Customizing an Offset Telecaster

[@andrii.konkov]

Squiers when re-wired and mildly upgraded can be a blast. I love the way pickguard is shaped in the bridge / plate area, such a minor detail but it makes it look like it was meant to be.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@andrii.konkov That were exactly my thoughts. When I looked at it a bit more in detail the look of the pickguard seemed off. I know why it was supposed to look this way, but I think it was a missed opportunity by Squier. The nut was also changed to a custom made one to narrow the string spacing at the head.

[@andrii.konkov]

@@Andreas_tropicalwinter It is a missed opportunity indeed, but I guess they want to keep mash up theme very obvious.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@andrii.konkov Yes, it's obvious why they made the decision to take the standard Tele pickguard, it could've been more special than it already is 😅

[@paiolagt]

man i loved the final results!! the new pickguard really added something to it

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks, I immediately thought it's good idea

[@prisonmike4971]

I loved especially how you demo'd it at the end. Gave me tons of confidence in getting one.

[@Steven-kj7xq]

I have the same model and I love it. Didn't have any issues with the frets but I upgraded the output jack (it was terrible) and the wiring and switch. Planning to change the bridge next. It's worth the upgrades!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Mine had so many little quirks, but it has gotten a better guitar since I put some work into. The next thing for me this week is to work on the bridge, because the saddles are too big and I need to narrow them to get a better string spacing.

[@Great-Documentaries]

It actually comes with a graphite nut! That is BETTER than the bone nut. Also: The tuners were a sidegrade compared to what was on there. The Squier tuners do NOT need to be sidegraded unless you NEED locking tuners. Also, that bridge is exactly the same as the one you replaced -- another sidegrade. Also, putting bottom-of-the-barrel Harley Benton parts on a Squier is a hate crime. You had a GREAT guitar that just needed fretwork. What you spent on it was absolutely unnecessary.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@Great-Documentaries Injust did the hardware changes because I wanted aged ones, otherwise I wouldn't have cared. The nut was replaced because the tuners where stucky as hell...but nothing changed and new ones are that sticky too. The new nut isn't a bone nut, but a Graphtech one. Bridge and tuners are made by Gotoh, which I didn't knew is the same level as HarleyBenton... Beside the leveling of rhe frets, nothing was made to made it a better playing guitar, just a better locking one...to my taste. Thanks for watching!

[@PedalExperiments]

Very nice work, mate! And your dad did a great job with that pickguard as well. 👍 I'm not a fan of mint green at all, and I think the white pickguard looks way better. You've made me want to get one of these for myself and do similar mods. Haha!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Yes, I'm so glad my dad knows what he do 😅 When you plan to get one, make sure to take a good look at it...or enjoy the work ☺️ Haha

[@lueyteledeluxe7457]

Me three!☺️

[@cooperjonessss]

this video is amazing, you make amazing content, keep up the good work.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

That´s very kind! I´ll try...

[@lueyteledeluxe7457]

Your Dad's fkn awesome!! Here's to Dad's !!🍺😊🍻👴 → ...my Dad's my go to handiman, too! Even at 77. They built 'em different back then!

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Haha, yeah...they are pretty much like machines. 😂

[@BakChorM33]

Great video! I have a paranormal offset as well and love it too! It’s been a while since the video was posted but was wondering if you could share more on what you had to change to fix the wiring issue you mentioned 😁

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks for your comment! As far as the cabeling goes, there were at least 3 cables I had to rewire. The main problem was on the Volume pot. Some cables were going to ground instead of the lugs and vice versa. There was also another cable needed to be soldered to a capacitor. I realized that when replaced the 3way switch.

[@thingsdisappear]

Hiya, thanks for showing us your upgrade journey! I'm on a simlar track with a partscaster - it would be great to get an outline of your custom pickguard, it's a much better line than the original.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks. As you saw at the beginning, I put the form I imagined on thicker paper. I could've drawn that form on the pick guard material using that as a template, but the process and tool my dad used made it obsolte, since he really is a perfectionist in that way. Maybe you could get yourself a cheap replacement pick guard for a tele, just to have most of the dimensions to take it as a template... Good luck with your partscaster!!!

[@Gavril007]

this is a fantastic and very inpiring video! thank you!

[@sebastianb.2385]

Die Gitarre ist richtig cool geworden, sehr cooles Projekt! Vielleicht nehme ich mir sowas auch mal vor. Ich musste schmunzeln weil ich das gleiche Bild von „Her“ als Hintergrund hab, liebe Grüße! ☺️

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@sebastianb.2385 Danke für das Kompliment! Solche Projekte machen echt Spaß, können aber auch soooo frustrierend sein 😅

[@stephenleblanc999]

Hello German dude - my wife is German - your dad has a nice workshop! I just bought the exact same guitar! Yes, I like it, but indeed could use some tweaks... Very surprised the input jack is loose as was yours. Very disappointing. I do think your pick guard is an improvement. Main thing though is the neck on the guitar seems very nice.

[@stephenleblanc999]

And I didn't even notice the original pick guard was mint green until you mentioned it.... Can you make me one? Also I noticed the original input jack spring is just barely too long to latch into cable's notch in the plug to hold it securely. Did you have that issue?

