47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Jun 8, 2022 22:23:12 GMT
Hi Ya'll, Just got my mitts on a used TE-20 HH for not very much money at all, and once I've done a proper set-up on it and given it a good clean I can tell it's going to be awesome! The torty pickguard has got to go in favour of a matt black one. I'm also going to put some black covers on the stock pickups and replace the clunky 3 way switch with maybe a 4 or 5 way with some (yet to be decided) switching options.
2 questions: Does anyone know where I can get a black pickguard to fit this specific model- needs a larger hole for a covered pickup? (other than the ebay Earlpilanz ones that are a perfect fit, but a bit on the pricey side). And secondly, two choices of pickup cover - blank i.e. with no holes, or with 6 holes for the pickup screws to poke through. Apart from the bleedin' obvious that you can't adjust the pole piece height on the former, does anyone have a view on the difference in sound between the two? searching the interweb, there only seem to be comparisons between covered and uncovered pickups, not solid or with holes.
Cheers for any help!
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Jun 18, 2022 9:50:39 GMT
Hi all, if anyone is interested, the 8 hole Musiclily pickguards sold on Amazon (search for 'Musiclily 8 Hole Guitar Tele Pickguard Humbucker HH for USA/Mexican Made Fender Standard Telecaster Modern Style') looks like the kiddie. I'm waiting for some pickup covers, so I've only measured it up against the original while it's on the guitar, it will need a small bit of adjustment around the neck and control plate, and the holes may need re-drilling, but the profile seems to line up much better with the lower horn of the body and looks like it actually fits better than the original!
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 9, 2022 2:35:25 GMT
And secondly, two choices of pickup cover - blank i.e. with no holes, or with 6 holes for the pickup screws to poke through. Apart from the bleedin' obvious that you can't adjust the pole piece height on the former, does anyone have a view on the difference in sound between the two? searching the interweb, there only seem to be comparisons between covered and uncovered pickups, not solid or with holes.
I know this topic is months old but I just got the TE-20 HH SBK and love it. I was wondering if you've found any pickup covers with holes that fit the 50mm pole spacing neck and 52mm pole spacing bridge pickups? I see some black 50mm/52mm sets online but not sure of the quality and if they truly fit these pickups.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 10, 2022 18:58:17 GMT
Hi seismicforce, I bought the Musiclily ones from Amazon. A few issues to consider which I ran into: I wanted the guitar to look proper BLACK so I needed to change the pickup screws to match. Unfortunately what look like a standard pickup with height adjustable screws actually turned out to be pickups with 2 sets of slugs, one set with a flat top, the other with a slot in the top, so the black screws that I bought wouldn't fit. I ended up modifying some bobins that I scavanged from a couple of old humbuckers. I cut the bottom flange off then glued this to the underside of the brass pickup plate. This just allowed enough bite for the screws. While I was about it I changed the bar magnets to Alnico IV (N) and V (B). The pickup covers needed some tweaking as I found out that I had to cut a slot on either side to stop them fouling with the tabs where the pickup height adjustment screws screw into the base plate. Once I had soldered the covers and fitted it all back into the guitar I found out that they were microphonic so I ended up trying my hand at wax potting, which was actually easier than I had realised. I just used parafin wax which has worked well. I've read about adding a percentage of beeswax, but I didn't bother. A few other things to note, the Musiclily pickguard needs the pickup hole filed to allow for covered pickups to fit, but worse still is the bridge also needs to be filed which is a right pain. I could have just bought another bridge with the hole already formed for covered pickups, but as the guitar only cost me 50 quid I wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. The 4 way switch has been wired with a capacitor to give a bass cut/ pseudo single coil sound, and my latest mods which I have just finished this week is to get rid of the tone control and add independent volume controls for each pickup. I've added a phase reverse switch on a push pull pot for the neck pickup and changed the pot values from 250k to 500k to brighten the sound up as it seemed to my ears to sound a bit wooly. The jury is out at the moment whether these mods will stay. For the price of these guitars they are an ideal platform to fiddle with without the fear of destroying the value! I'll post a pic a bit later when I get a chance.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 10, 2022 19:37:27 GMT
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 10, 2022 23:29:37 GMT
Luckily I had some parafin wax pellets in the garage from when my wife was making some candles with the kids at one of the schools she worked at. However, I think you can just melt down some standard tealight candles. I used a glass jar large enough to submerge the pickups in a pan of hot water on the hob. Really I just followed the instructions here:
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 11, 2022 5:28:34 GMT
The pickup covers needed some tweaking as I found out that I had to cut a slot on either side to stop them fouling with the tabs where the pickup height adjustment screws screw into the base plate. Once I had soldered the covers and fitted it all back into the guitar I found out that they were microphonic so I ended up trying my hand at wax potting, which was actually easier than I had realised. I just used parafin wax which has worked well. I've read about adding a percentage of beeswax, but I didn't bother. A few other things to note, the Musiclily pickguard needs the pickup hole filed to allow for covered pickups to fit, but worse still is the bridge also needs to be filed which is a right pain. I could have just bought another bridge with the hole already formed for covered pickups, but as the guitar only cost me 50 quid I wanted to keep it as cheap as possible. Wow I guess if there were affordable black covered pickups or a good used price on a pair, all that work could be avoided. However your end result looks awesome! Learning all this maybe I'll stick with the black humbucker bobbin look. As I've been bonding with my TE-20 HH for the past 5 days I'm actually liking the stock pickups. I have 2 tube amps; a 1 watt and a 6 watt. I'm getting some incredible high output hot tones out of the pickups. I'm not sure if solid state would be so receptive. At first I wasn't used to that as my other 2 Strats use YJM-Fury's and HS-3's and don't push my amps like this. It is truly a hard rock/metal T-style guitar. The pickup's punch is only matched my its dark aesthetics. So far the only upgrade/mod I did was install black Guyker locking tuners for easier string changes. I have a buddy who runs a service modding and building custom guitars to spec. I had him scallop the neck of my Strat and it looks very nice. Not sure if I want to scallop the TE-20 HH neck. I'm kind of liking the way the stock black fretboard looks so not sure what to do next. I did get a nice Fender modern black/gray tweed strap for this with the locking tuners. I also ordered a set of the Graph Tech Tusq XL Sleek String Trees. I'm debating installing them until I find the same size black screws.
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47 posts
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Post by barnsleyboy on Nov 11, 2022 11:32:19 GMT
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 29, 2022 3:07:54 GMT
Yesterday I ordered Tonerider's (uncovered) black Birmingham humbucker set. Looking forward to installing these. But I need to get 500K pots for the volume and tone. I wouldn't mind checking out coil splitting since these pickups are said to hardly have a volume drop switching between humbucker and single coil modes. I'd need a push pull DPDT pot. I'm confused by the terms short shaft and long shaft. Not sure what type replacement pots to get that would be a direct swap, besides wiring changes which I have Tonerider diagrams for.
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Post by seismicforce on Nov 29, 2022 10:52:10 GMT
In retrospect I think just regular humbucker mode will be best and foolproof. I’ll get mini 500k pots with split shafts. I guess both audio log would be good. I know some mix audio and linear pots. Originally I was thinking about adding a small toggle switch but not sure. Thanks for your help and info.
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