Hi all, I've been super busy with College so I've been kind of away from everything that isn't school. I will try to contribute a little more if I can, as I'm sort of hitting the home stretch.

Minutiae aside, I actually have been thinking about picking up a '51 Squier, as I like Telecasters but can find the '51 for like $30 cheaper (and in more varieties than sunburst ) online: I say online because I don't have much time to go out to shop at guitar stores/pawn shops, and even if I did have the time there aren't any that are close to me at the moment.

My biggest reservations are that I don't know very many people who have that much experience in using them, and the couple of buddies that do have/had one used it for country, not surf or anything else I'd want to use it for. I'd like to have one as my primary surf ax, and I'm sure that will entail some mods to the pickups and possibly other guts to get it "surf-ready." I'm not picky about tremolo/vibrato, but I AM picky about it sounding well.

Some ideas I had were to replace the neck pickup with a Tele neck singlecoil or with a Strat lipstick tube, and the bridge with either a Wide-Range humbucker like a '72 thinline or something else that would be crisp and sound good both split and humbucking. My budget is only around $250-300, though I'm willing to do it piece-meal at a later date.

I guess my question is if anyone has any suggestions or could evaluate whether any of my ideas hold water. I know it's not going to be a billion dollar guitar, but I know that it at least has the potential to be a damn fine guitar to at least do some light gigging with. Between this and a Bass VI, I've got so much GAS lately that I have dreams about it.

For Reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squier_'51

I also did some searching on here beforehand, and there really weren't that many posts on them at all besides that pic Noel posted of one he was thinking of converting to a baritone. Is this guitar more esoteric than I think it is? XD

Last edited: Oct 24, 2013 20:26:13

_CrazyAces wrote:

I think the '51 Squires are great platforms to build from that are more than adequate guitars. The few I've seen have needed a little fret work, nothing horrible but played great.
If you're on a budget the GFS Surf 90 sounds pretty good for Surfy sounds and will fit in the bucker rout. If you have more to spend and want a splitable option that actually sounds like a nice single coil the TV Jones Powertron in four conductor splits beautifully, sounds great.

Thanks for the info Ace; I didn't see your post til a second ago. I had thought about the Surf 90s as well, I just wonder how well a single 90 in the bridge would pair with a Tele or other singlecoil in the neck. I might just make a total franken-Squier and put something like a dual-rail minibucker in the neck.

I had heard that the Wide-Range 'buckers were good, but I just now learned that they have multiple versions out- some are just P.A.F.s, others are total shit and only a select few are the original old ones that sound good. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to leave that option behind: Surf 90s sound like more of a reliable selection so I'll probably go for those. Appreciate the help._

Last edited: Oct 24, 2013 20:25:31

i also changed the nut.

they even sound really good stock the bridge pickup is a gem
it has a p90ish sound

heres one i modified and stay tuned for more pictures

Heres my bone stock 51 sunburst it sounds really good.

Those look awesome, I see you have a penchant for the pretty ladies.

I kind of like the idea you have for the one up top with a single pickup, Esquire-style. If I could get a good surfy humbucker that I could split or if I could wire a single coil with a dummy pickup for hum-canceling, I'd consider taking out the neck pickup entirely and/or maybe putting on a new neck with a fretboard extension or something. I like the twangy sound of the Esquire, which I've heard is caused by having no neck pickup pulling on the strings, but I also like hum-canceling for playing with dirt. Gah, my GAS is getting awful.

I believe I'm looking at the new ones, as they're only like $179 online. If it was an older one that was collectible I'd assume it'd cost more and I'd probably stay away from it since I'm planning on most likely modding it. Do you know how much the reissues might go for? If they're also gonna be like the originals and be appallingly cheap, I'll probably just wait and get one then and perhaps get a replacement neck if it was too thin for my tastes.

I also prefer fat necks since I have pretty big hands for a barely 6'/182cm tall guy, so if the ones I'm looking at have a good chunky neck I'd be pretty happy. I played a lot of Epiphone guitars in the past and LOVE the neck on an Explorer, are they somewhat comparable to that size? I know I like most Tele necks better than Strat necks but I kind of am turned off by the Tele body-shape, so I figured the '51 was the best of both worlds.

Kinda like this.