[evilmessiah]

So this is a guide on the upgrades that were done to my Squier Affinity Telecaster electric guitar. I replaced my guitar’s pickups, wiring and electronics. There are a lot of write-ups and videos on upgrading Squier Stratocasters, but not a lot for Telecasters (especially Squier Affinity Telecasters). I hope this would be of help to those who would be looking forward to upgrading their guitars (especially this model).

Background

In the mad hectic rush of life, having some time to oneself is a luxury nowadays. I had been working in a six day per week job before and it just didn’t cut it for me. Switching to a five day per week job gave me a much needed respite and some time for myself during the weekends. This time gained was precious and I decided to do something that I always wanted- learn to play the guitar. It would be a better use of my time instead of zoning out watching series or playing games during the weekends. I wanted to go down the self-learning route and the internet came to my rescue in the form of the structured lessons at www.justinguitar.com by Justin Sandercoe. This man is a saint for keeping the lessons free and providing quality tutelage. The site is kept alive by voluntary donations and he doesn’t plug for them either. Since the lessons were free, I had the luxury to try them out over a long period of time before I fully committed to sticking to his teaching and practicing regimen. The lessons are divided into various ‘grades’ (Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced) with further subdivisions under those grades like karate belt colors. I donate to his site whenever I complete a grade as a token of my gratitude.

I finished the introductory part of the course and came to realize that I could finally do this and stay committed. However, I still hadn’t taken the plunge to get myself a guitar. I had tried my hand at teaching myself to play with a friend’s Pluto acoustic guitar three or four years back and it didn’t work out well. On thinking more about it, I realized that the electric guitar is more up my alley (I listen to rock and metal anyways).

I usually buy my stuff online or go the used route. However, I realized that this isn’t the best way to do so for guitars. Since guitars are still largely handmade and assembled, there would always be variations even for the same model. It’s true that we can order guitars through Bajaao, but a beginner like me would not be able to find faults or flaws. Experienced folks would fare better and would be able to save cash by ordering online or going the used route. As for me, getting one through a brick and mortar store seemed to be the best option.

So, I went out shopping for one. I had a Les Paul type guitar in my mind since I liked classic/ hard rock best. I visited Furtados and Rooster Guitars in Bangalore. I didn’t find the Epiphone SG-s and LP-s at Furtados all that comfortable. The shop was well laid out and managed, though. At Rooster Guitars, the owner of the store- Akshit was extremely patient and let me noodle around and play with an Ibanez GRG121DX, a Squier Bullet Stratocaster and a Squier Affinity Telecaster. The Ibanez’s neck and fretwork was pretty good. But, I found myself liking the Telecaster more and pulled the trigger on that. Though the Tele has a very basic shape (like a plank of wood) I found it to be comfortable and I loved its neck which had natural satin finish. Akshit was also kind enough to steer me towards a nice Fender Champion 40 amp as well (cleans sounded excellent with the Tele and there were some built in effects that would serve me for quite a while).

With guitars, there can be variances in quality and workmanship- one has to look carefully to get a good one. Mine seemed quite nice and appeared to be made in Indonesia at the Cort Factory. The neck was finished well and the fretwork appeared pretty good to my untrained eyes. I was pretty happy with what I got.

Upgrading an existing guitar vs. buying a new one

I learned and practiced regularly. However, as I progressed further, the itch to upgrade or buy another guitar bit me. I found that the neck pickup was a bit dull and muddy and the tone and volume pots sounded scratchy. I could either upgrade some parts on my guitar (pickups and electronics) or buy another guitar. I thought long and hard about it and decided that all I needed was some basic upgrades on my guitar instead of a whole new one since its playability was great by me.

Note: In most cases, trading in or selling an existing guitar and buying another one makes more economic sense. The main issue is the lack of availability of parts in India. Bajaao is a good source, but the pickings are slim at times. More popular models like Stratocasters and Les Pauls would be having better availability of parts. Amazon India had some parts like (Fender pickups) in stock, but they were prohibitively expensive. At times, the sum of all parts would exceed the price of a better model of the same manufacturer. Even if we manage to secure all the parts, there should be a luthier (guitar technician) skilled, willing enough and not charging a bomb to undertake this task. This, in my opinion, is the hardest part. However, if the guitarist is good at DIY and has access to such parts, upgrading a guitar can be a rewarding journey. In my case, I had an emotional connect to my guitar and the stars aligned in my favor. I managed to secure all the parts and had a friend who was willing to help me out.

