Squier Bullet FSR Tele upgrades (from Page 2)

[Gear_Junky]

New pickups are in, waiting to finish the soldering. I thought I hated working with strats, but telecaster pickups, especially the bridge, are really fragile with those 2 coil wires being so close to the springs. I was relieved that there was still continuity from pickups after I put them in. Couldn't anyone come up with a thin layer of something to protect those?

It was also nice that an Oak Grigsby style switch fits the control plate and has enough depth to go in. I was really worried that it wouldn't fit, but after bending the terminals a bit there's almost a 1/4" clearance there. The switch tip doesn't fit but I will just file the switch arm a little and make it fit.

Also the knobs I wanted to use didn't fit CTS knurling, good thing I have set-screw knobs I can use which I also like. Oh, well, it's all part of the sport.

[Gear_Junky]

Glossed up the fretboard and headstock - some light sanding with a 4-sided soft manicure file followed with 3 coats of TruOil. My lack of photo skills can't quite capture how well it turned out, I didn't even expect such results. The "wet" look of oil finish makes the wood grain "deep" and 3-dimensional, so even with mild figuring it becomes very pleasant to look at.

[Gear_Junky]

That guitar looks great for what you paid for it. How do you like the neck? Also does anyone know if the neck pocket is Fender spec?

I don't know Fender spec, but while the neck was out I took a quick measure. I feel it's a bit easier for me to deal in metric units, especially with small fractions, but Google will help you convert if needed. I hope this helps. And I hope I didn't need to measure where the screw holes are, I imagine that tends to be specific to each neck or something like that.

The depth measurements are from the body top (not pickguard) and I took them at the treble/bridge corner and at the bass/neck corner.

[Tiga]

I'm going from memory here but that looks pretty darn close to fender standard specs (others may know more). Which is great if you want to look at other neck options.

[Gear_Junky]

I'm going from memory here but that looks pretty darn close to fender standard specs (others may know more). Which is great if you want to look at other neck options.

Yeah, people have been putting fender-spec necks like warmoth on squiers for as long as all those brands have existed. For me, I never wanted to do that - it gets expensive. Modding cheap guitars is a sport and fun. But the end game is getting a good guitar for cheap. If I wanted a good guitar for not so cheap, I'd just look for the option that gets me there without mods. The process can be nerve-wrecking as it is

[Gear_Junky]

Somehow I managed to finish soldering and everything appears to work and not noisy or scratchy so far. My (no doubt) atrocious soldering job pictured below. I really do hate soldering (it's probably easier with all the right tools and a good workstation). But I can't imagine paying a "tech" what it would cost. I hope I didn't end up with any cold joints. I kept checking everything for continuity and physical strength, had to reheat some of the points a few times to get good saturation.

[Gear_Junky]

The knobs that ended up not fitting... now that I look at them, I am kinda glad I'm not using them, maybe on an old guitar. Their "silver" inlays are somewhat yellowed and stand out against the bright chrome. Better for a nickel finish.

[Gear_Junky]

And these are the knobs I'll use. Now just putting back the neck and stringing up

[Gear_Junky]

It was a gloomy day today and I didn't like the photos under indoor lighting. So maybe tomorrow. But everything is working and sounds great. The GFS "vintage repro" pickups are definitely a lot more musical vs. the stock and not even a hint of a mismatch in output despite the bridge pickup having a much lower DCR. I went with "vintage wiring" (where the tone connects to the volume's output, not input lug). I'm not sure if I'm picking up a lot of difference specifically due to that, but I find with these pickups the tone knob has more useable range. And I rarely do bridge pickup alone on any guitar, but it sounds pretty nice, no harshness or brashness even with fully open tone. But a bit more hum/noise than I was expecting, so may have to stick with the middle position. Or it could just be where the amp stands right now.

Just a couple of pics of the headstock. For now I decided to just let the UV eventually tint the neck. I've been leaving it in front of a window (it's not really exposed to heat, only the light).

Also forgot to mention: the obligatory black Graphtech nut. I think it's a much better look than white plastic on this one