News & Updates

1992 Squier Japan Telecaster Upgrade

17th July, 2025

I recently worked on this pretty rare 1992 Squier Japan Telecaster, which came in with some crackly electrics and badly corroded saddles at the bridge. As you can see, the control plate had been re-sited to 'fix' a hole that had become worn and too large for the screw. The nut was broken in two places and the whole instrument need a bit of love and attention.

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It was pretty straightforward job in the end. I took out all the pickups and electrics, removed the neck and filled all the screw holes in the body. Then it was just a matter of re-drilling the holes, resetting the neck in the pocket and adding a new nut. I installed some new pickups (Fender American Vintage '62 at the neck and a P90 from Creamery Pickups at the bridge) and a Fender bridgeplate & with some nice brass compensated saddles for a slightly warmer sound and better intonation. The last thing to do was wire it all up with some new pots.

It looks pretty nice now, I think, and it sounds really good: a bit of a Strat vibe and the P90 in the bridge gives it some growl and I think it's is a nice addition.

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Incidentally, I looked up the 1992 Fender Japan catalogue and this guitar is in it. It's hard to see in this picture, but the Telecaster was ¥33,000, which was the equivalent of about £210. Not a high end guitar, but still not cheap in 1992. The build quality is very good for the price though and if you ever see one for sale, I would really recommend picking it up.

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1996 Squier 50th Anniversary Telecaster Upgrade

12th June, 2025

This is my own 1996 Squier 50th Anniversary Telecaster. I have owned this guitar for nearly 30 years now and it's been gigged and dropped and chucked around the back seats of countless cars in its lifetime.

It was my first guitar and although I love it, it never sounded that great. The neck is lovely, smooth and comfortable and the body is a made from a single piece of alder, which is fairly unusual for an entry level guitar, but the hardware was pretty cheap and it never stayed in tune properly. It was also neglected and pretty dirty after all those years, so I though it could do with a makeover.

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I wanted it to be an fun instrument to play and I figured it was a good guitar to take a bit of a gamble on, so I decided to add a Bigbsy tremolo arm, a new bridge and some new pickups.

I started by taking the whole thing to pieces. I took out all the pickups and electrics and removed the neck. Then I cleaned everything and began the process of measuring up for Bigsby. Lining up the bridge is tricky and small inaccuracies in your measurements can mean a real headache later. Once the bridge and tremolo were in place, I installed a pair of Fender Pure Vintage '64 pickups and some new pots.

The neck is pretty good, so I didn't do much to it apart from adjusting the truss rod. I added a new nut and some string trees to help with the tuning stability. Lastly, I added a new set of Fender vintage tuners and a custom scratchplate.

Then it was just a matter making sure everything was properly fitted and setting it up. The action was a bit high over the Bigsby bridge, so I lowered it a little. The pickup heights were quite different, so I balanced them as much as possible.

The finished article sounds really nice now. The '64 pickups are quite glassy, though, and with the Bigsby, the whole thing sounds quite bright. I may change them for something mellower some day, but for now it sounds punchy and twangy and I really like it.

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