Getting the parts

I thought at length about what I wanted to upgrade in my guitar and decided that I would replace the pickups and the electronics for starters. I searched low and high for those parts in India. As expected, they were either unavailable or were extremely expensive. I got all the below parts from USA.



Pickups: As the name suggests an electric guitar’s pickups literally ‘picks up’ the vibrations from the strings and converts them to an electric signal that can be played back through an amplifier. There are various types- single coils, humbuckers, filtertrons, etc.The stock pickups in my guitar were single coils with ceramic magnets. They are good enough in their own right, but I couldn’t connect with the neck pickup which was too muddy and dull. The bridge was quite punchy and sounded a bit like a Telecaster, but was a bit lacking in the musicality part. They also had a noticeable hum at higher volumes and on applying distortion. This was expected since this is a trait of single coils.

I was pretty sure upgrading the pickups would make a lot of difference. I wanted to get something that would sound close to the original vintage Telecaster sound with the Fender chime and twang at a reasonable price. I read upon a lot of options (the entire Fender range and Seymour Duncans), listened to a lot of sound demos and finally decided to go with Cavalier Pickups (www.frettech.com) USA. A special mention to Rob DiStefano who is the owner of Cavalier Pickups and hand winds the pickups. He is extremely knowledgeable, responsive and friendly. I had a listen to the sound clips of various pickups and wanted something that would have the vintage Tele character and would do well with classic rock. His Telecaster pickup range is vast and starts with low output pickups that are faithful to the original Telecaster and go all the way up to aggressive high output ones with a fat tone. Rob suggested that I should go with the Nashville Lion pickup for the bridge and the Lion King pickup for the neck. I concurred and went forward with those. Rob was super supportive and ensured that these reached me in a matter of two weeks. The pickups are made from Alnico V magnets and are reverse wound reverse polarity. I highly recommend these pickups and Rob’s service quality!




Electronics: The electronics in my guitar were pretty basic and any upgrades to those would complement the set of new pickups. I upgraded to the following:

So, all of the above except for the additional hookup wire and some spare capacitors in other values for me to experiment around were bought from www.stewmac.com. This store is a guitar tinkerer’s paradise! There are even DIY kits for guitars and amps! I bought a premium Telecaster wiring kit which included all the above except the additional hookup wire and spare capacitors in a single bundle. I didn’t go for a pre-wired kit (which is a straight drop in to an existing guitar and doesn’t need soldering in most cases) since it was quite a bit more expensive than this one. This bundle also didn’t cost more than the sum of all its individual components either, I think. Excellent support and service from this store again and this reached me in a month. Shipping was a bit high, but I feel it’s worth it since this stuff is hard to find (or at least I couldn’t) or is prohibitively expensive in India.



At this rate, the only things that would be stock on my guitar would be the tuners, bridge and saddles. Since they aren’t having any tuning issues as such till date, I have decided to stick with them.

The upgrade process

My friend Alister in Kochi is passionate about repairing broken guitars and working with them. He is a sessions musician, is proficient with a bass, guitar and drums. He is very much active in the rock music scene in Kochi, but keeps a low profile. Since I was planning to go to Kochi, I thought that it would be a good idea to have these upgrades done by him. So, we got together on a weekend and started to work on my guitar. Since I had zero experience with a solder iron and had almost flunked my practical exam for Physics in the 12th grade which had a wiring experiment, I sought Alister’s aid in making sure that these went well. Here is a step wise procedure for the whole process:

Upgrading the pickups
1.Unstring the guitar gently.
2.Remove the screws holding the pick guard
3.Gently lift it up
4.Unscrew the control panel
5.Desolder the pickup leads from the control panel
6.Remove the old pickups
7.If it’s just a pickup swap, the leads of the new pickups would be guided in and soldered to the control panel. Line up the pickups and it’s done.

