kimonostereo
Well-known member
Happy New Year all!
Over the weekend, the pickguard came in from Chandler and I was finally able to work on my little project. During the last half of 2013, I was seriously considering picking up a Fender Cabronita Telecaster. While on vacation in California, I got to try a couple, but they were both kinda bleh to me. I really loved the Filtertron pickups (Fender calls their versions "Fidelitron"), but I didn't want to buy yet another guitar just to get that sound. Add to the fact that I'd have to do some part replacement on the Telecaster to get it to the way I like it, in the end it just didn't make sense. I might as well make my own.
Then it hit me. Why don't I just add filtertrons to a guitar I already have and like? My 2010 Albert Lee HH has spent a long time in it's case since I rather play my Axis or EVH for HH sounds, so it was a prime candidate for a conversion. I spent some time researching what pickups to get as well as looking for someplace to make the pickguard. I decided on TV Jones Classic for the neck and Classic +for the bridge. Chandler made the pickguard.
I ordered everything at the same time but knew the pickguard would take the longest. I also ordered a bunch of parts from Mouser to prepare: A bunch of 500K Bourns pots, .22 orange drop cap, molex connectors and a 4 Fender way telecaster switch. I ordered the TV Jones Filtertrons with English mount so they would attach to the pickguard like standard humbuckers.
The pickguard finally came in but there was a small problem. They forgot to drill the holes to mount the pickups! No problem. I measured twice and drilled all the holes with a hand drill and started assembling the pickgaurd.
Another thing to note: EBMM didn't use a molex connector on the Albert Lee HH model that I have. I'd guess they don't expect anyone to swap pickguards the way they would on a Silhouette. I installed the molex connector on the old pickgaurd and the new one so I can swap them out easily at any time.
During the pickguard assembly I quickly noticed that I had purchased the wrong pots. For some reason, the Bourns pots I ordered have a detent when the knob is all the way on. This turns the pot off(?) or so my multimeter says. If anyone has ordered Borns pots from Mouser, could you please tell me what the correct part number is? I'll need to return mine since I bought a bunch for future projects.
Anyway, after I figured out the pot was bad, I used an EVH Borns pot I had lying around. The EVH pot has no grooves so I couldn't use the standard F-style plastic volume knob and settled for these funky aluminum ones I had in my parts chest. I also added a push-pull tone pot to split both Filtertrons.
With the Fender 4 position switch:
Position 1 - Bridge
Position 2 - Bridge/Neck Parallel
Position 3 - Neck
Position 4 - Bridge/Neck Series (louder)
Pull up on the Tone knob and I get all of the same sounds but split coil.
I have to say, that I'm quite pleased with this mod and it sounds really great in the Albert Lee HH. Chimey and open on clean and really awesome played through a dirt pedal or dirty amp. Very articulate note separation that I didn't really get before. I wish this were a standard option for the Albert Lee!
Over the weekend, the pickguard came in from Chandler and I was finally able to work on my little project. During the last half of 2013, I was seriously considering picking up a Fender Cabronita Telecaster. While on vacation in California, I got to try a couple, but they were both kinda bleh to me. I really loved the Filtertron pickups (Fender calls their versions "Fidelitron"), but I didn't want to buy yet another guitar just to get that sound. Add to the fact that I'd have to do some part replacement on the Telecaster to get it to the way I like it, in the end it just didn't make sense. I might as well make my own.
Then it hit me. Why don't I just add filtertrons to a guitar I already have and like? My 2010 Albert Lee HH has spent a long time in it's case since I rather play my Axis or EVH for HH sounds, so it was a prime candidate for a conversion. I spent some time researching what pickups to get as well as looking for someplace to make the pickguard. I decided on TV Jones Classic for the neck and Classic +for the bridge. Chandler made the pickguard.
I ordered everything at the same time but knew the pickguard would take the longest. I also ordered a bunch of parts from Mouser to prepare: A bunch of 500K Bourns pots, .22 orange drop cap, molex connectors and a 4 Fender way telecaster switch. I ordered the TV Jones Filtertrons with English mount so they would attach to the pickguard like standard humbuckers.
The pickguard finally came in but there was a small problem. They forgot to drill the holes to mount the pickups! No problem. I measured twice and drilled all the holes with a hand drill and started assembling the pickgaurd.
Another thing to note: EBMM didn't use a molex connector on the Albert Lee HH model that I have. I'd guess they don't expect anyone to swap pickguards the way they would on a Silhouette. I installed the molex connector on the old pickgaurd and the new one so I can swap them out easily at any time.
During the pickguard assembly I quickly noticed that I had purchased the wrong pots. For some reason, the Bourns pots I ordered have a detent when the knob is all the way on. This turns the pot off(?) or so my multimeter says. If anyone has ordered Borns pots from Mouser, could you please tell me what the correct part number is? I'll need to return mine since I bought a bunch for future projects.
Anyway, after I figured out the pot was bad, I used an EVH Borns pot I had lying around. The EVH pot has no grooves so I couldn't use the standard F-style plastic volume knob and settled for these funky aluminum ones I had in my parts chest. I also added a push-pull tone pot to split both Filtertrons.
With the Fender 4 position switch:
Position 1 - Bridge
Position 2 - Bridge/Neck Parallel
Position 3 - Neck
Position 4 - Bridge/Neck Series (louder)
Pull up on the Tone knob and I get all of the same sounds but split coil.
I have to say, that I'm quite pleased with this mod and it sounds really great in the Albert Lee HH. Chimey and open on clean and really awesome played through a dirt pedal or dirty amp. Very articulate note separation that I didn't really get before. I wish this were a standard option for the Albert Lee!
