Hello, and welcome back to Mod Garage. In this month’s edition of our ongoing tonewood teardown, we’ll continue working on our guitar’s body and hardware. That means we’ll be spending a chunk of the $305 remaining in our $500 budget to make some worthwhile improvements.After inspecting the stock hardware, I decided to keep the neck mounting plate, control plate, and jack plate. Below is a quick rundown of the individual parts.The neck mounting plate is perfect as it is, and I really dig its snazzy Harley Benton engraving. It has the typical Fender dimensions, so I see no need to change it. I will, however, replace the four soft, tiny neck attachment screws with regular-sized, stainless-steel screws, but we’ll get to more details on that later. If you want to customize this part of your guitar, by the way, you have plenty of choices regarding color, thickness, materials, and, of course, custom engravings of all kinds. If you want to save some weight, look for one made out of aluminum or titanium. You can put a custom paint job on the plate, put a plastic neck-plate guard underneath, or whatever you have in mind. Stick to metals, though; other materials are too weak.The stock control plate is a typical Telecaster control plate with openings for two pots and a pickup selector switch. It has the typical modern 2 mm thickness to match 3-ply pickguards—the thinner 1.5 mm control plate (aka the vintage version) is the right choice for single-ply pickguards. Keep this in mind if you want to change your pickguard. I fashioned my own new pickguard out of material that is 2 mm thick, so the stock control plate works perfectly for me. Later, when we talk about the wiring of this guitar, you will see that tiny metric parts were installed. I checked the diameter of the two holes for the pots, and to my surprise, they’re drilled for U.S.-standard, 3/8'-inch hardware. Same goes for the slit for the pickup selector switch: An average-quality import switch was installed, but a regular U.S. inch switch fits perfectly. These screws, too, will be replaced with stainless steel ones.If you want to change the control plate on your guitar, you can choose between wood, metal, and plastic options with all kinds of configurations. You have countless choices here to customize your guitar.The jack plate is not the typical Telecaster jack cup construction, but a Les Paul-style rectangular plate that is held by four screws. For me, this is one of the best improvements one can do to any Telecaster style guitar. No matter what you are doing, it’s only a matter of time until the classic jack cup comes loose. You might even pull out the whole thing including the output jack when trying to unplug your cable. To reinstall and fasten it, you need a specialized tool. I have done this modification to all of my own Telecaster-style guitars, and encourage you to do the same. The jack cup is held by four screws, resulting in a very strong connection. I’ll swap in four stainless steel screws, but otherwise, it’s perfect as is. A tiny metric import output jack was installed, but again, the hole is 3/8' inch, so we can use a quality output jack. If you want to downgrade to a classic Telecaster jack cup, you can do so, but you’ll have four visible holes in the body around it. If you like this update but not the stock plate, there are alternatives available—for example, oval ones made from wood, plastic, and metal held by only two screws (aka a cat-eye plate), square (classic Les Paul-style), or rectangular like the stock version in different types and finishes.Let’s break the aggressive shine of these three parts by putting them into the stone tumbler for a few minutes, creating some wear and random scratches. Now, we’ll continue with the knobs for the two pots and the pickup selector switch.The stock knobs are ’50s vintage-correct, with two typical Telecaster dome knobs for the pots and a round, plastic barrel switch tip. Because I wanted to keep a slightly worn vintage look, only the switch tip made it back to the guitar. The two dome knobs are slightly oversized and fairly heavy—I can’t remember having such bulky knobs on a guitar before! Plus, they’re not made with the set screw for the typical Tele solid-shaft pots. To add some early Tele flair, I ended up with two heavy knurled dome knobs that Fender used in the very early days. I really like their somewhat raw look, and I bought two knobs that are made out of nickel-plated aluminium—they have virtually no weight at all, and they’re the correct size. They are made for U.S.-inch solid shaft pots with the typical set screw to lock them, and I paid $18 for a pair of two. Before I sent them to the stone tumbler for a few minutes, I used a mid-grade abrasive cloth to smooth out the heavy knurled surface a bit so it feels more comfortable. They turned out great, and I really like the look.Another great way to create a unique look for your guitar is to use custom knobs made from metal, wood, plastic, bone, or any other material. But take care to choose the right ones. Knobs for metric hardware will not fit U.S. components and vice versa, and knobs for push-on split-shaft pots will not fit their solid-shaft counterparts. I always choose the pots first, because performance is much more important than appearance.The stock bridge has the typical Telecaster string-through-body construction and shape, with three compensated brass saddles—a great update for any Telecaster. Because of the overall construction, I’m pretty sure it’s either an unbranded Wilkinson-made bridge, or a knock-off of one. For some reason, very tiny screws have been used to fasten the heavy, brass-construction bridge. The Wilkinson compensation system uses saddles that are not slanted but have relocated edges on top, resulting in a somewhat irritating appearance and a not-very-comfortable surface with some sharp edges and spots. I don’t like either of these quirks, so it was clear that the bridge had to go.There is a massive range of Telecaster bridges from various companies, with different construction, materials, shapes, and, of course, functionality. I wanted a bridge with a classic look, very light weight, and compensated saddles that feel smooth and comfortable. To stay within our budget, I decided to look for a used bridge on eBay, Reverb, and similar platforms. I ended up with an excellent used bridge for $28. It’s very lightweight and has a thin baseplate and double-cut “tapered walls,” compensated round brass saddles, two additional countersunk holes towards the neck, and double functionality regarding the strings. Besides the classic string-though-body option, it can also act as a top-loading bridge so you can choose which you like best, or even mix and match to your taste.That’s it for now! Next month, we will continue with the bridge and saddles before working on the wiring. Our budget is down to $259 for future investments, but I’m still hopeful that we will not break our $500 barrier, so stay tuned.Until then... keep on modding!
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