Here are some pictures that had been taken:











Upgrading the electronics
1.Unscrew the control panel and gently lift it up.
2.Desolder all the wires.
3.Remove the knobs.
4.Affix the 4 way switch to the control panel.
5.Affix the CTS volume and tone pots to the control panel.
6.Line up new capacitors
7.Remove the output jack.
8.Solder pickup leads as per the wiring diagram,
9.Add a treble bleed circuit, if required.
10.Put in new output jack and solder leads to the panel
11.Check if working.
12.Reassemble back.
13.Plug in and play.

Here are more pictures of the same:





We decided to stick with the wiring diagram provided by StewMac: https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-id...-instructions/

Upgrading the nut is best left to be done by a professional luthier. The old nut would be knocked off and the new one would be glued in and sanded to fit, if required.

As expected, Alister was able to complete all this in a pinch. He also took care to ensure that each component was working as expected. Things took an unexpected turn when he found out that the fretwork on my guitar wasn’t lining up perfectly, the upper frets weren’t finished properly and the intonation wasn’t done properly. Yikes. I learned a valuable lesson then and there- no matter how expensive the guitar is, it is better to take to an experienced luthier for a proper setup and service. I feel this is worth more than paying for an expensive guitar. A well setup guitar can sound great in the hands of a good musician.

Alister fixed all those, rolled the fingerboard edges and rounded off any sharp fret ends that he could find. It was fun to spend the afternoon at his place and explore his guitar and amp collection. His place was an absolute man-cave. One part of the wall was occupied by a rack of tools. There was a practice amp near a window and a pedal board with some really cool guitar and bass effects gave it company. An Ibanez seven string was being taken care of in his workbench when I came in. On the other end of the room hung a genuine vintage road worn cream Fender P-bass with a tortoise shell colored pickguard and an old olive green Ibanez bass with soapbar pickups. There was also an orange Fender Strat and an Artisan hollowbody too. A Takamine acoustic guitar that belonged to the guitarist of a famous band in Kochi and a Cort A5 bass that belonged to Shalwyne who is also a sessions musician and a genuinely nice guy were also in for repairs and servicing. There were more like a vintage Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Kramer and a vintage Orange tube amp in another part of his place. It was also very refreshing to see a vintage Yaschica camera and a Fujifilm DLSR with a wood grip along with a row of vintage watches in his man cave too. He also appeared to be an avid biker since there was an old Chetak, an RX135 and a couple of KTMs in his yard. I was greeted by the row of helmets chilling out in his porch the moment I walked into his place. I could spend a day or two there just looking at all the stuff that was lying around.

I came back from his place with a lot more insight, admiration and a seriously wicked guitar that could hold its own against guitars twice or thrice its price. I’ve been playing it for quite a while almost daily and it sounds and plays noticeably better than before. Alister is also planning to make custom guitars for discerning customers. I’ve seen a Les Paul type guitar he had made from rosewood (!) and it was terrific. The next one in line is a Telecaster type. Please PM me if you have any such requirements or work to be done to your guitar and are in Kochi or are planning to visit Kochi- I will share Alister’s contact details.

Final Notes
The main challenge in upgrading parts of guitars is the scarcity of parts in India and that of luthiers who would be skilled and willing to undertake this work and do it perfectly. Most of these can be done if one’s soldering skills are on point, but some stuff like rounding off sharp frets and changing the nut needs a luthier’s touch. I have to say that the service and support extended by the US stores and vendors have been eye opening. They have been seriously nice and supportive. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the presence of home grown and self-learned talent in the most unlikely of places. Hope this write up helps anyone who is contemplating about upgrading their guitar’s pickups and electronics.

[human_wheels]

Thanks for a wonderful thread.
I too follow justinguitar.com which is a wonderful site for beginners.
I have a "highway one fender stratocaster". I was thinking of installing a Humbucker pickup on that. Will PM you for Alister's contact if I travel to Kochi.
Had purchased an Ibanez nylon guitar from bajaao.com.
So true, difficult to find a skilled luthier who can do the modifications.
Happy strumming bro.

