Think about the inspiration we’ve all had from hearing an amazing electric guitar recording. I know it’s literally altered my career path, and I’m sure countless others will have similar stories. But getting that perfect sound from the speaker to tape is no easy task. There are infinite combinations of pickups, strings, amps, cables, instruments and players, each with their own tonality (and an endless number of opinions, too!). However, right up there in the order of importance is certainly the choice of microphone. Each selection will add a little something different to the sound, and no one choice is always the right one.
The Mics
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| Shure SM57 List: $170 Certainly a classic, this reliable, rugged dynamic mic has a frequency response of 40Hz–15kHz. Its relatively tight cardioid polar pattern and ability to take high volumes make it a first-call on many sessions. Due to its aggressive mid-range growl, it’s a perfect companion to blend with “darker” mics. When it comes to bang for the buck, the SM57 is hard to beat. Download Audio | Royer R-121 List: $1395 The R-121 is a dynamic Ribbon mic with a Figure-8 polar pattern. Like other ribbons, it’s warm, creamy and natural. Unlike most other ribbons, it was built to take a max SPL rating of 135dB, making it a great cabinet mic. Also, by turning it around and reversing the phase, the back is sonically brighter at distances of two feet and closer. We found its face-front sound to be one of our favorites overall for warmth and character—a perfect blend with an SM57. Download Audio | Neumann U 87 (Ai) List: $3998 Another legendary classic, this large diaphragm mic has three polar patterns (cardioid, omni, figure-8). We used an older model in cardioid mode, but the new Ai version has circuitry to increase the headroom by 10dB. With the rear switch attenuated, the U 87 can take up to 127dB and has a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz. You can hear the “beef” on both clean and distorted parts, and very nice attitude on distorted sound. Download Audio |
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| Shure SM58 List: $188 Almost always thought of as a vocal mic, sometimes you just have to put one up on a cabinet. Like the SM57, its price, midrange peak, 50Hz–15kHz frequency response and ability to handle massive gain make it a mic drawer classic. Essentially a 57 with a different grill and more girth, it sounded surprisingly good on the clean parts. Download Audio | Earthworks QTC1 (Same as QTC40) List: $1295 An omni? Sure, why not! The QTC’s small diaphragm gives it a realistic and accurate sound. A super-wide frequency range of 4Hz–40kHz and max acoustic input of 142dB SPL make it a great option. It had a very natural sound—what you heard in the room is what came out of the speakers. Download Audio | Sennheiser MD 421 List: $598 A cardioid mic with a five-position bass rolloff (to help eliminate proximity effect), this mic is a classic tone heard for decades now. Its frequency response of 30Hz–17kHz and ability to take very high SPLs give it a full, round sound. It works great with other mics, and by itself sounded warm and full, with slightly rolled off highs. Download Audio |
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| Beyerdynamic M 160 List: $799 The M 160 is a hypercardioid, dynamic ribbon mic that has two ribbons arranged one above the other a half-millimeter apart. It’s got a max SPL of 129dB and a frequency response of 40Hz–18 kHz. Its big, ribbony sound is always a favorite for good reason. Download Audio | Audix i5 List $179 The i5 is a dynamic, general-purpose mic with a cardioid polar pattern. It has a frequency response of 50Hz–16kHz and a max SPL of 140dB—so it can take it hard. It sounds like a 57, but with additional presence and upper mid clarity, and would make a great partner with a MD 421 or Royer. Download Audio | Audio-Technica AT4060 List: $1665 This is a large cardioid, vacuum tube condenser with a large, 2-micron-thick gold diaphragm and separate power supply. It features 20Hz–20kHz specs and can take up to 131dB SPL, which is a lot for a tube mic. While it may not be the best call by itself, it would make a nice mic to put back around 3–4 feet for some additional room sound. Download Audio |
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| Coles 4038 List: N/A The 4038 is a studio ribbon mic designed by the BBC for broadcasting and recording. It’s bidirectional (figure-8) with a frequency response of 30Hz–15kHz and can take up to 125dB SPL—although we had to move this back to 11 inches for breakup factor. Another classic ribbon sound with the softened highs and warm overall tone, there’s no denying this one. Download Audio | Audio-Technica AT4047/SV List: $745 This good-looking condenser mic has a wide frequency response of 20Hz–18kHz and the ability to take up to 159dB SPL with the 10dB pad in. There’s a switchable 80Hz hi-pass filter as well, and it features a gold plated dualdiaphragm capsule design. It captured both crisp highs and a well-rounded bottom. Download Audio | AKG 414 B-ULS List: $1349 Wow, another classic. The 414 has five switchable polar patterns (omni, wide cardioid, cardioid, hyper cardioid, figure-8) and a large, 1-inch diaphragm. It’s got 20Hz–20kHz frequency response and a max SPL of up to 158 with -18dB of attenuation switched in. We set it to cardioid, no pad. This mic cuts through a mix well and has lots of attitude. Download Audio |
