My Agave Blue Telecaster

[Agave_Blue]

Thought I'd post a couple of pics my Tele. 2005 MIM Standard.

Since I've got some upgrade plans and I figured if I had a thread, I could post my (probably slow) progress all in one place. Nothing real special - certainly not a build or relicing type project - just some R&R upgrades as I can fund them.


Stock:





First change: New pickguard. I find that even the simplest mechanical things challange me. There is usually some "trick" that makes things easy that eludes me. The pickguard was no exception.

Could not figure how to get the little PU height tubing to stay in place while I put the pickup screws back in. I devised a couple of cunning methods of holding everything together while I put those screws in.

Then I realized I should attach the pickup to the pickguard THEN attach the pickguard. So, I've proved I'm smarter than a pickguard, but it was a near thing.

Pickguard selection loosely inspired by:












I like it. It's got bit more of a Rock & Roll vibe. Not quite as clean cut; maybe just slightly rude or rebellious.

[leftyguitarman]

I like it better with the black guard. Nice!

[dennistruckdriver]

[JonMan94]

nice telecaster man!!

[Byron999]

nice, I really like this color. like that white pearloid pg also

[dennistruckdriver]

I sold 'er. It was nice, but not truly remarkable. Just another MIM Standard.
The Wilkinson bridge from GFS is a good item for the 'vintage' look, and bolts right on to any MIM or MIA Standard. Won't fit Squier Standards string holes through the body, however.

I have a 'new take-off' Fender three-saddle bridge that would fit right on a MIM or MIA Standard Telecaster if anybody is interested.
I'd sell it and ship it for $36 PayPal.

[Byron999]

Well, just want to show my support for this great color, not to hijack your thread.

I got this loaded MIM Agave Blue body for my Deluxe Player neck that got freed up a couple weeks back. Replaced white pg for Warmoth aged pearloid.

[Agave_Blue]

I considered a black pearloid, but for went for the simpler (and cheaper) 3-ply.

A lot of people seem to like the Agave Blue. I guess I lucked into a "good" color.

[Agave_Blue]

My first allocation of funds has been approved.

Unfortunaetly, it is less than I had hoped for.

Regardless, orders have been placed, parts are being picked, packages are being assembled and mailed. When tracking numbers become available, I will wear out my "F5" key to plot every minute movement of the inbound freight.


On the way, we have:

• From our own Jonesy at ToneMojo.com Got your Tone-Mojo Working? a custom Telecaster Harness. 4-way swtich, 2 @ 500k Push/Pull pots, PIO cap(s), treble bleed kit and reverse oriented;
• A few small, misc parts and a Humbucker fitting pick guard from All Parts;
• A few, small, misc parts from StewMac;
• A Seymour Duncan P-Rail Lead Pickup and an SD L'il '59 for Tele pick up.

I shall now wait, with great impatience, for these goodies to show up on my doorstep.

[Telechamp]

I got this loaded MIM Agave Blue body for my Deluxe Player neck that got freed up a couple weeks back. Replaced white pg for Warmoth aged pearloid.


Gots me an Agave Blue Strat, too..

[Telechamp]

Originally Posted by dennistruckdriver

I'm diggin' that white pearloid.. I might have to put one of those on my Agave, too...

[st.bede]

black looks a whole lot better and I did not think I would even care but in comparison that white did not work at all....(the pearl was also nice)

my 5 year old son will faint when I show him this thread....

every time I take him to GC he pulls me over to remind me, that when he gets old enough for a guitar, he is going with that blue...I try to talk him into an am standard (tobacco burst) because of my own problems with snobbery but for him: blue it is.

and it is a sweet color.

[Telechamp]

Originally Posted by st.bede

black looks a whole lot better and I did not think I would even care but in comparison that white did not work at all....(the pearl was also nice)

my 5 year old son will faint when I show him this thread....

every time I take him to GC he pulls me over to remind me, that when he gets old enough for a guitar, he is going with that blue...I try to talk him into an am standard (tobacco burst) because of my own problems with snobbery but for him: blue it is.

and it is a sweet color.

Yep, I do love the Agave Blue color. And they don't make 'em in this color anymore, which makes them kinda unique now ~

I myself think the white guards do look good with the Agave Blue. I am thinking hard on the white pearloid now.

[st.bede]

Originally Posted by Telechamp

Yep, I do love the Agave Blue color. And they don't make 'em in this color anymore, which makes them kinda unique now ~

whoa....I hope I can get one if and when so needed....Do you know if they made enough, in that color, for me to pick up one used, in 8 years?

[Agave_Blue]

I've got BOX-es .... I've got Boxes. YEAH!!











Jonesy - Waiting on you bro. No pressure.

[Telechamp]

Originally Posted by st.bede

whoa....I hope I can get one if and when so needed....Do you know if they made enough, in that color, for me to pick up one used, in 8 years?

Not sure how many Agave Blue strats and teles they made in that color. I know it is a discontinued color.

[JMV]

Cool! I can't wait to see it all finished. Although, I think it will need a black bridge to really tie it all together.

[Agave_Blue]

Originally Posted by JM Vasek

Cool! I can't wait to see it all finished. Although, I think it will need a black bridge to really tie it all together.

Agreed. Insufficient funds at present.

I am thinking about, actually leaning toward, the Tele version of this one:

Babicz Full Contact Hardware - FCH PRODUCTS

You Tube

You Tube

[st.bede]

YouTube - NAMM 2010 - Babicz Guitars

YouTube - NAMM 2010 - Babicz Guitars

[Agave_Blue]

Got word today: Jonesy shipped my harness today. With luck it'll be here Thurs or Friday, and I'll be rockin' buckers by the weekend.