[PrasadS]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Final Notes
The main challenge in upgrading parts of guitars is the scarcity of parts in India and that of luthiers who would be skilled and willing to undertake this work and do it perfectly. Most of these can be done if one’s soldering skills are on point, but some stuff like rounding off sharp frets and changing the nut needs a luthier’s touch. I have to say that the service and support extended by the US stores and vendors have been eye opening. They have been seriously nice and supportive. I’ve also been pleasantly surprised by the presence of home grown and self-learned talent in the most unlikely of places. Hope this write up helps anyone who is contemplating about upgrading their guitar’s pickups and electronics.

Great post and run-down on the changes you did to your Tele
That Final Notes section hit the point home for me. I've been through all that you have faced and some more. The reason for the some more : The dreaded Full Floating Floyd Rose Bridge on the Ibanez Egen8 Herman Lee Signature model.
I could write an entire 10 page Essay on my fight to get it to stay In-Tune, especially when performing live

My keeda of Modding and especially the occasional GAS(Gear Acquisition Syndrome for the uninitiated) attacks, led me to buy a Boutique Tube Amp and a pedal board full of Analog pedals.
But Funny enough, all the above happened when i was working in the IT profession. Now i have turned my Passion into Profession and am a Music instructor since the last 6 years, but somehow the keeda has disappeared and More with Less concept has surfaced!

Regarding learning the instrument, I'm mostly self taught. As for teaching, I follow the Spirit of TBHP; passing down my wisdom, knowledge ,experience and tricks to whoever seeks it.
If anyone needs any help for learning Guitar or needs any Luthier references in Bombay do reach out to me. I am lucky enough to know some good Luthiers in Mumbai who helped and guided me.

On a separate note, your post made me realize that I've never searched TBHP forums for Music related posts/topics, will do so immediately. Would love to be a part of a group which loves Automobiles and Music. Do invite me if there's a Whatsapp group or such.

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by human_wheels

Thanks for a wonderful thread.
I too follow justinguitar.com which is a wonderful site for beginners.
I have a "highway one fender stratocaster". I was thinking of installing a Humbucker pickup on that. Will PM you for Alister's contact if I travel to Kochi.
Had purchased an Ibanez nylon guitar from bajaao.com.
So true, difficult to find a skilled luthier who can do the modifications.
Happy strumming bro.

Thank you! Glad to know that you liked the thread. Does your Strat have an HSS layout or is it SSS? Rob DiStefano at Cavalier Pickups (https://www.frettech.com/) would have you covered if you're looking for single coil replacements.

I've also seen Alister taking the initiative to source components for customers occasionally. Pretty sure he would be interested to undertake your project. Will be glad to share his contact details when you come down to Kochi.

How was your buying experience with the nylon string guitar from Bajaao? Was it set up well?

Originally Posted by PrasadS

Great post and run-down on the changes you did to your Tele
That Final Notes section hit the point home for me. I've been through all that you have faced and some more. The reason for the some more : The dreaded Full Floating Floyd Rose Bridge on the Ibanez Egen8 Herman Lee Signature model.
I could write an entire 10 page Essay on my fight to get it to stay In-Tune, especially when performing live

Haha! I'm also a Dragonforce fan! Lee's technique is amazing. Even though I'm a beginner, I've given Floyd Rose bridged guitars a wide berth. Part of the reason for me choosing a Tele was due to its simplicity- I guess it's like the Toyota Fortuner/ Hilux of the guitar world- it would get you home and is reliable. Even my bottom of the barrel Squier has great tuning stability.

Originally Posted by PrasadS

My keeda of Modding and especially the occasional GAS(Gear Acquisition Syndrome for the uninitiated) attacks, led me to buy a Boutique Tube Amp and a pedal board full of Analog pedals.
But Funny enough, all the above happened when i was working in the IT profession. Now i have turned my Passion into Profession and am a Music instructor since the last 6 years, but somehow the keeda has disappeared and More with Less concept has surfaced!

Quite true! I can totally relate to this! I'm trying to make my technique and basics better rather than spend an inordinate amount on gear.

Originally Posted by PrasadS

Regarding learning the instrument, I'm mostly self taught. As for teaching, I follow the Spirit of TBHP; passing down my wisdom, knowledge ,experience and tricks to whoever seeks it.
If anyone needs any help for learning Guitar or needs any Luthier references in Bombay do reach out to me. I am lucky enough to know some good Luthiers in Mumbai who helped and guided me.

