Squier Standard telecaster

[Tim]

Good point r_a_,

The type and grade of wood does make a big difference in tone and price.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

I could not wait to get pickups here before tinkering some more... well, quality control is a big point to make on these compared to Americans.. I had the Black Pickguard already here so I took the Mirror off.. underneath was the shavings from I guess is drilled out holes for the pickguard screws.. I didn't realize what a tight fit UNDER the neckboard a tele pickguard is... on pressing down to get it in place I must have lowered the neck pickup or something.. or my ever so slight truss rod turn and re-tightening the tuners also helped.. probably the latter... the Neck pickup has lost most of the muddy sound now although it still is preaty weak.. or my ears are adjusting to it.. (that happens right?) .. I also took the time to remove the E string and check the Tuner to a fender tuner bought on ebay... They are Smaller.. the divets in the neck will not align with the fender tuners and they are soooo close I would assume if your pressed new holes they would run into the other making for a Large hole.. Again the tuners on this squier has very loose posts nowhere near the solid feel of the fender tuners.. Nelskie..thank that man for putting yours on..they do not just drop in..lol... I might search out a local luthier to manage mine..The tone pot seems to work pretty well, just an observation so far..no scratchy sounds through the pots.. Oh, seeing I got this to mess with.. when putting on the pickguard which suppose to fit Squiers... two holes did not appear.. I just thought heck with it and started turning the screws into the wood.. wood is soft.. they went in fine and all is well..I think...

welp..thats my review so far... back to quack quack twang...
:R :R

 

[SuperSwede]

I spent some quality time with my tele as well today (in fact the entire afternoon). I got so sick and tired of the fret buzz that I removed all strings, raised the saddles, removed the neck (my GOD what a mess under there, a lot of stuff to do underneath!). There was some mysterious substance (looks a bit like yellow-white woodfiller, and excess paint. I scraped it away and re-seated the neck, now it is much more "stable" when I play it. I got rid of some of the fret buzz but certainly not all.
I then sat down with the strobo tuner and did a real nice intonation, and the guitar feels so much nicer now, although it still has some nasty fret buzz on the g-string. The nut is as lose as it can get so I see no point in working with that again (and that is what started this buzz thing anyway). I simply cannot get anymore relief... sigh... I guess I have to go to .10´s to get more relief.

 

[r_a_smith3530]

Guys, here's another thing that you might try in your quest for inexpensive tone. Pick up a quality copper shielding kit and shield all of your control and pickup cavities on your guitar. That will help to reduce some of the hum, plus it should improve your instrument's tonal qualities.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electro...s:_Shielding/Self-adhesive_Shielding_Kit.html

You can also get shielding materials individually, which may be the best option if you are trying to do a bunch of guitars. From the Stew Mac home page, just do a keyword search for "shielding" and you will find what you need.

Don't forget that you want to shield the underside of the pickguard too. You also want to solder a ground wire to that shielding.

 

[Nelskie]

Justa' - You have now got me wondering if my Squier Tele Std. had a different neck than your new Black Mirror Tele Std. I mean, mine was a 2003 model - perhaps there were some differences between yours, and the guitars made a couple of years earlier? I mean, it's a possibility. Also, are the tuners you bought exactly the same as mine, the "square-ish" back Fender script style? I might also want to add that I had those same tuners on a Squier P-90 Tele II (2004 model, which I later sold), before transferring them onto my 3TS Tele. I can almost assure you that my buddy would have mentioned something if he'd had to fuss with putting those tuners on a second time. It really puzzles me that you're running into issues with this.

Indeed, I am very fortunate to have such a top-notch tech guy - esp. one who knows how I like things. I just wish his shop was in my home town, and not two and a half hours away.

r_a_ - I like your term "quest for inexpensive tone". Seems like that should be my mantra.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

Justa' - You have now got me wondering if my Squier Tele Std. had a different neck than your new Black Mirror Tele Std. I mean, mine was a 2003 model - perhaps there were some differences between yours, and the guitars made a couple of years earlier?

Thats very possible... You would think they would get closer to the American version instead of away from it..Yeah I followed the link to stratosphere (reliablefender) on ebay and they are so darn close.. just a bit to large.. It would hide all markings and look good and probably will be put there eventually.. This is probably the biggest thing about imports... changing the design at will and nothing is uniform... now thats cost saving... note how the pickguard has changed also with mine by two holes... the Squier_51 being a new model is the same way.. they figure there is at least 3 different patterns for it out there also.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

Just put in the Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups in my Black and Chrome... Wow what a difference.. now I can hear even more of my mistakes..lol... and right in front of the monitor with no hum at all.. im impressed (an easy thing for me) ... There is a much improved sound over the stock pickups and thats very noticable right off the bat.. well worth the 90 bucks..

 

[Nelskie]

Justa - Those Vintage Noiseless are some dandy-sounding p'ups, aren't they? One of the things that impressed me about them was the fact that bridge p'up had a bit of 'tude to it, and sounded really good with some distortion through it.

 

[SuperSwede]

Justa, was it hard to install the new pickups in your tele? It seems like the cavity is smaller than on a standard tele. Perhaps you could write something about how you installed them?

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

Installing the VNP's in a Squier Standard

First remove the Strings.. then the whole bridge and pickguard... and the neck in my case (I have a 3-ply after market which is thicker than original) and then..

