Guitar Gear Forum

So, it's been a year or so since I last put a guitar together and I'm getting that itch again! I happen to have an extra Rickenbacker hi-gain laying around and I think it would be an interesting project to build an Esquire, but with the Ric hi-gain in the bridge instead of a standard tele single coil. However, I'm wondering what routing I should have on the tele body in order to get this pickup to work. What style bridge should I go for? Thanks!

The world needs more Tele projects Drew, especially Esquires! I would recommend the short Wilkinson compensated 3-barrell bridge. Should retain a bit of that Tele tone, but leave plenty of room for the Ric pickup.

itchyfingers wrote:The world needs more Tele projects Drew, especially Esquires! I would recommend the short Wilkinson compensated 3-barrell bridge. Should retain a bit of that Tele tone, but leave plenty of room for the Ric pickup.

I’ll go for that! What do you think about the routing? Think the hi-gain will cover a route for a humbucker or should I just get a standard tele body??

^ I guess it depends on how handy you are with a router!

I would think you'd need a HB route for sure, or you'll have to carve a rectangular shape out of a standard Tele bridge route.

I think a P90 route would probably be the closest to a Rick HG.