What is this?

New neck fitted and set up... Ish

Finally

I hate wiring

The neck is 99% dry so its time tko put everything together and that means wiring. The new fender volume pot is going in as well as a bypass for the tone control.

Neck oiling

I'm 4 days in and 12 coats on the neck. The cold temperatures in the UK are not helping the during time. You can still see the grain of the wood ATM. So flatting and more oil.

Oiling

I have screwed the neck to a bit of wood to make holding while oiling a bit easier.

It's arrived

After only about a month and quite a large charge from customs my warmoth neck has arrived.
I need to talk about quality, this neck has it. The fret work is so good. Way better than my explorer and a little better than my US strat. Its not a cheap neck. It's got no finish on it and it was nearly £240 and for another £100 pounds I could have an entire Mexican fender Tele.  But that would not have very tall frets (if I get another neck from them is go bigger again) and no compound radius or ebony fret board and if u want that and the amazing fret work and the amazing finish to all the joints well it costs.
I've test fitted it to the Tele just to check but its cuming off to get oiled.
Next some oiling.

Go Warmoth

I suppose you under sell and over deliver so you say 5 weeks and it ships in 3 I'm happy. As we speak my warmoth tell neck is "Processed Through Sort Facility ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS) September 12, 2013 10:22 am".

I'm very exited.

Sorry

There may not be a lot of updates until my new neck arrives.

Warmoth order

Telecaster®, Warmoth Pro, Right Handed Handed, Maple, Ebony Fretboard, 1-11/16" Nut Width, Standard thin, 6150, Gotoh/Grover (13/32" 11/32") Tuner Ream, 22 frets, 10-16" Compound Radius, No Inlay Inlay, White Side Dots, Black Corian, No Finish, 25-1/2"

Boom there it is.

Warmoth order

I am ready for the biggest upgrade for my squire (to date) a new neck. There are many companies to chose from do I'm going for the biggest Warmoth. They are not cheap but it is US made and they will put together any combination of wood and metal I want.

So its going to be maple neck, ebony board with 6100 frets. Probably. I'm worried about messing up the order so I'm calling them all the way from Swansea in the UK.

Updates as ever to follow.

It's time for another humbucker

I think I've got to much time on my hands or I just don't use the neck pup. It doesn't sound good its got to go.

I got the humbucker as a pair to replace the Seymour in my Ibanez. I was already paid for so in it goes. The hole chopping was easy I drilled out the space and chiseled the rest out. I chiseled the pick guard out as well, its only a single ply and I did a reasonable job of it.

My "stuff" cupboard

There is a pick up in there somewhere.

Signal path

In my HiFi I have spent time with cables to get the optimum sound. Worrying about signal loss for hours and generally the quality of components. So should I think the same about my guitars. Cables I've got sorted and I can talk about that another day. I'm talking electronic internals. So volume pots wires and selector switches.

I'm sure the wiring in my squire is adequate for the stock pickups but I'm upgrading so time for change.

I've ordered a fender 250 k solid shaft pot, next I'm thinking a Gibson style toggle switch and a toggle switch to switch off one coil in the humbucker. I noticed that there were 2 wires one coming from each coil so I thought I'd put a little toggle switch in to turn off 1 coil sort of a coil split.  I'm thinking of losing the tone control and maybe swap to a second volume but I'd never use it.

As I write this I remember the ibanez pick up that I got as a set to replace the Seymour that's in the tell. So do I chop the tele up again and double humbucker it. Chopping the body up is fine as its got a pick guard to cover the mess but it does seem every time I do any mods its new strings time.

can you make a pod foot controler out of a pc...

well yes I am sure you can. watch this space.


OK edit time.

I do want to build a foot controller for my pod 2. Its a midi device so it could be controlled by a PC of some kind. I'm keen to keep costs So parts from maplin / radio shack.

I would like to use a raspberry pi but I will struggle with drivers. There are lots of usb to midi adaptors on eBay and the same goes for USB switching adaptors. Making them run in a Linux environment is going to be a son of a bitch.  I want to avoid having a giant multi core going from the board to the PC. I could chop up an x box controller but I want a light above what ever I have selected.

I could just use a lap top and it may start out with that. Work in progress.

