Need a little twang from my '72 Thinline!

[rosehouse]

Hi,

I've got a 1972 Semi hollow body Thinline Telecaster re-issue with two humbuckers in it and I'm chasing a different sound.

In a nutshell, I want a little twang and jangle and a little less of the ~humbucker~ sound. I've been researching in to changing my bridge pickup over to a humbucker sized single coil (or something similar) to use in conjunction with the neck humbucker which came stock with the guitar, which I would like to leave in the guitar.

I don't quite want the usual Tele twang sound, but I don't want the sound of a humbucker either. Something in the middle of the two. A little twang together with a decent amount of bass end and balls.

So far I've been looking at these:

-Fralin Twangmaster
-Fralin P92
-Seymour Duncan Phat Cat

Does anyone have any other suggestions/comments? Please point me in the right direction!

Max.

[Boris Bubbanov]

There's a guy from Connecticut who is called "Telenator" at TDPRI and goes by another name here (which I forgot) who is making a great substitute pickup for these weak "reissue" Alnico WRHB pickups. Much closer to the Seth Lovers of the original Thinlines, and more importantly an excellent pickup.

Also check out Mr. Jason Lollar's product.

You can replace the existing Fender source hardtail bridge with a premium replacement from Mr. Bill Callaham. Or you can convert the existing bridge to a 3 barrel Tele design (Glendale Guitars offers the plate and saddles separately). You can also try Mr. Marc Rutters; he's an excellent machinist, newer to the game and is super willing to assist the customer. No redrilling in either case - the guitar can be returned to stock in 10 minutes.

Finally, you can replace the sketchy F tuners with some Gotoh vintage style split shafts with conversion bushes. Yes, two unused holes from the existing F tuners will be obvious on the back of the headstock, but any "F" or trapezoidal tuner is IMO holding a guy back - especially if he is craving twang. But, the guitar will not be able to return to dead stock as the Gotoh splits require 7 new holes in the back of the headstock.

[Lolaviola]

Fralin P-92 has a lot more attitude than the Twangmaster.
Have you thought about a bridge with a 3-barrel set up?

[rosehouse]

I'd prefer to stick with just replacing the humbucker with something that doesn't require a dramatic change to my guitar. In the case I'm not happy with the sound and want to change it back to what I had.

I was considering the P92, but wasn't sure how much jangle I was going to get out of it.

[sixstringslut]

Yeah, drop p/u height screws down, then raise poles. Try varying degrees of angles.
This make the poles more active than blank side of p/u.

I do this to some LP's that are too muffled sounding, it works great most of the time. I like a harder angle on the bass side to brighten it up, less on treble side, 10 minutes with a screwdiver and no mods is a win-win.

[TonyD]

Check our Mick Manlius' Studbucker. Love mine very versitile.
Call him and he'll tweak it the way you want it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHHs-5eUaXU

[televox]

Those re-issue wide range buckers are inherently dull and muddy.
Try 500k or even 1 meg pots, if that doesn't work, the Lollars would probably make a huge difference or get a new pick guard made up and upgrade to some standard sized buckers. Classic 57's are nice and bright.

All the adjusting of poles and pick up heights in the world won't get you there, been there done that.

[theraygun]

Yep, go for higher pot values and screw adjustments and you may like what you find.

[joeburke]

Finally, you can replace the sketchy F tuners with some Gotoh vintage style split shafts with conversion bushes. Yes, two unused holes from the existing F tuners will be obvious on the back of the headstock, but any "F" or trapezoidal tuner is IMO holding a guy back - especially if he is craving twang. But, the guitar will not be able to return to dead stock as the Gotoh splits require 7 new holes in the back of the headstock.


Schaller actually makes a replacement for the F tuners, with a kluson style peg and the F tuner mounting pattern. Guitarpartsresource.com has them. I heard some debate as to whether it's Ping or Schaller that provides Fender with the F tuners, so i'm not even sure that it'd necessarily be an upgrade if you had Scaller F tuners?

[joeburke]

Here we go, Schaller ST6:

http://guitarpartsresource.com/tuners_6inlineschaller.htm