On a separate note, your post made me realize that I've never searched TBHP forums for Music related posts/topics, will do so immediately. Would love to be a part of a group which loves Automobiles and Music. Do invite me if there's a Whatsapp group or such.

Nice to see your post and am glad that you like the thread! Admire your outlook and mindset! Will PM you in case I'm progressing further and would need some lessons. I think some mods here like Naveen and Ampere are also musicians or enthusiasts. Not sure if there is a WhatsApp group for the same.

[human_wheels]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

Thank you! Glad to know that you liked the thread. Does your Strat have an HSS layout or is it SSS? Rob DiStefano at Cavalier Pickups (https://www.frettech.com/) would have you covered if you're looking for single coil replacements.

I've also seen Alister taking the initiative to source components for customers occasionally. Pretty sure he would be interested to undertake your project. Will be glad to share his contact details when you come down to Kochi.

How was your buying experience with the nylon string guitar from Bajaao? Was it set up well?

Mine is a SSS layout. I found out later that highway one fender was available with HSS as well. I also want to find out if the intonation is proper for my guitar. And my guitar output contact is giving a lot of crackling sound. Same problem with my pickup selector switch.

Bajaao buying experience was good, even though it was an online purchase.
The nylon string guitar was set up ok, but I would prefer to get it inspected by an expert. Had changed the strings once two years back.The action(distance between the string and the fretboard) is way too high towards the 12th fret. Requires a lot of pressure to play the notes there.

PS: your telecaster looks cool.

[navin]

Originally Posted by evilmessiah

So this is a guide on the upgrades that were done to my Squier Affinity Telecaster electric guitar. .

Originally Posted by PrasadS

The reason for the some more : The dreaded Full Floating Floyd Rose Bridge on the Ibanez Egen8 Herman Lee Signature model.

Lovely work EvilMessaih. The Squire Affinity and Classic Vibe are some of the most fun guitars to mod. Stewmac is a great source as is Antique Electric Supply (formerly known as Tubes and More).

I have built a few guitars and modded a few more in my time. My first was in 1988. The woodwork was done by Salu Dias in Malad, Mumbai.

A friend, Chris Bismark (Bismark Rodriques's son), and I decided to build 2 guitars based partly on the Jem77 and partly on the RG550. Around the same time, I had the good fortune to visit Dimarzio's factory in NY. Chris was a big fan of Vai so his guitar was a virtual copy of the Jem77 while I designed my own neck (a 24 fret stretched version of an American Standard Strat neck) and had Salu carve out my name in Abalone on the neck.

I am going purely from memory (the guitar is now over 30 years old) but I think the pickups were a Dual Sound, a Chopper, and a Tone Zone.

Floyd Rose tremolos are a real pain to set up but for those who love dive-bombing, it's one option to keep the guitar in tune.

Over the years I have used pickups from Lace (holy grail set), Lindy Fralin, Seymour Duncan, LR Baggs, etc. I copper shielded the Lace holy grail set so that I could build a Strat that did not feedback, hiss, or squeal. I used an LR Baggs with a Ghost Acoutiphonic preamp to add acoustic tones to a Gibson Les Paul (using WLH and Pearly Gates magnetic pickups).

I cant remember all my experiments. I guess I am old and senility has gotten the better of me.

[neil.jericho]

evilmessiah, that was a very enjoyable thread. I could relate to a lot of what you posted. I had a black Yamaha Pacifica 012 (HSH) for a decade and eventually got bored of the sound output. I thought of plonking in some expensive pickups like what you did but stumbled upon some very highly rated pickups from Aliexpress. IIRC they were Donlis pickups and the user reviews were pretty positive. I cant access the telecaster forum (tdpri) now, to share the links but it was well worth it. My thought process was that if I liked it, I would go all in and replace them with Seymor Duncans or something. I gave it to the music service store in Ravipuram run by Sangeeth Music Mahal and they did the installation for me. What a massive difference better pickups make!

