Fender Mexican Standard Telecaster and found out that the neck is indeed Maple and the body is solid Alder, this combination of woods is becoming my favorite for Fender guitars.

The stock pickups seem to be wound a bit hotter than standard Telecaster pickups, the tone seems to be really close to the tone you get with Tonerider Hot Classics Tele pickups except that the Hot Classics seem to be a hair brighter to my ears, but not by much.


More pics:

Attachment 30143

Attachment 30144

Attachment 30145

Attachment 30146

+1 on the Electrosocket; I've retrofitted these to many of my guitars; love 'em!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by corsair

+1 on the Electrosocket; I've retrofitted these to many of my guitars; love 'em!!

---

Wish I'd known about these earlier. I put a Les Paul style plate on my ASAT when I got tired of changing out the barril jacks... My first idea was to upgrade to a Switchcraft barril jack only to find out that G&L already used them as the OEM...

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Love the guitar doc. nice score

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andy40

Love the guitar doc. nice score

---

Cheers mate, I think I got lucky with it cause it turned out to be quite a nice guitar even though it's a made in Mexico one, the sunburst finish on the body is really growing on me, and the neck feels great, some guitars that were made in Fender's Ensenada factory in Mexico had some issues where the fret ends on the edge of the fretboard weren't quite properly finished, but that wasn't the case with my Mexican Tele, I can't feel any sharp ends at all.

Hey Doc, stock pickups may not need replacing afterall.
I believe that Squier uses unbranded Tone Riders but not sure what is used on Mexicans. It would be a fair guess that they use something similar if not better.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by wazkelly

Hey Doc, stock pickups may not need replacing afterall.
I believe that Squier uses unbranded Tone Riders but not sure what is used on Mexicans. It would be a fair guess that they use something similar if not better.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

---

You do have a good point there, I'll have to pop the white scratchplate off and have a look at the underside of the neck pickup next time I go to put a fresh set of strings on it, just to find out exactly what brand/model of pickups they are, there's no mention of the pickup model in the list of specs for the 2014 Fender Mexican Telecaster, other than that they are modern-voiced hot wound types, we'll have to see to be sure, I think the specs said the magnets are Alnico III's or something.

I just checked the postal tracking for some stuff I had ordered from Stewmac recently, and apparently the parcel containing all the stuff I had ordered (including the new Electrosocket) is supposed to be due for delivery by the end of today, going to go and check my mailbox for any parcel cards shortly.

Woohoo!!.....my parcel from Stewmac just got delivered to my front door.

Attachment 30152

AH, Stewmac parcel Day!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

AH, Stewmac parcel Day!

---

Indeed, some new Tele pickup switch knobs, new Pure Tone multi-contact output jacks, the new Electrosocket output jack mounting system (no more lose and wobbly output jack once it's installed).


For those of you wanting to know how to install an Electrosocket on your Tele builds, I'll be taking a series of pics as I go through the process of installing on my Mexican Tele.....stay tuned!!!

Here we go, this is how I installed the new Electrosocket and Pure Tone multi-contact jack on my Mexican Tele.....


First thing I had to do was to remove all the original jack mounting hardware from the guitar, the old hardware consists of a thin piece of mild steel with a hole in the middle, the idea was that as the output jack's mounting nut was tightened-up, the thin piece of mild steel would straighten-up and the corners would bite into the body wood of the guitar, this works okay in theory, but after time the piece of mild steel works lose:

Attachment 30153

Once the old jack mounting hardware was removed, I could easily remove the old jack, I had decided to go ahead and replace the old jack with one of the brand-new Pure Tone multi-contact jacks I had ordered from Stewmac, here are two pics, one showing the old jack after removing all the old jack mounting hardware, and a closeup of the new Pure Tone multi-contact jack:

Attachment 30154

Attachment 30155

I gently pulled the old jack out of it's mounting hole cut into the body, and cut the black and white wires soldered to it with my pair of diagonal cutters, I'm replacing the old jack anyway.

Next I removed the new Electrosocket mounting hardware from it's plastic bag and did a quick test-fit, fortunately it fits perfectly, next thing to do was to drill two holes for the mounting screws, the holes need to be drilled at a roughly 45 degree angle to the centreline of the jack mounting hole so that the screws bite into the wood:

Attachment 30156

Finally, after drilling the mounting screw holes, the new Pure Tone multi-contact was screwed into place on the new Electrosocket mounting hardware, then I soldered the black ground wire onto the ground terminal on the new output jack, and the white wire on the tip terminal of the new output jack, here's what it looked like after the two mounting screws were put back into place:

Attachment 30157


Lets have another look at the new Pure Tone output jack.....


Attachment 30158


Notice how it has two contacts for the tip and two contacts for the sleeve (ground) connection?, the advantage of that is that the contacts are less likely to go lose over time, so there'll be less crackling noises, and no signal drop-outs, I don't know why all electric guitar come with these fitted as standard, I'll definitely be ordering more of these from Stewmac in future, oh by the way....everything is working perfectly first time on my Mexican Tele, the tone even seems to sound better too.

Here's a link to a quick audio demo of my Mexican Tele I uploaded to my soundcloud account:

https://soundcloud.com/drnomis_44/mexican-tele-demo

Nice demo Doc. love the sound of that neck pup. I hear the faint calling of a spring reverb....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Andy40

Nice demo Doc. love the sound of that neck pup. I hear the faint calling of a spring reverb....

---

Yeah the amp simulator vst plugin I used, Frontman FM-25, has a spring-reverb effect built in, sounds cool so I cranked it up a bit when I recorded the demo, I'm a big fan of the neck pickup tone I'm getting with the stock pickups on the Mexican Tele, nice and Bluesy, the other pickup combinations produce nice tones too, but the star of the show is the neck pickup for sure.

Nice playing and sound demo, Doc.

Two sets of Fender standard tuners arrived in the post today, I had ordered them from The Stratosphere, the tuners on my Fender Strat were getting a bit worn out so I decided to order two new sets a few weeks ago, the new set of Fender standard tuners I put on my Mexican Telecaster seem to be doing the job well, making the guitar relatively easy to keep in tune, I'm out of strings at the moment so I'll have to buy some new ones next week to get the Strat up and running again.

I finally decided to swap out the stock pickups in my Mexican Telecaster for the Tonerider Hot Classics in my custom Butterscotch Blonde Telecaster, there are two reasons why I decided to do that, firstly I found that I was playing the Mexican Telecaster more than the custom Telecaster, and secondly I do like the Tonerider Hot Classics more than the stock Fender ones, I did also notice that the Toneriders do seem to work better with my Marshall amp's overdrive channel as well, and seeing as the Mexican Telecaster is going to be one of my main gigging guitars along with my Fender USA Strat, I'm going to spruce it up a bit by replacing the stock scratchplate screws and 3-way pickup switch with the ones from the custom Telecaster, I can always buy new hardware and pickups, etc for the custom Telecaster at a later date, besides, I'm going to be replacing the custom Tele's neck with a better one at a later date anyway.

Just had a quick look in the neck pocket of the Mexican Tele's body and yes, it is indeed made of solid wood and not plywood.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DarkMark

Nice playing and sound demo, Doc.

---

Cheers, I've been working on getting my playing style to go in a more bluesy direction, playing the blues is a lot harder than most people realize, my hat is off to all the original blues guitarists.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DrNomis_44

Cheers, I've been working on getting my playing style to go in a more bluesy direction, playing the blues is a lot harder than most people realize, my hat is off to all the original blues guitarists.

---

I did totally agree, blues is a lot harder than I thought. But I’m enjoying the learning.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk