KingBollock Posted 10 hours ago Posted 10 hours ago A few months ago I treated myself to a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster. I love it but I just can’t let things be, I have to fiddle/meddle… I think the only thing I don’t like about it is the tuner ratio. Every time I think I have what I need, sorted out in my head, I read something contradictory and start doubting myself (there’ll probably be a lot of that in this post…). The trouble is that the tuning is too fine, so it’s near impossible to get it spot on. Do I need a higher or lower ratio? How do I find out what the current ratio is? Ideally I’d like to replace the tuners with ones with a more appropriate ratio. That fit in without having to enlarge the current holes in the headstock. It’d be nice to have drop in, vintage style tuners. I’d really like locking ones, too, but I have a feeling that what I am after just doesn’t exist, at least not without breaking the bank. The better ratio would be more important than locking. I don’t know what the current tuner ratio is. The other thing I want to do is change the pickups. I have seen a set that has a mini, hot rails humbucker for the bridge and a black chrome single in the neck position. I want to replace all the electrics*. I want a 4 way blade switch for: Switch Positions 1) bridge 2) neck + bridge (parallel) 3) neck + bridge (series) 4) Neck Plus a push pull pot for splitting the hot rail coils. So I need to find a diagram for all that. I’ll also be replacing the control plate for one with a slanted switch. I bought a replacement switch knob to help with access, but it’s not much of an improvement and it’s ugly. Can’t decide whether to stay chrome or go black. I’ll have to get on my PC, find some pictures and do a mock-up to give me a better idea. *There are two reasons for replacing all the electrics. One is that I can’t help myself! Doing this stuff is the best part of owning a guitar (it sure ain’t the playing, not the way I do it…). The second reason is that if it turns out that I preferred this guitar as it is, the plan would be to get a cheap Telecaster kit (I’ve seen a nice, semi-hollow bodied one at Thomman) that I can drop the new electrics into. I have been wanting to build a kit for a long time. So, any advice or/and help with this, would be greatly appreciated. It would also be fun to see/read about other peoples’ Telecaster mods. Quote
Dad3353 Posted 9 hours ago Posted 9 hours ago (edited) 1 hour ago, KingBollock said: ... So, any advice or/and help with this, would be greatly appreciated... I'm afraid that I can't help with the 'compulsion' aspect of things, not being medically qualified, but the tuner ratio is quite easy to sort out. To get finer tuning, one needs a higher ratio. Imagine, if you will, a 1:1 ratio; each full turn of the tuner 'bean' turns the string shaft one complete turn (as on a violin or cello, for example, with tapered, non-geared, tuners...). The slightest turn would change the pitch a lot. Now, at another extreme, imagine a ratio of 1:100; it would take forever to change strings, as the 'bean' would have to turn so many times before even taking up the slack of a new string (a string winder would help, but still...). The 'average' tuner has a ratio of 1:12 or 1:14; this can easily be checked by noting, carefully, exactly where the string currently goes through the hole in the shaft. De-tune, counting the turns of the 'bean', until the string is at the exact same position after one complete rotation of the shaft. The number of turns of the 'bean', for one complete shaft rotation, is the ratio. Tuner companies have different ratios available, but tend to be more costly as the ratio increases. 1:18 is common enough, some offer 1:20, or 1:22. Again, this can be helpful when fine-tuning, but becomes a bit of a beggar when changing strings without a string winder. If there is any change to be made, I might suggest 1:18 as being the reasonable upper limit. 1:14 is an improvement over 1:12, but if there are still issues with ratios, I might also suggest that the method for tuning is maybe suspect. One always tunes from low to high; if the correct pitch is overshot, tune back down and start again, raising the pitch, slowly. Once it's overshot, it's not a Good Idea to go back down to meet the correct note; go back enough to only ever be tuning up to pitch. I've nothing to add concerning the other mods you're envisaging, as it's so dependent on one's tastes and budget. I would only cite the expressions 'gilding the lily' and 'diminishing returns' and leave it there. Hope this helps; meanwhile... Have a splendid day. Douglas Edited 9 hours ago by Dad3353 Quote
KingBollock Posted 4 hours ago Author Posted 4 hours ago Thank you! From what I had read 1:18 seemed to be what I thought I would need, but I don’t know what the ratio of the current tuners are, and my muggy head didn’t think of simply doing what you suggest… So now I have a place to start with the tuners. As for gilding the lily, I’m doing it because I like doing it. It won’t cost me much. I think the pickup set is less than £30. I can’t remember what the switch costs. I have everything else already. It’d be nice to have a humbucker as the bridge pickup, being able to split it should, I hope, mean I get to keep the Telecaster twang. I like the idea of the versatility. Being able to go from playing Reba McEntire to Metallica (or, more lately, Rocky Horror Picture Show tunes) without having to change guitar, would be handy! 1 Quote
ezbass Posted 4 hours ago Posted 4 hours ago (edited) I bought the Classic Vibe 50s Tele many years ago. All that remains of the original beast are, the neck and hardware, neck plate, control plate and scratch plate, although that’s been modded to accept the new neck pickup. The old body has become a small table and the old hardware is cluttering up a cupboard. Can’t help on the tuner ratio thing I’m afraid. Edited 4 hours ago by ezbass Quote
KingBollock Posted 2 hours ago Author Posted 2 hours ago It’s odd, I’ve always hated the look of Telecasters. I went into the local shop looking for a Stratocaster, preferably white with a maple fretboard. They had three that matched and all were between £100 and £150, which was fine because I am no guitarist… £360 later, I came out with one of these: And I love it! Not enough to leave it alone, though. I’ve already changed the bridge saddles to Gotoh, brass, compensated barrels. Which I think look a bit nicer. Quote
