Run of the mill Affinity Tele...

If the intonation is off enough to annoy you, and you get the action acceptable at the 1st fret, there may be an easy 10 minute answer.

That's a great trick to know, thanks!

I had a similar problem on a hardtail Strat. I removed the saddle, spring and screw and cut the saddle spring in half with a pair of side cutters. That gave me enough extra movement to get the intonation correct.

Note that you may also have to shorten the screw as it may extend far enough to contact the string where it comes through the saddle hole.

Yeah, actually there still would be just a bit of space for the saddle to go back more but the string is already almost hitting the screw.
 
That's a great trick to know, thanks!



Yeah, actually there still would be just a bit of space for the saddle to go back more but the string is already almost hitting the screw.
I've had to shorten the adjustment screw in the past, & remove the spring entirely. Also had to file the back of the saddle down some to get it to move back far enough to intonate properly, on an Ibanez hardtail Strat copy. Cheers
 
Well, it looks like I won't be putting the inserts in the neck anytime soon. The holes on the top side are so close to the edge that they'll split for sure if i enlarge them. Guess I'll just wait until I strip these, plug them and drill new ones. The ones on the body aren't great either...

IMG_20200504_224138.jpg IMG_20200504_224413.jpg

While I had the neck off I took a look at the electronics. Nice big pickup routes, no extra shielding. Might explain why I hear my computers through the amp when I crank the gain up. Maybe I'll do something about that, should have some copper tape somewhere.

IMG_20200504_224755.jpgIMG_20200504_225116.jpgIMG_20200504_230000.jpg

Smoothed the fret ends a bit with a sanding sponge, put on a 008-038 set and now it intonates! I swapped the knobs and pickup selector knob to the black strat-style ones that were on the RG originally. Liking the look. The cat has seen it all :)

IMG_20200505_095219.jpg

Anyone got suggestions on what value the tone cap / pot should be to increase the range of the tone control? Now the effect is very subtle until the very end of the travel and then all of the cut happens in like the last 1/10th of turn.
 
Well, it looks like I won't be putting the inserts in the neck anytime soon. The holes on the top side are so close to the edge that they'll split for sure if i enlarge them. Guess I'll just wait until I strip these, plug them and drill new ones. The ones on the body aren't great either...

View attachment 42911 View attachment 42912

While I had the neck off I took a look at the electronics. Nice big pickup routes, no extra shielding. Might explain why I hear my computers through the amp when I crank the gain up. Maybe I'll do something about that, should have some copper tape somewhere.

View attachment 42917View attachment 42918View attachment 42919

Smoothed the fret ends a bit with a sanding sponge, put on a 008-038 set and now it intonates! I swapped the knobs and pickup selector knob to the black strat-style ones that were on the RG originally. Liking the look. The cat has seen it all :)

View attachment 42920

Anyone got suggestions on what value the tone cap / pot should be to increase the range of the tone control? Now the effect is very subtle until the very end of the travel and then all of the cut happens in like the last 1/10th of turn.
Congratulations for diggin right in tto a new guitar.
You'll have it sorted out in no time.
A .047 cap is speced, that should get you the range. If it's too dull sounding, try a .022.
Your tone pot may be far from spec as well. 250k should be stock.
A 500k may open up more high end tone.
These are my suggestions, now if you really want to scratch your head try to digest this babble below...
I can't tell if this drivel even makes sense. :pound-hand:

"The time constant of the RC of the tone pot in series with the cap is simply the resistance times the capacitance i.e.
250k x 47nF = 250E+03 x 47E-09 = 0.01175 seconds
250k x 22nF = 250E+03 x 22E-09 = 0.0055 seconds (almost exactly half)
However -
125k x 47nF = 0.0058 second.
strictly speaking this formula applies to RC in series with the signal generator, not parallel with the pickup as in the guitar, however the effect it is near enough for demonstration purposes (tau = RC)

But, and here's the big thing, the tone control doesn't begin working (audible) until it gets below ~100k
50k x 22nF = 1µs
25k x 47nF = 1µs
what this is showing us is that the control on the tone pot range crosses over and covers the same degree of treble cut right down until we get to mud
I think you can see 2k x 22nF = 1k x 47nF (approx)

It is also important to remember that the pickup inductance has a very significant affect on the tone. It is an Inductance-Capacitance-Resistance (LCR) circuit, further complicated by the fact that the pickup has a magnetic core, is a generator, and it also has an impedance. This makes is difficult to model but as our component choices are limited, it is simple to experiment. "
 
Well, I've been on the road for a week now. Things rarely turn out like I thought they would but this actually went quite well. Just put the body in a gigbag, wrapped the neck in t-shirts, stuffed those into my second suitcase and here we are. No problems whatsoever.

IMG-20200629-WA0015.jpeg IMG-20200629-WA0017.jpeg IMG-20200629-WA0019.jpeg IMG_20200629_214359.jpg

After 11-hour days I tend to be a bit too tired to learn anything new but it's been nice to noodle around on the old stuff :)

Next I should probably work on my on-the-go amplification setup. Anyone know if there are any cheapish multi effects where you can change the order of the effects / have multiples of the same thing? None of the ones I've had or played could do this and it gets kinda confusing just trying to figure it out from the manuals.. Still don't like the idea of going with software only even in this portable setup. Guess I might just have to build a small pedalboard to go with the Mooer Radar I already have..
 
Last edited:
Well, I've been on the road for a week now. Things rarely turn out like I thought they would but this actually went quite well. Just put the body in a gigbag, wrapped the neck in t-shirts, stuffed those into my second suitcase and here we are. No problems whatsoever.

View attachment 45748 View attachment 45749 View attachment 45750 View attachment 45747

After 11-hour days I tend to be a bit too tired to learn anything new but it's been nice to noodle around on the old stuff :)

Next I should probably work on my on-the-go amplification setup. Anyone know if there are any cheapish multi effects where you can change the order of the effects / have multiples of the same thing? None of the ones I've had or played could do this and it gets kinda confusing just trying to figure it out from the manuals.. Still don't like the idea of going with software only even in this portable setup. Guess I might just have to build a small pedalboard to go with the Mooer Radar I already have..
Yeh I use a old Zoom “G1on” It does just that and is a small unit. U can stack pedals, amps also have drums and it’s even got a short looper.
If u can find one ?
 
Last edited:
Yeh I use a old Zoom “G1on” It does just that and is a small unit. U can stack pedals, amps also have drums and it’s even got a short looper.
If u can find one ?

Thanks! Looks like the current line up can do that as well. The G1 four is pretty inexpensive...
 
Nice Tele! I had a 2012 sunburst Affinity Tele from a player pack that I got in a trade. It was string through, 22 frets and had a 41.8 mm nut. I put a Tex Me neck pickup in it that I got from @eSGEe and installed some shotgun shell knobs. It was such nice player that I gave it to my oldest son.
 
Last edited:
yeh I heard good things with the Four. And it’s even smaller :)

So I found what I thought was a really good deal on a Zoom G2nu and decided to get it. Haven't had time to play with it yet but it should have a similar interface to the G1 four / G1Xon. Plus it has an USB audio interface which is very nice for my purposes!

0050829633.jpg
 
So I found what I thought was a really good deal on a Zoom G2nu and decided to get it. Haven't had time to play with it yet but it should have a similar interface to the G1 four / G1Xon. Plus it has an USB audio interface which is very nice for my purposes!

0050829633.jpg
Have never had the opportunity to try one .
Be sure to post a review once you have had some time with it .
Cheers
Mitch
 
Back
Top