Last year, I finally gave the Yamaha off to someone deserving and picked up a Surf Green Fender Squire Affinity Strat (SSS) from the big Manuel Industries store. They have the widest and best collection of electric guitars (and musical equipment) in Cochin right now. Most of the other stores are either saddled with old stock or dont want to take new stock because nothing much is selling, especially these days. I took my cousin along with me to help select the guitar, he is an experienced rock musician and could identify the pieces with fret buzz and what not. I just wanted something pretty and that sounded good!

I was caught between a new Affinity Strat or a Butterscotch Blonde Tele, like what you have. Unfortunately, there wasnt a single one available in Cochin in that paint scheme. If a Tele is good enough for the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, its good enough for me. I found a preowned one in Vypin but it was in the Sunburst paint scheme, and I wasnt the biggest fan of its looks. In the end, my cousin suggested that I go for the Affinity Strat because its more versatile, and I am very happy with my guitar. Maybe in another year, I will get the pickup upgrade itch and Ill reach out to Alister.

Do share some pictures of the custom Les Paul and some ballpark pricing, if you can. There is one famous store in Cochin that built their own guitars but that was for the mass market and Im sure the final product that Alister is looking at, is not going to be anywhere close to that.

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by human_wheels

Mine is a SSS layout. I found out later that highway one fender was available with HSS as well.....

I've PMd you. Thank you! Though I don't think my Tele really qualifies as a Butterscotch blonde (I think it's more like caramel or like Irish Coffee with creme) this color scheme has its own charm (at least for me!) You're welcome to check it out anytime when you're in Kochi or when I'm back in Bangalore and the situation calms down.

Originally Posted by navin

Lovely work EvilMessaih. The Squire Affinity and Classic Vibe are some of the most fun guitars to mod. Stewmac is a great source as is Antique Electric Supply (formerly known as Tubes and More)...

Hi Navin! Thank you for reading my post and I'm glad that you liked it! I had read up your posts elsewhere on this forum before I had bought my guitar (I think the Guitar Thread and the rock music thread) and it had provided me with many valuable insights. Your story of the 2 guitars is awesome! It's really heartening to see that guitars are made like this in India and it is possible! I also like Steve Vai and am jealous of your friend. My next step in the pool might be for a home made tube amp when the stars align for more money, skill and Alister's spare time.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

evilmessiah, that was a very enjoyable thread. I could relate to a lot of what you posted. I had a black Yamaha Pacifica 012 (HSH) for a decade...

Hey! Hope you're doing good! I didn't know that you played the guitar as well! Good to know!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

...I thought of plonking in some expensive pickups like what you did but stumbled upon some very highly rated pickups from Aliexpress. IIRC they were Donlis pickups and the user reviews were pretty positive. I cant access the telecaster forum (tdpri) now, to share the links but it was well worth it. My thought process was that if I liked it, I would go all in and replace them with Seymor Duncans or something. I gave it to the music service store in Ravipuram run by Sangeeth Music Mahal and they did the installation for me. What a massive difference better pickups make!

Actually, the upgrade story for your Pacifica is very interesting. I had seen on Darrel Braun Guitar's channel on YouTube where he was doing an upgrade build for his lower end Yamaha Pacifica and he had mentioned that finding compatible parts weren't as straightforward and the lack of plentiful aftermarket options that is enjoyed by Fender/ Squier models. I'm a fan of the Pacifica series though and I feel that they are made better than Squiers and have more attention to detail.

Quite true! Good pickups make a world of difference! I also feel electronics also make a tangible difference. It's an area where manufacturers love to save cost. I really feel that having better pots, caps, pickup switch and output jack can complement the better pickups.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Last year, I finally gave the Yamaha off to someone deserving and picked up a Surf Green Fender Squire Affinity Strat (SSS) ....

What a coincidence! Alister and I were talking last week about how cool a surf green Strat or a Tele would be and that it's one of the best paint jobs in their lineup right now! You certainly have good taste!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

....from the big Manuel Industries store. They have the widest and best collection of electric guitars (and musical equipment) in Cochin right now. Most of the other stores are either saddled with old stock or dont want to take new stock because nothing much is selling, especially these days..