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Hey man, I had some people asking me about the pick guard, but not enough to make it worth building some more at this point. The neck on this one is something special for sure and I don't know why others doesn't have the same neck. I haven't had a problem with the input jack so far, so I didn't check if there's a need for improvement. There were a lot of thing that had to be done so far, but since it was the plan to customize it anyway I wasn't that disappointed about the quality. The frets beeing that bad really was such an annoying thing to honest, and far away from beeing acceptable otherwise. Thanks for watching!!!

[@jeremyroastscoffee2495]

bought one of these myself recently, to do the same-ish thing + upgrade to a '60s Tele neck

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

It's going to be a fun little project I guess. I thought about swapping the neck to a thicker one, maybe in rosted maple, but the fretboard on this one is such an eye catcher.

[@jimmcclanahan]

Cool project guitar. Thinking about making a new pick guard for one of mine and also looking at offset teles.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks man! I had a normal Tele before, but an Offset one is so comfortable compared to the classic shape.

[@patrickmcvay6966]

Do you sell those pickguards? I have one of these that I am modding too and see no reason to reinvent the wheel. Good idea btw.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Hi Patrick, no I don't have plans to do more. You are the only one asking so far, and it took quite a while to finish that one. But I appreciate that you asked me... 😅

[@markferguson3745]

One of the great things about Teles, including this one, is they don't need the pickgaurd at all.If its got a humbucker or Nashville rout, why not go for the more flexible pickup arrangement with a four or five way switch? The stock neck single coils are okay in the middle, but even at their best( Charlie Christian's being the exception) , not great alone.I've received some Teles with very weak stock sets, - like 4k on the bridge , with a slightly hotter neck.NG. 100% agree that it's about having as many sounds available as possible; it makes little sense to have several that sound and feel the same. Nice vibe on the content.

[@7171jay]

The difference in your pickguard vs the original is kind of subtle but not. I think you have a better eye for what works on this model of guitar than whoever actually designed it. Good stuff and a cool guitar. It would have been nice if you showed exactly what was wired wrong... I've seen a couple other reviews that said the pickups sounded thin on this guitar so yours might not be the only one wired incorrectly.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks for your kind words and yes, I should´ve been filming that part, but was at the edege of beein overly frustrated. I was so concentrated checking all of the wires, that I thought filming everything would´ve been taking too much of my attention away at that point. My mexican Tele had a bit more output than this one and a bit more bottom end because of that, but now it´s far away from sounding too thin in my view. I´ve answered to another comment down below, on here where I explained some of that wiring as I remember. Next time I will try to get everything on camera!!!

[@markferguson3745]

As I noted elsewhere, I've had a couple stock Squier sets that were below basic parameter specs for output.Keep in mind that it could be that.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@markferguson3745 Thanks for taking the time to comment and sharing knowledge. It hasn´t been an output issue, since all of my guitars are at the same level now. It´s a good thing to now what could be the problem with Sqiuer for the future. Before it was reiwired it sounded more like a phase problem to me. Output-wise feel more comfortable having lower output pickups anyway, which I never thought back when using my 7string.

[@HEYDJ]

That turned out so cool! Love the pickguard. Did spot leveling the frets eliminate buzzing? And how many tall frets did you have at the start?

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thank you and yes, leveling the frets eliminate some of that fret buzz. Since I didn't made it to perfection, there is some light fret buzz left on one spot when picking the strings a bit harder, but I think it's in a normal range. There were at least 4 tall frets when I realized there could be a problem.

[@tibcsiceman1]

Awesome video.The guitar looks really good.I have the mint green version with dimarzio super distortion on the bridge and Area T on the neck pickup.I really like your white knobs and now in thinking to get the exact same as yours.Where could i find these knobs?

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

I git myself those knobs from Musikding, which is an online shop for DIY guitar pedals. I think you can get them everywhere, where you can order pedal kits. The knobs are called "bakelite". I'm sure you can find them by searching "Baklelite Moog Knob". Mine are the 26mm diameter ones. Feel free to ask if you wanna know more and thanks for watching!

[@tibcsiceman1]

Thanx for the help,I ordered the knobs from Musikding🤘🏻

[@alejandronification]

It looks very good, the Pickguard was Excellent!!! I have been looking for a Pickguard for a left-handed Offset for some time and I can't find it, what knobs did you use?

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Thanks, I knew that building one by hand would be the only way to get what I had in mind. The knobs are some "26mm Bakelite" ones.

[@chancemiller9340]

I "made" some mistakes. Looks cool.

[@chancemiller9340]

It's good to have a dad that knows his way around some tools.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

@@chancemiller9340 For sure, and everything else is a learning process where making mistakes is totally fine... Thanks for commenting!

[@marcelmotta]

Cool build! It seems like there is enough space to install a humbucker pickup in the neck position, is that so? I was thinking about getting this same guitar as a personal project, so any information would be useful :)

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Yes, you're right. It has capacity for a Humbucker in the neck and a 2nd Singlecoil in the middle. I guess it was though out to be a guitar intended to have some mods.

[@kelley71]

I would only add, invest in a 10.00 C Clamp to press tuner bushings. Hammer is not the tool for that. Too many opportunities to mar or slip and hit the headstock.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

That´s such a useful information. I never thought about an alternitive to be honest... 😅

[@TheLadsBandLive]

That botched factory wiring is very concerning.

[@Andreas_tropicalwinter]

Mayba they had a challenge going... How many guitars can be wired blindfold in 20min? That's something I imagine... 😅