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| EV RE20 List: $750 Often referred to as the “donkey dick” mic, this large diaphragm dynamic cardioid monster routinely seen and heard on radio/TV broadcasts has a frequency response of 45Hz–18kHz. Commonly used in guitar session work, it makes a great complement to other mics, such as the 57. We used a PL15, which is basically the same model. It’s got great low end in both the clean and distorted parts… smooth upper mids and not too much high end. Download Audio | Shure SM7B List: $619 This dynamic is often viewed as a radio mic, but it has a smooth sound and 50Hz–20kHz frequency response. There are bass roll-off and mid-range emphasis switches, but we set it flat. With an immediately pleasing sound both clean and distorted, it’s got a bottom-heavy focus that works great alone or in conjunction with a brighter mic—great attitude. Download Audio | M-Audio Luna List: $399 Now available as the Luna II, this cardioid condenser has a large, solid brass capsule, Class-A electronics and a 10dB pad, which lets it handle up to 140dB SPL. It has a good, full low end and smooth mids, especially on the distorted tracks, and is well balanced. Download Audio |
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| Heil PR 40 List: $375 A dynamic supercardioid mic from Heil Sound, it features a large low-mass aluminum diaphragm, a heavy steel case and a wide frequency response from 28Hz–18kHz. Very nice bottom and high end, almost nondescript in a positive way. It sounds really cool with a Coles 4038, or the like. Download Audio | B&K 4006 List: $1925 (as DPA 4006) Now labeled under the DPA name, this high-end, phantom-powered omni mic is often used in classical recordings. Its got an extremely linear frequency response from 20Hz–20kHz, and can take up to 143dB max SPL. It sounds quite natural, with non-extended highs and lows that give you back just what you put in front of it. Download Audio | Reslo List: N/A A classic English ribbon mic from the early sixties, it’s got a frequency response of 40Hz–15kHz… no wonder it can be heard on some of those classic Beatles recordings. The output sounds like analog tape through an old tube console. Download Audio |
Below, Grammy Award Winning engineer/producer Pete Moshay and I put a nice selection of mics up on an electric guitar session, all ranging in street price from $99 to over $4000. From the desert island Shure SM57 to a vintage Coles 4038 ribbon, there’s something for everyone.
The Method
I recorded two guitar licks directly into Pro Tools HD at 24-bit, 48kHz using a Creation Audio Labs MW1 and a stock early-nineties American Standard Telecaster, set to the middle pickup position. We then fed that output into a Mesa Boogie MKIV (Full power, Triode and Simul-Class settings) head and a Boogie 4x12 cabinet with Black Shadow speakers in Moshay’s A-frame live room (plugged into a balanced power source).
Using our ears to pick the best speaker, we then placed each mic directly on axis, about two inches from the grill, just to the left outside the center of the cone. We used a Little Labs IBP to run the signal from Pro Tools to the amp, bringing the +4dB line level signal to guitar level. Each lick was recorded first on the Boogie’s Channel 1 clean setting, then on Channel 3 with some tube saturation. We used a Focusrite ISA 828 on Medium impedance (which we felt imparted the least coloration on the varied mic impedances), running the signal directly into Pro Tools with the preamp’s A/D converters, all clocked with an Apogee Electronics Big Ben. No patch bay was used.
The only adjustments made were to maintain a consistent signal where the peaks hit around -3–4 dB, using a 1kHz tone sent into the amp at approximately -25dB. With all the various types, models and dynamic ranges of the mics, it’s not a perfect science to get exact measurements and levels, but we tried to keep everything as even as possible.
Shure SM57
Certainly a classic, this reliable, rugged dynamic mic has a frequency response of 40Hz–15kHz. Its relatively tight cardioid polar pattern and ability to take high volumes make it a first-call on many sessions. Due to its aggressive mid-range growl, it’s a perfect companion to blend with “darker” mics. When it comes to bang for the buck, the SM57 is hard to beat.