I think I can already feel the ToneMojo.

[Agave_Blue]

HA!! jonesy's ToneMojo rig is in - 4 way switch, 2 Push/Pulls, pushback wire, PIO cap, etc. Hooked up to two hot Duncan Humbuckers (L'il '59 for Tele at the Brigde and a P-Rail at the Neck).

I'll describe it as:

Oh yeah
She was a foxy rocker, a roxy roller
An unchained sex machine
Yeah ....

And boy, she was mean, I said mean

YouTube - Def Leppard- No No No

YouTube - Def Leppard- No No No

Pics in a day or two.

[planks]

Nice looking Tele, cool upgrades.

[Agave_Blue]

Hey all, I've got an update.



So, I got my new control wiring harness about 10 days ago - thanks jonsey at ToneMojo.com Got your Tone-Mojo Working? - and installed the electronics a week ago Saturday.

WOW! It was not an easy install. Don't get me wrong the act of soldering, etc was easy enough, but with so much going on wiring-wise and everything being so SMALL, it's tedious work. Especially for a first timer.

To recap, I added/changed:

- SD P-Rail Lead humbucker pickup in the Neck;
- SD 'L'il '59 humbucker in the Bridge;
- 4-way switch with reverse orientation
- 2 500k Push/Pull pots
- .022 mF Paper-in-Oil capacitor
- New Pickguard (All Parts)
- Misc Black accents, screws, control plate, etc from All Parts and/or StewMac.

I now have a "Versa-Caster". There are a LOT of Tone Options. 16 positions to be exact - although for any practical purpose, there are some duplicates.

I did (and still do) find the P-Rail to be a heavy, dark-ish pickup. This pickup distorts pretty quickly too. This is from, as far I can tell, the P90 part of the pick up. It took some adjustment to "tame" the boomy, bassy sound from it. I ended up lowering the P-Rail to be about flush with the pickguard and FURTHER lowering the low string (E, A, D) pole peices by about 1 full turn.

It's still heavy and dark, but much better; it was originally unbearable. The adjustment has cleaned it up some too, although it still begins to distort at moderate volume.

The 'L'il '59 is pretty cool. Reasonably clean and bright. It rips as Humbucker, but still retains some "Tele Twang" when split/shunted to single coil.

Pics:










I know it's "non-traditional", but all I can say is that I am unencumbered by how a Tele "should" look or sound. AND, I needed to try to find something that was very versatile, as this is my only guitar. I'm also a sucker for modifying stuff.

I'd love to post sound clips, but I suck so bad at playing guitar, it wouldn't do justice to the tonal options (not to mention the potential impact on my self-esteem).

Also (and finally), a BIG shout-out to deaf-eddie (Deaf Eddie - Guitar Whacko!) for his his help to me via e-mail regarding wiring options, both before and after I'd selected my pickups. I don't know how many custom wiring diagrams deaf-eddie has done for members over on the Telecaster forum, but he's a HUGE resource for them (us) and deserves my (our) thanks.

[xStonr]

Agave Blue is a great color for a Tele!

[Agave_Blue]

A bit of an update.

I had a P-Rail in the neck postion. BUT it was a Bridge P-Rail. As noted previously, I found it too heavy, too prone to distortion and "boomy". I made some progress with it by fooling with the height, but never was really satisfied.

So, I decided to dump that pickup and get a proper P-Rail Neck pickup. Got that installed this past Wednesday (and my little wiring error fixed yesterday - Wiring Woes - P-Rail Push/Pull & Coil Splits. Help Please - Telecaster Guitar Forum ).


It is SO much better. The Neck and Bridge balance so much better and the neck P-Rail is much SO much more usable. Let the honeymoon begin.


Some detail on the pickups and wiring:

Bridge = SD 'L'il '59 (ST59-1b). Ceramic. DC Resistance 17k; Res peak 3.4kHz.

application
P.A.F.-voiced single-coil-sized humbucker. Great for country, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock and heavy rock.

description
This lead pickup is a hybrid. Designed for the Telecaster® player who wants to rock, this little beast delivers a warm, smooth tone, reminiscent of an old '59 Patent Applied For humbucker mixed together with a healthy dose of beefed up twang. Comes in black only with four-conductor cable. ....

Neck: SD P-Rail Neck (SHPR-1n). AlNiCo V. DC Resistance 12.9, Res Peak 4.6 kHz.

application
Ground breaking, patent pending design allows a full-size humbucker to split to either a “real deal” P-90 or a traditional single coil. Perfect for a wide variety of styles including country, pop, surf, jazz, blues, classic rock, and heavy rock.

description
Until now, if you wanted humbucker, P-90, and vintage Strat® tones, you’d have to haul three guitars to the gig. Enter P-Rails™. It’s a full-size humbucker that splits to either a full-size P-90 or a special Alnico-powered single-coil Rail pickup. The humbucker sound is full and expansive, owing to the mis-matched coil configuration. The P-90 is a super fat. And the Rail coils, when used together, sound like the “2” and “4” positions in a great Strat.
....

The Bridge version has an output of 18.8.

Wiring was basically the SD diagram found here: Wiring Diagram

Deaf Eddie adapted that for a 4-way switch and the cap is wired slightly different. (sorry, jonesy, I just couldn't keep from fooling with it.) The final wiring is:




Gratuitous Pics:






I'd like to add some more black accroutements (Bridge and Tuners) but am saving for a better amp first.

I hope - money is burning a hole in my pocket.

[BMS]

That's a sweet Tele you got there! Well that explains you user name.