Tele Problem

Larry Beck · Post by **Larry Beck** » 19 Jan 2003 8:39 am

A 72 tele (that I sold when it was new) has a problem. The bass stings do not sustain through the amp, but you can still hear them acoustically. The electronics must be the culprit, but is it the switch or the pickups or the cap or what? Anyone seen this before?

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Williams D-10 and a wall full of 6 strings -

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 19 Jan 2003 9:20 am

If either pickup is to close to the strings they will have strange overtones, like a Leslie! Even closer and the magnets could really slow the string down. I had a Tele shipped to me with new Vintage Noisless. All the pickups were too close and I had the bass string vibrato sound. This may not have anything to do with your problem, but it cannot hurt to check.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 19 Jan 2003 10:18 am

Lower the pickups and put a new set of quality strings on the guitar..

or if the pickup is not that high raise the saddles a tad..

I would try a string first though..even if you have a new one on the guitar...

I just went thru a pickup height adjustment this morning on my Tele' which I was noticing bass overtones..

My proceedure is real easy..
Lower the pickup dramatically..strum the guitar fairly hard and raise the pickup until it gets to the point of good clean sound with good volume then lower it just a tad. The pickup height will vary based in string guages.

New strings are always in order. I have been using Fender 150's for a million years, and have found them to be very consistent. Generally 10's on top but presently I am playing with 9's. Every now and then a thud wound string shows up in a set causing overtone issues.

good luck

tp<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 19 January 2003 at 10:20 AM.]</p></FONT>

Larry Beck · Post by **Larry Beck** » 19 Jan 2003 10:46 am

Ken - Tony
I thought about the pickup hieght, what you describe is pretty common on strats too. Lowering the PUs didn't cure the problem this time. They were 3/8" down from the strings. The strings are 150's .10 top and supposedly fairly new. I could just replace the low E to check it. I think I'll check the DC resitance while I'm at it if the stings don't fix it.

Thanks.

Ken Fox · Post by **Ken Fox** » 19 Jan 2003 9:37 pm

You might be to far down! Here are the setup guides for a Tele:

Set too high, pickups can cause a myriad of inexplicable phenomena. Depress all of the strings at the last fret. Using 6" ruler, measure the distance from the bottom of the 1st and 6th strings to top of the pole piece. Rule of thumb-the distance should be greatest at the 6th string - neck pickup position, and closest at the 1st string - bridge pickup position. Follow the measurement guidelines from the chart as starting points. The distance will vary according to the amount of magnetic pull of the pickup.

Bass Side Treble Side
Texas Specials 8/64" 6/64"
Vintage style 6/64" 5/64"
Noiseless™ Series 8/64" 6/64"
Standard Single-Coil 5/64" 4/64"
Humbuckers 4/64" 4/64"
Lace Sensors As close as desired (allowing for string vibration)