Quite right again. Some gems are there in older stock though. I remember Alister talking about a Godin and a Blackheart tube head and cab (I think both are rare in India) that was for sale at Sangeeth Mahal.

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

I was caught between a new Affinity Strat or a Butterscotch Blonde Tele, like what you have. Unfortunately, there wasnt a single one available in Cochin in that paint scheme. If a Tele is good enough for the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, its good enough for me. I found a preowned one in Vypin but it was in the Sunburst paint scheme, and I wasnt the biggest fan of its looks. In the end, my cousin suggested that I go for the Affinity Strat because its more versatile, and I am very happy with my guitar. Maybe in another year, I will get the pickup upgrade itch and Ill reach out to Alister.

I also underestimated the Tele at first, to be honest. I was under an extremely silly prejudiced notion that the Tele is good only for country music. Playing one in real life was like having a bucket of cold water poured on my head in a cold winter morning in Ooty. The distinctive tone aside, playing the Tele invoked the same feelings (the good ones, not how badly it vibrated) I had when I was riding a 535 Continental GT. There was just something special about it. Plus, the simple, rugged build and the tuning stability were also attractive to me.
The place where I bought my Tele from didn't have an Affinity Strat. If there was a Surf Green Strat there, chances are quite high that I might have gone for it just for the looks alone!
I'm pretty sure that you would be upgrading the pickups soon!

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

Do share some pictures of the custom Les Paul and some ballpark pricing, if you can. There is one famous store in Cochin that built their own guitars but that was for the mass market and Im sure the final product that Alister is looking at, is not going to be anywhere close to that.

Will ask for some pics and the pricing would depend on the any specific requirements. I think the ballpark for a LP type guitar I had talked about with him was in the 50-60K range.

Is Stelsie the store that your're referring to? They had a pretty good name back then- don't they have an outlet near the North Railway Station? You're right- Alister's looking at the enthusiast end of the spectrum and not at the volume based mass market. But even then, I don't think it would cost as much as the established manufacturers are charging for their flagships.

[navin]

Originally Posted by neil.jericho

If a Tele is good enough for the Boss, Bruce Springsteen, it's good enough for me.

Just FYI. Richards (aka Keith) also uses a Tele as his main guitar and Jimmy Page used a Tele for Led Zepp I and part of Led Zepp II.

[vredesbyrd]

Absolutely brilliant DIY this. I am motivated to do something about the stock boring pickups on my GRG7221, though I'll probably outsource the work since I'm still not as confident about myself as car or iPod DIYs. But nevertheless, thanks to you, I have some direction now

Originally Posted by PrasadS

I could write an entire 10 page Essay on my fight to get it to stay In-Tune, especially when performing live

Have got an old Schecter Omen 6 Extreme FR. Tightened the springs to max in the backplate area and put a wooden block in the space below the the bridge's rear side (where the string clamp screws are).

It's a one-way tremolo now and tuning stays good even without using locking nuts. Good riddance. Nobody should have to deal with an FR.

[AZ911]

Awesome thread. Did a very similar DIY way back in 2011. Got my hands on one of the last Bill Lawrence OG L90s for my RG370. Haven't been playing for a few years now. Some pics attached.

[zurura023]

Much thanks for the detailed post evilmessiah.

The thread is quite useful for someone like me who is looking to upgrade my Strat electronics. I had picked up a used Squier Affinity California series a year back. I'll probably get the parts from US once travel gets back to near normalcy and there are friends coming back home. I'll invest the time in learning till then which started last year.

Also, another vote for Justin Guitar. That man is simply brilliant and a great teacher as well. His course is so well laid out and the exercises are nice to get you going on your journey.

Originally Posted by PrasadS

Regarding learning the instrument, I'm mostly self taught. As for teaching, I follow the Spirit of TBHP; passing down my wisdom, knowledge ,experience and tricks to whoever seeks it.
If anyone needs any help for learning Guitar or needs any Luthier references in Bombay do reach out to me. I am lucky enough to know some good Luthiers in Mumbai who helped and guided me.

Thanks for the offer Prasad. Can you please share some Luthier references for Bombay, closer to Thane the better. I have used the services of Peter Pereira for an acoustic guitar. Should I stick with him for changing the electronics on my electric as well when time comes?