Only difference was the Neck pickup wires are yellow and black like that of the Bridge pickup on the VNP's... I had the guitar apart waiting on Fed-Ex and clipped like a 1/4 in from each of the old wires.. thinking I would just match.. lol.. duh...I did the neck one first and then took the bridge out of the package..I said oops.. re-solder the neck pickup to white and went on my way... The Neck pickup screws right to the body, I used all new screws, The original has rubber/sponge pads supporting the bottom of the pickup while the VNP comes with rubber for each screw..which I put under the pickup on the neck as a float between the screws and body.. dunno right or wrong but it worked.. One thing to note is I had to open each screw hole with a pre-screw job as they had wax covering all holes. Also the Neck pickup has to be adjusted before replacing the Pickguard and if you want it high you may wish to remove the neck as placing the pickguard on will have you pressing hard down on the neck pickup cover... I removed the neck (im over the fears of letting the majic escape)... The Bridge Pickup screws to the bridge and aligns just fine with the Squier Bridge.. The Cavities on mine had plenty of room and pretty clean in fact... You get wiring diagrams with each pickup and its pretty darn basic... I might add.. there is an extra ground wire running under the bridge to the back of one of the pots.. you want to insure it stays in place for grounding after replacing the bridge.. Also.. on each white/yellow wire it solders to the switch next to a jumper or piece of metal that is solder to the next switch over... make sure you leave this there... it tries to slip while heating the solder but isnt that much trouble keeping in place.. I wonder why they just didnt run the pickup wire over both...in any case thats the whole job... Just reinstall the strings set your height and intonation and man what a difference from stock.. The strings run center over each bar as should be.. nice fit!

Higher High's .. lower lows.. and not a humm to be found... I am very pleased... these are hotter then the stock.. I find myself turning the volumes down on all the setups I already had.. The sustain sounds longer now.. the attack seems to jump out as it should.. I don't know what I would want better then this... but in time I'll find a reason to spend more money on something else im sure.. I wanted to use the OLD amp settings in the Cyber champ... like the 49 Champ and the 55 Deluxe which sounded good with the old pickups but man those old amp settings just glow now with these pickups.. They are just that good imho!

The Fender Vintage Noiseless Pickups get a 10 in my book... but remember my book is no bigger then a menu at a restaurant..
:R

 

[SuperSwede]

Thanks Justa, it doesnt sound that difficult. I am not very experienced with soldering irons but you make it sound rather straight-forward.
I wish that guitar manifacturers could come up with some form of click-connector that you just inserted into the new pickup.
1) "Click!" old pickup removed
2) "CLICK!"... new pup installed...

The world would be a nicer place if IKEA designed guitars...

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

The solder is cheaper then a connector.. but if you change them alot.. it would be worth it huh... Im glad Nelskie mentioned these had served him well.. Im a happy camper...

 

[Nelskie]

Justa' - Yeah, you could buck out a lot more quid for Fralins or what not, but the VN's really are a good p'up choice for the bones. They have an awesome, vintage Fender sound, and rock like nuthin' doin'. I'm looking forward to hearing some more great clips with those working through your Cyber Champ. Having played the very same rig as you with the Tele Std. and Champ, I absolutely know how awesome those tones you're getting are. That set-up was really what swung me over to the Telecaster camp in the first place. Maybe we should get some marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey's bars, and make some s'mores to celebrate? Ya' think!!! Ha ha ha! Glad to hear you're diggin' the VN tones!

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

s'mores for everyone!! Milk can be found in the pasture.... WooooHoooo..

 

[r_a_smith3530]

Oh, seeing I got this to mess with.. when putting on the pickguard which suppose to fit Squiers... two holes did not appear.. I just thought heck with it and started turning the screws into the wood.. wood is soft.. they went in fine and all is well..I think...

welp..thats my review so far... back to quack quack twang...
:R :R

The wood in the body (or neck for that matter) should not be soft, and that is one of the differences between guitars in the two hundred dollar range, and guitars in the six hundred dollar and up range. I would not advise doing that with a good piece of Swamp Ash or Rock Maple! On those, use a small drill first. Believe me, I'm speaking from experience. There are two things you don't want to happen. One is starting a split in the wood, and the other is breaking a screw off in the wood!

From what several pro luthiers have told me, Squier's are well known for their lack of conformity when it comes to replacement parts. Pickguards are one area and tremolo bars are another. From run to run, the parts change. I'm having one heck of a time trying to find a replacement tremolo bar to fit my kid's Squier Strat.

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

ahhhh.... see there... I knew I would mess something up... Seeing it was in the big part of the body and yep $200.. I just didn't care.. having the same experience with my Squier 51 which I did not add holes to just sent the pickguard back.. and in this case it worked out... believe me if I had invested more money I probably would not even take the pickguard off myself.. but that's a very good reminder you mentioned and thank you for it!!!! I actually have tuners to go on this guitar..but as you mentioned..the neck is much harder...and for this reason I would have a person with a drill.. to make the divets... and not just press them in place..

 

[Justaguyin_nc]

Just an update after playing these Vintage Noiseless Pickups on the Tele... The best $90.00 I ever spent... I sit in front of a computer just about all the time while at home... with the guitars around me... I have just about quit playing all but this one.(No remarks on putting this one down to..heh..) it's so darn silent in front of the monitor... it has trully allowed me to practice more seeing I don't get upset with the Humming of the single coils... Im tempted to put a set into the Strat too..although I love the sound it has..I always have to leave the computer area to play it... For me..one goes with the other... Although I don't know if my sound has improved (I think yes)... I do know my desire has..

 

[SuperSwede]

Congrats justa! I wouldn´t mind investing in a pair of noiseless pups myself if I thought that I could manage to install them myself