Less gain was never my philosophy, fully saturated screaming compressed long delays had been me. Am I getting old or am I listening to to much zeplin. Both maybe. I purchased house of the holy on Saturday and a mixture of over the hills and no quarter (incidentally how much does Brant bjorks solo work sound like no quarter. Check out jalamanta on duna records its worth a listen). Its the lack of bite that I'm enjoying. I feel you can hear the tone of the wood coming through. The explorer with both pickups selected and less gain has a roomy quality to the sound an airyness. It has the lower darker tones of the neck both the brighter tones of the bridge. But there is a separation. It sounds like birth pick ups are working apart, together but apart. The guitar to me compared to say my rg 470 has more of the piano about it. This is what I feel I've been missing with high gain.  So away with preset 1a (which was modern hi gain #2 which is sort of a soldano) on the pod and in with Brit class a which is sort of modded ac 30.

So into a brave new world well preset 1b.

is it time for a re finish ?

i used to really like the butter scotch finish, in fact if i had an infinite budget i think that's what i would have gone for. but times change and i change and its time for a big change for the tele. i prefer the feel of a nitro cellulose finish ie what gibson do. i like the feel it feels softer no my hands less harsh. so nitro it is no idea on color i guess what ever i can get in a rattle can. id like a lake placid but that's a bit stratty. probably chose white or off white.

i assume that the tele already has a grain filler in it right now so after sanding off the polyester ill spray over unless its going to need a process that i haven't seen as yet. im sure you will hear more about this as i move on. of i could car paint it black as joe strummer did?

I want this guitar

I'm sure it's similar to a lot of other fenders but its so pretty. I played a paisley telecaster when I did work experience in 94 and I've had a soft spot for one since. Then I see the Telecaster TL69-SPL JRD...... What do need to sell....

Missed

I've just missed a squire strat on gum tree, it would have made a nice e flat guitar.

rolled edges

OK so all your posh guitars have lovely rounded edges to there fret boards and my squire had fairly sharp edges. Had the important word is had till I took a pic and took the edge off them.

It does now feel a lot nicer which brings new into an interesting point. Why wasn't it done in the first place. I suspect because it would have cost time in labour to do it and if it was to nice it would be competition for fenders liver stuff.

I mentioned I'm sure in previous posts that I thought the fret board wood was a little soft and the easy way I was able to round the edges with a purple tortex pic does some what reinforce that theory.

Is this straightening the neck

I had noticed that the neck on me trusty squire was mode of softer wood than I expected particularly the fret board which has sustained many nail marks and some unexplained dents slash gouges. I'm not expecting top quality wood but I think hanging is straightening the neck. Some times I pick her up and she is a little buzzyer. A little pressure applied to the neck and back to normal.

I kept my charvel model 2 hung like this for ages as well and not experienced any issues.

I feel i need to talk pod

In a house even 50 solid state watts is a lot. 95 watts of valve doesn't even get going. An amp not running at its potential is a strangled amp. It needs to be set free. I've only tried to set my big amp free once and the rest of the band complained and the sound engineer said I was louder than the pa and I had to turn it down. The power amp was only on 3 so who knows where it could have gone. And with the cab it weighed over 150 lb. And 2 guitars and a bag of pedals. If I'm ever gigging again I taking my pod. Which incidentally will emulate my big amp.

If I'm honest I wanted mesa boogie rectifier. They were to new to be available second hand and to expensive new. So I get what I get. Then I hear a Soldano who had an amp in budget at the time but the money was spent. Then I heard an Orange rockaverb and I knew I had the wrong amp maybe. My set up has flexibility by I use 2 sounds. Argghghgh and silence. So four channels can be a waste.  What I really want is quite toppy very smooth powerful over driven sound. Marshal for me are to crunchy and at that point I hadn't met compression. After all the noise I borrowed a Pod 2 but no manual. I never normally say read the manual put for the pod god you do. I didn't know about the cab settings and for effect trawling and the second set of amp voices.

The pod is a weapon. I need to let you know that its a weapon. You can spend hours just playing notes and making new sounds with it. You can match your sound to what you playing along with (which is mostly what I do now). I don't feel that I can go on for paragraphs about the pod but I can say that its got ever effect other than a wah (which you can get with a chip change and a pedal and besides I have a wah and you can plug it straight in and asking as your happy with it in the beginning of your signal chain) and more amps than you can shake a stick at and it sounds like what its emulating.