[AZ911]

Originally Posted by zurura023

Thanks for the offer Prasad. Can you please share some Luthier references for Bombay, closer to Thane the better. I have used the services of Peter Pereira for an acoustic guitar. Should I stick with him for changing the electronics on my electric as well when time comes?

Peter and John Pereira near the Thane railway station are pretty famous. I’ve attached a pic with their details.

[PrasadS]

Originally Posted by navin

A friend, Chris Bismark (Bismark Rodriques's son), and I decided to build 2 guitars based partly on the Jem77 and partly on the RG550. Around the same time, I had the good fortune to visit Dimarzio's factory in NY. Chris was a big fan of Vai so his guitar was a virtual copy of the Jem77 while I designed my own neck (a 24 fret stretched version of an American Standard Strat neck) and had Salu carve out my name in Abalone on the neck.

I know a few people who have learned under Bismark sir. Steve Vai was the person who's videos made me understand the potential of the Electric Guitar. His videos led me to find my Guitar Idol Joe Satriani. No words to describe Satch and what he means to many a Guitarists. He was the reason I bought the Floyd Rose Guitar in the first place without knowing what i'm getting into

Originally Posted by navin

Floyd Rose tremolos are a real pain to set up but for those who love dive-bombing, it's one option to keep the guitar in tune.

The name dive-bombing is so apt, sounds great, looks cool and just like a real bomb devastates your tuning despite the setup
If only we had Guitar Techs at our beck and call like the Pro's!

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

It's a one-way tremolo now and tuning stays good even without using locking nuts. Good riddance. Nobody should have to deal with an FR.

I tried changing the springs, then changed the entire bridge from Ibanez Edge 3 to the Schaller(Got it done from Alberto's Music, Bombay. Later got to know it was a misfit and was meant for a smaller scale guitar!)
Just a few years back got the entire bridge locked and ended that saga.

Originally Posted by zurura023

Thanks for the offer Prasad. Can you please share some Luthier references for Bombay, closer to Thane the better. I have used the services of Peter Pereira for an acoustic guitar. Should I stick with him for changing the electronics on my electric as well when time comes?

Luckily the person who works on my Guitars has his workshop in Thane. Goes by the name Auddie Dsouza (CiprianoMusic). You can find him on FB. DM me if you have any trouble connecting with him.

[evilmessiah]

Originally Posted by vredesbyrd

Absolutely brilliant DIY this. I am motivated to do something about the stock boring pickups on my GRG7221, though I'll probably outsource the work since I'm still not as confident about myself as car or iPod DIYs. But nevertheless, thanks to you, I have some direction now

Thank you! I had just sourced the parts- all the work was done by my friend Alister. This stuff needs some practice and experience and I'm glad that he did it.

Originally Posted by AZ911

Awesome thread. Did a very similar DIY way back in 2011. Got my hands on one of the last Bill Lawrence OG L90s for my RG370. Haven't been playing for a few years now. Some pics attached.

Holy smokes! Nice! Love your guitars! The Strat in Olympic White (hope I got the name right) looks fabulous! Kudos since you did the work yourself! Hope you get the time to pick up playing those beauties again.

By the way, Rob DiStefano, the man who owns and makes Cavalier pickups (the ones that I used in my guitar) is of the old guard and he was a friend of and had closely worked with Bill Lawrence. Can't recommend him enough. He knows his stuff well.

Originally Posted by zurura023

Much thanks for the detailed post evilmessiah.

The thread is quite useful for someone like me who is looking to upgrade my Strat electronics. I had picked up a used Squier Affinity California series a year back. I'll probably get the parts from US once travel gets back to near normalcy and there are friends coming back home. I'll invest the time in learning till then which started last year.

Glad to hear that! Your idea is good. If you have someone based in the States, it's better to get the parts from them. Or else, you could use the services of some shipping agency like Shopandship. Some stores like Stewmac do ship internationally.

Originally Posted by zurura023

Also, another vote for Justin Guitar. That man is simply brilliant and a great teacher as well. His course is so well laid out and the exercises are nice to get you going on your journey.

Agreed. It's givers like that who make the world a better place.