Black top tele to tele plus! (maybe)

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:48 pm

So, I've been thinking about picking up a 'nice' telecaster for sometime now. I only have my SX custom mutt thing which is a descent guitar and fun to kick around the house but it's just not one of those guitar I play consistently for whatever reason. I was thinking about the highway ones, american standards, CVC (didn't get on with the neck) and I've been playing every tele I could get my hands on recently . . . and I liked the black tops the best. I was surprised but the neck is fairly chunky and it has pretty good sized frets.

This is also good news for me because I've wanted a tele plus for a couple of years now and never really thought I would be able to afford one butttt it looks like I'll be able to build from a blacktop for cheapz! It has a nice contour and bridge humbucker route just like the tele plus . . . so there isn't much work past a pick guard/pick up change.

I DO HAVE SOME QUESTIONS THOUGH! what does that extra switch on a tele plus do? series/parallel or coil split maybe? I think I may do a 4 way switch with a coil split. also, does anyone know where I could get a mounting ring the the tele plus?! I've never seen them anywhere else before . . . anyways, here are the mock ups. What do you think ss. good idea? bad idea? why?

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 6:58 am

FUCK

i can't believe you were fucking around with ugly ass telecaster mock ups rather than coming out to see the ravonettes and daniel johnston LIVE in your CITY.

plus making movies you BOVINE.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:13 am

I went out last night!

which means no money this night! I also didn't get your text until like . . .8

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:17 am

ok. well my vote is for option two, natch.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:57 am

hahah, I am so influential!

but yeah, I approve of this project idea! I think those blacktop teles, although kind of crap looking stock, have a lot of potential in modding (for a start, the red or silver one would look 1000% better with a not black pickguard.). I think the tele plus switch is a coil-tap switch. I have no idea about the pickup ring.

edit: nm the edit, posted in next post

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:05 am

this is probably the one guitar I wish they made in sunburst . . . then I could get me Greenwood on

they main reason I think I'll end up going this is because I liked the neck so much. I think I'll probably end up going black with rosewood. Haven't decided on pickguard yet. Will probably be black or white.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:08 am

thinking about it, you may be able to make some sort of bracket that holds the two pickups together that you can screw a height adjustment screw into. then you could use a normal humbucker pickup ring.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:20 am

it's a normal lace humbucker . . .

the ring would just be so it looked more like a tele plus. I'll probably end up using a normal ring.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:23 am

ok... so you just want a regular metal humbucker pickup ring then? they have those lots of places. guitarfetish, guitar parts resource, allparts

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/cove ... ngshum.htm

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:25 am

haha. no, I have one of those already.

I was just wondering if it would be possible to get one like the tele plus. Figured it was a long shot, it would just make it look a little more like an actual tele plus.

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:27 am

ah, I see.

yeah, that might be a bit tricky to find.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:29 am

word. I bet my best bet would be ebay where it would sell for stupid high money.

avj · Post by **avj** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 6:27 pm

To answer the question in your first post, yes, the switch on the Tele Plus is a coil select -- middle for humbucker operation, forward for coil closest to the neck, backward for coil closest to the bridge. The Tele Plus also just had two single Reds wired together, which I believe predated the existence of an available pre-wired Red Dually. It's also worth noting that the Red Dually humbucker is not dimensionally similar to two single Reds and will not fit into the original Tele Plus mounting bracket and ring. If you decide to go that route, you'll need two single Reds.

Cool project! The closest I've come to getting my Greenwood on is outfitting a sunburst Tele with the Lace Tele set, which is supposed to be fairly close to a Red and a Blue single in a traditional Tele form factor. I absolutely love Lace pickups and would put them on everything if I could.

dezb1 · Post by **dezb1** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:11 pm

avj wrote:To answer the question in your first post, yes, the switch on the Tele Plus is a coil select -- middle for humbucker operation, forward for coil closest to the neck, backward for coil closest to the bridge. The Tele Plus also just had two single Reds wired together, which I believe predated the existence of an available pre-wired Red Dually. It's also worth noting that the Red Dually humbucker is not dimensionally similar to two single Reds and will not fit into the original Tele Plus mounting bracket and ring. If you decide to go that route, you'll need two single Reds.

Cool project! The closest I've come to getting my Greenwood on is outfitting a sunburst Tele with the Lace Tele set, which is supposed to be fairly close to a Red and a Blue single in a traditional Tele form factor. I absolutely love Lace pickups and would put them on everything if I could.

Flash back to your days on the radiohead forum...

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:11 pm

u picking one up new or used?.... I have seen one or 2 of these BT Tele's on CL already... u want me to let u know if another pops up?

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:18 pm

SGJarrod wrote:u picking one up new or used?.... I have seen one or 2 of these BT Tele's on CL already... u want me to let u know if another pops up?

yeah! that would be awesome. I'm pretty partial on black. I would probably buy a red if the price right. And I would not be interested in a silver one unless it was super cheap.

avj wrote:It's also worth noting that the Red Dually humbucker is not dimensionally similar to two single Reds and will not fit into the original Tele Plus mounting bracket and ring. If you decide to go that route, you'll need two single Reds.

see I read this on the TDPRI forum last night. so, if you guy a lace sensor humbucker it won't fit into a normal humbucker slot? That really sucks. I guess I'll end up buying two reds and a blue which is going to be twice as expensive. bahhhhh. I thought about putting golds in the bridge because I had one in a Mustang and really liked it. I've not played a lot of lace sensors but the one I had was awesome.

SGJarrod · Post by **SGJarrod** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 10:29 pm

there was a silver one that went for $300-325, I forget the exact price..... your making the right decision on the black or red for first choices