The Guitar Thread • Page 12

Don't Give Up on the Guitar. Fender Is Begging You

This is an interesting article in how Fender is trying to get more people to play guitar.

 

im thinking about picking up a strymon el capitstan, hear it's one of the better tape delay pedals around

 

I was in the market for a tape delay and searched and watched videos for months. I narrowed it down between the El Cap, Belle Epoch, and the Echoplex. All are completely fantastic. Tape style and analog are completely my bag and my Dl4 is now kicked off my board. Won't be missing it all

 

Honestly been thinking about about getting rid of my DL4, don't know what I'd replace it with but I'm starting to get annoyed with it.

 

yeah i don't enjoy digital delay at all. the few analog delays i've used before, i've enjoyed, but i'm excited to check out some tape delays

 

T-Rex do a really nice one. I played it a few years ago when I was hunting a second delay pedal. I think it was the Replica. It's in the same ballpark price wise as the Strymon stuff (maybe a little less). I couldn't justify the price (and I'm not hugely fussy on tape simulations anyway), but it could do some incredible stuff.

I mean, if you're feeling really flush you could go the whole hog and get the Replicator.

I'm hankering for a Reverend Manta Ray currently. Might sacrifice my SG Special in the new year for one.

 

those are great amps.

 

fwiw this vid sold me on the echoplex (tape style delay)

 

yeah this one sold me haha

 

Just bought a Tone City Model B on a black friday deal. £50 delivered for a pedal that insane isn't too bad I guess. I played it against the Amptweaker Tight Rock the other week and while the Amptweaker is clearly the better pedal, the Model B is a lot of fun.

 

Keeley Loomer Fuzz Reverb

this pedal is fucking wild, i wanna cop one

 

hey friends! so i did something ive never done before last week, and i bought a cheaper guitar and plan on possibly doing some modifications to it. i bought the Squire Telecaster Deluxe.


So i have a few questions. i have been playing guitar for a long time, i play in a band and we're recording an album. but for whatever reason, i feel like i havnt ever REALLY gotten to know the inside and outs of guitar mechanics. ive always just played em and not worried about it.
so here are some of my questions:
1. are there any obvious upgrades i should be looking into besides pick-ups?
2. i know i do want to upgrade pickups, but i think i have a lot of research and learning to do to find out what i want. any recommendations?
3. the guitar has the humbuckers in there. if i ended up finding single coil pickups that i loved the sound of, can i use them in the guitar even though it has humbucker slots. is it as simple as finding a new pickguard that has different opening sizes?
4. really any other tips and suggestions are GREATLY appreciated.

 

you should probably upgrade the wiring and caps as well, if you're going all out. the nut also. tuners are whatever, i think the squier ones are fine but yeah

 

thanks, those are things ill keep in mind. what are the pros to upgrading the nut?
and i agree, the tuners seem to hold really well so far.

 

improved tone and sustain with bone or graphite nuts

might also want to consider the bridge hardware

 

sweet - ill do that then.

youd you recommend looking into a whole new bridge set up? or do you just mean the little screwy things that the strings sit on?
sorry i have so many questions ha

 

i mean the saddles are probably the most important part, some prefer full bridge replacements though. no worries haha

 

1. Yes. Upgrade the saddles, nut and tuners. You can get some Fender locking ones which are really quite nice for not a lot (they're the ones they use on their MIM deluxe guitars). For saddles and a nut, I'd recommend Graphtec's TUSQ stuff. I did this same set of upgrades on a MIM strat and it made a huge amount of different. I second replacing the pots and maybe even the switch, as they aren't expensive to change (especially if you're retrofitting pickups).
2/3. I think those pickups may be humbuckers housed in a wide range shell, which means the pickup mounts are not standard size. So, if you want humbuckers, you probably need to buy wide range style pickups. The Creamery do some great ones (although they're UK made, so might be very pricey for you), but I'm sure there must be someone else doing wide range pickup replacements. Fender/Squier have shifted loads of these Tele Deluxes in the last decade. As for single coils (or standard humbuckers, actually), you'll probably need a new scratch plate. The routing in the body should be fine for either. However, you may need to be careful about a tele style bridge pickup, as they tend to have a brass plate on the bottom. You might have to shop around a bit for a pickguard though, as I don't know that Fender have made a deluxe with standard humbuckers in them as standard.

 

so, lets say im going to throw standard sized humbuckers in there (a Seymour Duncan jazz neck humbucker and a JB bridge) - besides getting a new pickguard is there anything else ill need to do? are you saying that they might not fit in the body or something?

 

Wide range pickups are bigger than standard humbuckers, so the body routing should be fine. In the case of the MIM Fender Deluxes, they didn't even put true wide range pickups in anyway. They were just normal humbuckers in fat covers (I think). So, wiring wise and routing wise you should be absolutely fine. Finding a suitable pickguard will probably be your main worry.

Before going to all that trouble though, maybe just measure the pickups and make sure they are actually bigger than standard. Looking at the picture, I'm sure they will be, given they have two mounting screws per side.

 

Yes that is correct.

I used to teach guitar to younger kids and one of my students had this guitar. I have the MIM Fender version of this guitar and with a few modifications, you probably won't be able to tell the difference between a Squier or Fender version, so definitely a good choice there.

When it comes to your pickguard question, you can make a custom pickguard with different pickup sizes on Warmoth. They make great stuff and I highly recommend them for any kind of custom parts.

 

im glad to hear that you have good things to say about this guitar! i actually just ordered the custom pickup off of Warmoth about an hour ago. since i live in canada it will probably take 3 weeks to get here, and then ill get new saddles and a new nut along with the pickups i mentioned before so i can put them all on at the same time.

 

I hope you're going to post the finished work!

 

Does anyone have a good website to read up on fixing up and modding guitars? It's one of those whenever I have a chance I want to try and fix up this old fender strat copy I have where I basically gut the thing and refinish it.

 

anyone get good shit for black friday?