TL- electronic or pickup upgrades

[RocknRolf]

So started with some preparations.

1. Check whether the Tele neck pickup ring fits: That was a no. By 1mm the holes didn't line up, so couldn't drill new holes next to it. Of course, I would be able to fill and re-drill... But more importantly, I didn't like the way it looked, see picture.
I am now considering a 3-ply white or off white pickguard, see picture.

2. Installed connectors: Initially it was my idea to be able to switch pickups quickly on this guitar and so I had bought these connectors (see picture). In the meantime, I have come back from this idea but still wanted to see whether it worked. It does!!


En suivre, To be continued!

[McCreed]

If you have an old pickguard, you could make your own pickup surround to accommodate that neck pickup.



I have done them mostly by hand, and it takes a little while but the end result is something that is fit for purpose.

My other suggestion would be going the the white pickgaurd like in the photo, but cutting back to expose more of that lovely flame!

[RocknRolf]

To be honest I did not expect that I wasn't going to like the black pick up ring. gold hardware with the sunburst is proven a hard one to aesthetically. I personally do not like the reduced pickguards, but as you say don't want to cover the flame either.

So got some thinking to do.

[McCreed]

To be honest I did not expect that I wasn't going to like the black pick up ring.

That's the beauty of making your own. You can use what colour you like.
Maybe look on eBay for a cheap tele pickguard. IIRC, a standard size tele p/g has enough area to make 3 HB-sized surrounds, so if you stuff one up you get two more goes!

Maybe a 3-ply brown tortoise shell one would look nice????


edit:

Or something like this?: eBay Link

[ILRGuitars]

This is what I did with my pickguard to show off the quilted top.

[Andyxlh]

This is what I did with my pickguard to show off the quilted top.

That looks great!
What’s the bit rear of the bridge for?

[ILRGuitars]

Covering up a mistake! ha ha.

[RocknRolf]

Thanks guys,

IRL, really dig that quilted blue!


I think I really shot myself in the foot this time:
1. Being a lefty is challenging
2. Being a lefty wanting/needing the gold variant of the Tonerider trt1's.... even more challenging :-D

Can't get them anywhere at the moment.

Also decided to go with a full pickguard. After making some photoshop mockups I realised that aesthetically it was the only thing that made sense given the sunburst/gold hardware, without changing over to black hardware, and then one has to ask oneself...
//When you go as far as changing all the hardware on a guitar, can't you just better build a new one....//

So, I'll have to wait till the pickups become available again...

[fender3x]

Just to play devil's advocate, you can make pickup rings out of wood. I made these out of thinly sliced maple: An advantage to wood is that you can make the color match the guitar if you want to, so you'd get the color right and show most of the flame maple.

That said, I think it looks good with the full tele pickguard as well.

Having a second set of hardware is not a bad thing... all you need is another body and neck. This is also a solution to the problem of whether to do a traditional tele or a non-traditional. You've got the hardware to do both ;-)

[ILRGuitars]

As if you're going to stop at building only one guitar! ah ha ha. So much to learn.