Squire Telecaster Upgrade – Seeking Advice

[Ted]

I've had this Squire Telecaster for a long time. It's currently on loan to a friend (as my 9-month visit to Madagascar is now into its 6th year).

I've never been satisfied with the tone. It's never been as bright or twangy as I want it to be — like a Telecaster is supposed to sound. I had a guitar tech swap in a different resistor, which helped a little.

At first I thought the problem was the neck pickup, because it looks so different from the "classic" Tele neck pickup. What I've been reading is that almost nobody likes the standard neck pickup, and many people never use it. So my nonstandard bridge pickup might actually be an improvement on the classic pickup that so many dislike.

So now my suspicions have shifted to the bridge pickup.


The other thing I'm learning is that people buy Squires for two reasons: (1) the people are too cheap to spring for "real" Fender, or (2) they know what they're doing, and they intend to modify it anyway to make it sound really good (so why spend so much more money on a "real" Fender?).
So now I'm thinking of swapping out both the neck and the bridge pickups with upgrades.

For the neck pickup, I'm thinking of Seymour Duncan P-Rails.

For the bridge, I just want something that'll make this thing sound like a Tele at last.

Your thoughts?

I'm looking at you, Blooby and Greeny.

[cuthbert]

I'm by no means an expert on this topic, but I noticed right away from your pictures that the neck pickup is a humbucker, and the bridge the traditional single-coil pickup. Mixing these two pickup types in a single guitar can be problematic.

Here's an article that explains the compromises that are made in this type of design, and different approaches you can take to getting the tone you want.

[Ted]

Thanks, Cuthbert!

I honestly don't know shit about pickups. I've never bothered learning the difference between double-coil, single-coil, humbucker, etc. I reckon I'm going to have to bone up if I want to tweak my Tele with any intelligence.

Apparently what I have is a Squier Standard Fat Telecaster with a regular single coil Tele pickup (bridge) and a PAF-style humbucker (neck). The neck humbucker is known to be muddy. The bridge pickup is still not bright enough to my ears.

And apparently what the guitar tech did for me was SOLUTION #4: USE A RESISTOR from the article you sent me. If so, maybe this fix was maybe to brighten up the neck pickup rather than the bridge.

I'm still sticking to my theory that the problem is the bridge pickup — that I need (at least) to replace that with a brighter Tele pickup. So before I start throwing money at my Tele, I need to test this theory (i.e. I need to spend some quality time in the presence of my Tele the next time I'm in the USA.

The other upgrades (if I do them) would be to improve the neck pickup sound – and that fix might already be in place (the resistor).

[Greeny]

Hey. As Cuthbert says, that's a humbucker in the neck pickup. It should be beefier sounding than the 'traditional' weedy and under-used standard single coil. And with less hum. But it won't give you the signature Tele sound.

I have a Japanese Fender Tele which is probably only a slight upgrade on a Squier, but I love it. Plays beautifully and has perfect tuning stability. But that neck pickup was always a problem. I accidentally broke the magnet on mine so was forced to get a new pickup. I ended up with a £5 (including postage!) replacement from China. It's fab: more power, more tone, and much more usable. I have used it a lot on recordings either on the neck or middle position. Not sure why the factory fitted pickup was so bad, but a cheap upgrade has really improved the guitar. And it is my main / favourite guitar.

So goodness knows how good a Seymour Duncan or similar would sound.

The issue you'll have though is that the cavity is routed for a humbucker, so not sure how a single coil will sit in there. It'll look like a bodge that's for sure. I wouldn't care about that if it sounds good though.

My advice would be to ask a guitar workshop if it's even possible to go back to a single coil. If it is, you don't need to spend a fortune. I fitted mine myself without soldering - just stripped and taped the wires.

Good luck!

[Greeny]

Not sure about the complexity of replacing the bridge pickup though. That seemed more complicated.

[Flash Harry]

'just stripped and taped the wires.'

