The Micawber Project

For a while, I wanted to do a bit of an odd project. I want to build my own version of Keith Richards’ Micawber Telecaster and set it up as the Riff Machine does. So five strings only, no low E, a humbucker in the neck and a Telecaster bridge pickup where it should be. I also want to do Broadcaster wiring, not because that I know for sure that this is what is in Micawber, but the real thing is a very old blackguard Telecaster and it seems like a good idea.

The first step was finding a guitar to use as the base for the project. I had recently done a couple of articles on starter guitars that parents could buy for their kids, that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg, but were also really easy to play and would not cause the kid to give up entirely. On the electric side, I was provided a Squier Affinity Strat to use as the test bed. I was very impressed at how well it was built for the money, but also tried a Squier Classic Vibe model and thought it was a better product for only a bit more money.

Time passes, guitars become scarcer, Fender raises prices and my local dealer finally received a Squier Classic Vibe 50’s Telecaster, black pick guard on blonde pine. Original Telecasters were often built using pine so that did not bother me, although I would have preferred alder or ash. However, I was not willing to pay more than double for a similar guitar in different wood with a Fender logo on it, particularly knowing it would be going under the knife.

Planned Changes

Obviously, the stock bridge pickup was going to come out, and I chose for price, availability and tone, a Seymour Duncan ‘59 Model humbucker. Micawber has a PAF humbucker in it. I know the Duncan product and it’s very good indeed. Since I would be replacing the bridge pickup as well as the pickguard, I decided to order a Seymour Duncan Vintage ‘54 Tele Bridge pickup. Then I discovered the supply chain issues and while the Tele pickup was reasonably available, the SD ‘59 looked unobtainable. Fortunately Tim Mills at Bare Knuckle Pickups has sets of pickups in their very price conscious Boot Camp lineup called Old Guard. While inexpensive, they sound great, as good as US Fender stock pickups and definitely better than the stock Squiers. I bought a Humbucker set, saving the bridge for a different project and a Telecaster set, saving the neck for a different project. I got the pickups very fast from ElectricMojoGuitars.

I found a pickguard through local builder source Solo Guitars who are really fine people and very helpful. You can see in the photo above, that Micawber’s PAF is mounted so the pole screws are on the bridge side instead of the neck side

At the same time, I ordered a set of brass compensated saddles. The Squier came with bright chromed standard saddles and Tele players know that intonation on those things is a bitch. Micawber has a different bridge plate set up for individual saddles, but my trusted guitar tech, Mr. Kevin Martell advised that the Squier hole spacing is intentionally different from Fender hole spacing. This sounds to me like Fender just being complete asshats, so I will be sticking for now with the factory bridge plate, and just replacing the saddles.

As noted earlier, I had Kevin do Broadcaster wiring on this critter. I like the simplicity of the architecture and it’s a good opportunity to swap out pots, switch and capacitors for better ones. I am not excited by the Broadcaster wiring now that I have played it and will have it converted to regular Tele 50’s wiring augmented for the neck humbucker at some point. Kevin even changed the pickup selector tip to match the real Micawber (see opening image).

The Squier Classic Vibe

The Squier Classic Vibe as it arrived

I well remember the days when Squier was a synonym for junk. Not so any longer. Today’s Squier’s are generally very good instruments and if they are weak anywhere, it is in the pickups in the entry Bullet and Affinity range. The pickups in my Classic Vibe sounded fine through a variety of different amplifiers. They have been changed, but I mention this as indication that the stock stuff is pretty darn good. Just between us, I couldn’t hear a significant difference between the Squier and recordings of my rosewood necked FSR Telecaster from last fall. Much of that I put down to strings, because to be blunt, I really dislike Fender strings. They feel crappy, they do not stay in tune very well, and they go bad really fast. My FSR Telecaster has D’Addario NYXL 9.5-44s on it now and they make a big difference. After getting the work done, I went with the NYXLs but no low E string.

Out of the box, the guitar was pretty well setup, needing only a minor neck adjustment to set it the way I like it. This is normal and your guitar shop should do this as these guitars spend a long time in shipping containers on the high seas. Mine came straight off the truck so the team at my store never even saw it, although they did when it went to Kevin for surgery.

Like all Squiers to my knowledge, the finish is poly, and as usual, a rather thick coat of poly. The back of the neck is gloss, so it’s going to get a white scotchbrite treatment when it is done, as I am not crazy about gloss finished necks. The poly is not going to age like real nitro, but that’s less a big deal to me. I care about how it plays a lot more than I do about how it looks.

Even with my changes, I have to recommend Squier Classic Vibe guitars in general. I have played many of them and with only one exception, did I find one that was really not quite right out of the box. The rest were completely playable and for the price point, I do not think that you can beat them if you are looking for Fender style and tone on a reasonable budget. Obviously if you are looking for a Gibson like humbucking tone, you will need to look elsewhere. Some of the similarly priced Epiphones are pretty good, but I find them much more inconsistent in QA than the Squier Classic Vibes.

In any case, any decent shop will do a setup on the purchase of a new guitar and I recommend that for any guitar but especially those that have spent weeks in a container at sea. Wood moves with temperature and humidity. Welcome to reality. A professional setup makes all kinds of difference.

The Final Product

I have to learn new chord shapes for Keith’s standard open G tuning. I was a bit surprised to discover how often a single finger barre works and for how many Stones tunes it applies. For me, the older “Love is Strong” is a favourite, supported by a super cool video and it sounds a beast through this guitar into a Twin Reverb. There’s a swing and off the beat funk to Keith’s playing that this simple tuning really enables and while I don’t sling guitars down around my knees, one can understand why one might do so.

My Micawber, which I have named “Keith” for obvious reasons, is a blast to play. I don’t use it all the time, and in fact it really is for me a limited use guitar. This is the main reason why I did not want to put a ton of money into it. I didn’t even know if I would like the end results and am very pleased how much I do. While the action is a bit low as setup for slide, a narrow pencil under the strings with a retune actually makes it pretty darn cool for that played with a glass or ceramic slide.

I consider the project a great success.

Wrapping Up

What did I learn from this project? First off, I confirmed an expectation that Squier Classic Vibe guitars are much better than presumed and in my opinion are the best value out there in this price range. Second, I confirmed that even entry level independent maker pickups bring more tone than low cost factory pickups. I also learned that ‘wiring du jour’ is not always what it’s cracked up to be. I continue to confirm that even big makers ship their guitars with crappy strings and that all new guitars should have their strings swapped out right away, with the exception of PRS guitars made in Maryland. I confirmed that if you find the tones lacking from your guitar even after changing pickups, replace the electronics with CTS audio taper pots and better capacitors and perhaps with lower value if you find there is too much treble loss in general. Also consider the Lindy Fralin treble bleed fix so you don’t lose treble when rolling off the volume pot if you are like me and use the volume pot regularly.

Thanks very much for reading. If you have questions on this project or any other guitar / pedal subject, please send it along. Until next time, peace.