smurfco
Meatus McPrepuce
A couple weeks ago I saw someone had posted on Facebook Marketplace an ad for a 2015 Fender USA Telecaster HS. These were apparently special models created for Guitar Center, US-made, back around that time. Here's the old GC page for the black/rosewood version: https://www.guitarcenter.com/Fender...ectric-Guitar-Black-Rosewood-1428935658612.gc
The one this guy was selling was Olympic White with a maple neck, the exact same color scheme as my Strat that I have had for a while and is one of my current faves. Matching guitars! (And both my USA Fender basses are also Olympic White with maple boards, I guess I have a type). Plus he only wanted $700 for it with a (non-original) hardshell case so I went to check it out. It is light and it plays great so I got it...
The main reason I got it was to turn it into a Jonny Greenwood style Tele Plus. I already had a Tele control plate with a kill switch mounted to it and I was ready to order some Lace Sensors to go in there but I started playing it for a while and I was like hm, i think I don't want to put the Lace Sensors in here after all, I am liking the sound of more natural pickups. Plus I had an actual Tele Plus before and I remember not really liking the sound of the Lace Sensors. I did still order a chrome pickup mounting ring though because I dig the look of that over a stock black mounting ring. Oh and I replaced the stock "bent metal" Strat style saddles with the thicker blockier ones they used in the 90s because I had a set of them lying around. They feel a lot sturdier than the stock saddles but I don't know if they really change the sound much... maybe a little bit more sustain bc they are pushed up solidly against each other and are thicker.heavier than the stock saddles but who knows.
BUT the stock pickups, while they sounded decent on their own, had a huge volume difference between them. The bridge humbucker was overpowering in terms of the volume balance unless split (it had one of those S-1 switches), and I don't like the sound of a split bucker anyways. SO I reached out to DiMarzio asking what bridge humbucker would go well with an Area T neck pickup - it would be nice to have a little bit more output from the bridge vs. the neck but I didn't want it to be overpowering. They recommended a 36th ANniversary PAF (neck version) in the bridge - they said even though it's the neck version it sounds good in both positions and would be a good match for the Area T. They also sent a wiring diagram (I didn't want the ability to split the bridge humbucker).
So all the stuff finally showed up and I wired it all together., Standard Tele control layout plus the kill switch between the knobs. It sounds great - fantastic even! The pickups sound so good on their own and are much more well balanced. And no noise since the Area T is hum canceling. It's quickly become my favorite guitar - I used it on that new tune of mine I posted with the Boss IR-2 and I've been playing it pretty much exclusively since I finished it up on Friday evening. It just feels great and sounds great and I think it looks awesome. Here it is next to my aforementioned Strat, quite the pair if I do say so myself. I wonder if anyone is still reading this... oh well...
The one this guy was selling was Olympic White with a maple neck, the exact same color scheme as my Strat that I have had for a while and is one of my current faves. Matching guitars! (And both my USA Fender basses are also Olympic White with maple boards, I guess I have a type). Plus he only wanted $700 for it with a (non-original) hardshell case so I went to check it out. It is light and it plays great so I got it...
The main reason I got it was to turn it into a Jonny Greenwood style Tele Plus. I already had a Tele control plate with a kill switch mounted to it and I was ready to order some Lace Sensors to go in there but I started playing it for a while and I was like hm, i think I don't want to put the Lace Sensors in here after all, I am liking the sound of more natural pickups. Plus I had an actual Tele Plus before and I remember not really liking the sound of the Lace Sensors. I did still order a chrome pickup mounting ring though because I dig the look of that over a stock black mounting ring. Oh and I replaced the stock "bent metal" Strat style saddles with the thicker blockier ones they used in the 90s because I had a set of them lying around. They feel a lot sturdier than the stock saddles but I don't know if they really change the sound much... maybe a little bit more sustain bc they are pushed up solidly against each other and are thicker.heavier than the stock saddles but who knows.
BUT the stock pickups, while they sounded decent on their own, had a huge volume difference between them. The bridge humbucker was overpowering in terms of the volume balance unless split (it had one of those S-1 switches), and I don't like the sound of a split bucker anyways. SO I reached out to DiMarzio asking what bridge humbucker would go well with an Area T neck pickup - it would be nice to have a little bit more output from the bridge vs. the neck but I didn't want it to be overpowering. They recommended a 36th ANniversary PAF (neck version) in the bridge - they said even though it's the neck version it sounds good in both positions and would be a good match for the Area T. They also sent a wiring diagram (I didn't want the ability to split the bridge humbucker).
So all the stuff finally showed up and I wired it all together., Standard Tele control layout plus the kill switch between the knobs. It sounds great - fantastic even! The pickups sound so good on their own and are much more well balanced. And no noise since the Area T is hum canceling. It's quickly become my favorite guitar - I used it on that new tune of mine I posted with the Boss IR-2 and I've been playing it pretty much exclusively since I finished it up on Friday evening. It just feels great and sounds great and I think it looks awesome. Here it is next to my aforementioned Strat, quite the pair if I do say so myself. I wonder if anyone is still reading this... oh well...