Cowboy..

[Pete C]

Here's a good video about replacing the pickups on a Squier Tele:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMY3BRNoTd8

You can see the body was routed to fit either a humbucker or a single coil. If you're going to put a single coli in the neck, you'd need a new scratchplate as yours will be cut to take a humbucker. As already mentioned, 250k capacitors will give a brighter sound. As you have a humbucker, you might have 500k caps fitted.

As for which pickups to use, there's a massive choice - my Tele has a Broadcaster in the bridge and a Twisted Tele in the neck.

[Blooby]

Sorry it took me a minute. Actually home sick today and am delighted to talk about this rather than work.

First off, I have no idea what you consider to be your coveted Tele tone. It's a crazy versatile guitar, which is counter-intuitive since it's so dead simple. Keith Richards playing rhythm doesn't sound like Albert Lee burning chickin' pickin' licks, which doesn't sound Like John 5 shredding, which doesn't sound like Ted Greene playing clean jazz, which doesn't sound like Mike Stern or Jimmy Page or Robben Ford or Danny Gatton, etc.

I happen to love the neck pickup of a Tele. It has a fatness that isn't quite a humbucker, and I love the bridge pickup once in a blue moon for country stuff, but I live mostly in the center position. That's just me.

My archetypal Tele sound (even though I rarely dial it in) is that spanky clean country tone, but it's not just the guitar. It's probably with a Deluxe Reverb or Princeton with actual spring reverb dialed in, and there's most likely a subtle or not-so-subtle slapback, and there is a Dynacomp (not just any compressor but an actual Dynacomp), squashing the crap out of the dynamic range.

For me, I would swap the neck pickup out in a heartbeat to get it back close to spec. I am looking at Lollar pickups lately, which can get pricey, but I've heard very, very good things about Setmour Duncan Antiquity pickups (bridge pickup here). I have played my share of P-rails, and while I dug them, I would not go down that path for a more traditional Tele sound. Also of personal taste, I find the older I get, the less output out of a pickup I want. Hotter pickups tend to homogenize the tone for me. I could be way off base with this, but I can't ignore my feelings after years of doing this. If I played metal or heavy rock and wanted to push things more, I would think differently.

As a last aside, I have had several Telecasters, and the one that played nicest and whose tone I enjoyed the most was a Squier I bought for about $100 that I eventually sold for an "upgrade." Stupid, stupid, stupid vanity.

I wish you luck. Enjoy the ride but don't freak yourself out over it.

[Ted]

Thanks for your frustratingly reasonable thoughts, Blooby.

I do tend to think of a Tele as a particular sound — one that experienced ears can pick out right away when they hear it.

What I've found with my Squire is that I don't have the flexibility — I feel like it has a very limited range. So I've ultimately concluded that the problem is with the bridge pickup and/or the electronics.

I have played my share of P-rails, and while I dug them, I would not go down that path for a more traditional Tele sound. Also of personal taste, I find the older I get, the less output out of a pickup I want.

My thought about the P-rail neck pickup is that I would maybe add that later (after I fixed the bridge pickup tone). And my thinking was that a neck-position P-rail would give me a Tele neck pickup sound when I wanted it, plus a lot more flexibility for other sounds.

[Boognish]

I've been wanting to jump in here... just got a hold of a 1993 squier Mexican Tele
Neck is great! It's a top loading bridge, not sure about yours.
That doesn't bother me, but it could make a difference instead of string thru body.
Some people actually prefer the top loaders' sound (I love mine).

As far as the pickups, I like my stock single coil. I don't know much about it, but it's good and quacks with some .09s and a pedal or amp can help build a sound as well.

As mentioned there's lots of other things like pots, etc and pedals and amps make a big difference as well.

Honestly I would maybe buy a $50 guitar on the webs and take it apart. Solder on the electronics. Break it. Strip it, sand it, rewire it, and find the sound you want for your favorite lady

Sorry so wordy