After reading the manual I saw that it will emulate a mesa mk 2 which is sort of whats I have an a soldano. Its ticking all my boxes. After reading the manual it advises on how to connect your amp to your amp. My Laney linebacker from 1984 from a dog to something else. Turn the speaker simulation off and its there. No lack luster solid state over drive its sounding like a valve a amp. No reverb well why would u a touch of compression to bring the high notes in line job done.

   Hmm foot pedal time.

OK if you have read my previous posts I like to be a bit negative and thus post is no exception. The tuner on the pod is rubbish. I tried to check the internation on the squire and it was having none if it. I've also got a boss tu 2. Stick that in the signal path job done and you can use it as a kill switch.

Non guitar related

I hate trains. I only wish I was sober enough to drive.

Rocksmith 2014 coming soon. Its going to rock.

As promised a pic of the action

I tried to get a pic of the squire neck and its about 3mm at the tenth fret.  There is a hint of buz but for a cheap guitar its amazing. I'm tempted by one of the Chinese fenders now.

I do like the Squire

I feel in my initial post I was maybe a little down on my squire and that not where I want to be. For years I went after the super strat, hum buckers and a Floyd (that I would never use) and those guitars came with their own special blend of tuning stability. I’m not one for alternate tuning and messing round retuning so I’ve had my Ibanez (from which the Seymour came) set to b to b and that wasn’t in tune for more than a minute. To this I have said enough is enough and looked for a simpler solution.

In these times of mortgages and car payments payment USA or even Mexican Fender is out of reach of the snap purchase so I find myself at Squires door.  A guitar purchased unseen on ebay can always been a risk. I had never played and squire tele (though I have played US, Mexicans and a lovely paisley Japanese tele in the past) so i am aware of the basics but Condition and general neck staginess etc was all a worry and I was not let down by what had ended up as unwanted axe.

I quickly found and affinity for the guitar, its simplicity and my own lack of care for it helped it find its way into my living room and thus more extensive playing. I get very worried about the condition of other guitars. One was so unused when I purchased it (at 10 years old a closet classic) that I am fearful of playing it and thus damaging it that it spends most of its life in a case.  So I find my Squire in my hands and I feel liberated. I no longer worry about chipping it or the dog eating it so I play it. Well I Rocksmith it. For those unaware of this marvel of modern technology its Guitar Hero with a real guitar. If you don’t know what guitar hero is I can’t help you.  To me it’s a work horse. If I was in the studio id probably uses another guitar but in the living room the Squire is king. It’s simple ergonomic enough ( they tried harder with the Stratocaster and ended up with nice body cuts but a volume control on the wrong place. It’s too close to the strings to I play and turn the volume down) simple with a fixed bridge so no trem to fiddle with. The action is amazing its really low, I’ll try to post a pic of this but for a cheap guitar it’s amazing. I have a guitar made in Nashville that could only dream of having and action this now.  

Hole for the pick up.

About the tele

I picked it up about a year ago as we now have a dog and I didn't want the dog to eat some of my other guitars. £75 from eBay and it is what it is and thats a cheap Chinese squire. It sounded very thin and I did look at a seymore single coil and in the end took a hum bucker out of an ibanez I don't play. £6 gotoh copy bridge and another £6 spent on a chisel it fits. Sounds a load fatter. Still it went out of tune a lot set of gotoh tuners fixed that. £40 thanks to Lee at crains for a spot of discount. The new bridge had the option for a string through body set up and as the squire didn't have that option I had to make some holes for the strings to go through under the internation screws. Time passed and I got board so I drilled through the body with fathers spiller drill. Not quite straight but meh. £3 for some string ferros from ebay bit of drilling to the rear of the body and more strings and well hmmm..... Its now a bit bright. I'm not sure it was never set up from the factory as a string though because the wood is wrong for that sort of set up pass. The jury is out on that mod. Next-I don't like the edge of the fret board IMO its a bit sharp so I might pull all the frets out round the edge of the board and install some massive frets. Only thing stopping me is I need the tools to finish the frets. 

Axe pics