$99 street
shure.com
Royer R-121
The R-121 is a dynamic Ribbon mic with a Figure-8 polar pattern. Like other ribbons, it’s warm, creamy and natural. Unlike most other ribbons, it was built to take a max SPL rating of 135dB, making it a great cabinet mic. Also, by turning it around and reversing the phase, the back is sonically brighter at distances of two feet and closer. We found its face-front sound to be one of our favorites overall for warmth and character—a perfect blend with an SM57.
$1,295 street
royerlabs.com
Neumann U 87 Ai
Another legendary classic, this large diaphragm mic has three polar patterns (cardioid, omni, figure-8). We used an older model in cardioid mode, but the new Ai version has circuitry to increase the headroom by 10dB. With the rear switch attenuated, the U 87 can take up to 127dB and has a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz. You can hear the “beef” on both clean and distorted parts, and very nice attitude on distorted sound.
$3,650 street
en-de.neumann.com
Shure SM58
Almost always thought of as a vocal mic, sometimes you just have to put one up on a cabinet. Like the SM57, its price, midrange peak, 50Hz–15kHz frequency response and ability to handle massive gain make it a mic drawer classic. Essentially a 57 with a different grill and more girth, it sounded surprisingly good on the clean parts.
$99 street
shure.com
Earthworks QTC1
An omni? Sure, why not! The QTC’s small diaphragm gives it a realistic and accurate sound. A super-wide frequency range of 4Hz–40kHz and max acoustic input of 142dB SPL make it a great option. It had a very natural sound—what you heard in the room is what came out of the speakers.
$1,998 street
earthworksaudio.com
Sennheiser MD 421
A cardioid mic with a five-position bass rolloff (to help eliminate proximity effect), this mic is a classic tone heard for decades now. Its frequency response of 30Hz–17kHz and ability to take very high SPLs give it a full, round sound. It works great with other mics, and by itself sounded warm and full, with slightly rolled off highs.
$399 street
en-us.sennheiser.com
Beyerdynamic M 160
The M 160 is a hypercardioid, dynamic ribbon mic that has two ribbons arranged one above the other a half-millimeter apart. It’s got a max SPL of 129dB and a frequency response of 40Hz–18 kHz. Its big, ribbony sound is always a favorite for good reason.
$699 street
north-america.beyerdynamic.com
Audix i5
The i5 is a dynamic, general-purpose mic with a cardioid polar pattern. It has a frequency response of 50Hz–16kHz and a max SPL of 140dB—so it can take it hard. It sounds like a 57, but with additional presence and upper mid clarity, and would make a great partner with a MD 421 or Royer.
$99 street
audixusa.com
Audio-Technica AT4060
This is a large cardioid, vacuum tube condenser with a large, 2-micron-thick gold diaphragm and separate power supply. It features 20Hz–20kHz specs and can take up to 131dB SPL, which is a lot for a tube mic. While it may not be the best call by itself, it would make a nice mic to put back around 3–4 feet for some additional room sound.
$1,699 street
audio-technica.com
Coles 4038
The 4038 is a studio ribbon mic designed by the BBC for broadcasting and recording. It’s bidirectional (figure-8) with a frequency response of 30Hz–15kHz and can take up to 125dB SPL—although we had to move this back to 11 inches for breakup factor. Another classic ribbon sound with the softened highs and warm overall tone, there’s no denying this one.
$1,438 street
Audio-Technica AT4047/SV
This good-looking condenser mic has a wide frequency response of 20Hz–18kHz and the ability to take up to 159dB SPL with the 10dB pad in. There’s a switchable 80Hz hi-pass filter as well, and it features a gold plated dualdiaphragm capsule design. It captured both crisp highs and a well-rounded bottom.
$699 street
audio-technica.com
AKG C414
Wow, another classic. The 414 has five switchable polar patterns (omni, wide cardioid, cardioid, hyper cardioid, figure-8) and a large, 1-inch diaphragm. It’s got 20Hz–20kHz frequency response and a max SPL of up to 158 with -18dB of attenuation switched in. We set it to cardioid, no pad. This mic cuts through a mix well and has lots of attitude.
$1,155 street
akg.com
Electro-Voice RE20
Often referred to as the “donkey dick” mic, this large diaphragm dynamic cardioid monster routinely seen and heard on radio/TV broadcasts has a frequency response of 45Hz–18kHz. Commonly used in guitar session work, it makes a great complement to other mics, such as the 57. We used a PL15, which is basically the same model. It’s got great low end in both the clean and distorted parts… smooth upper mids and not too much high end.
$449 street
electrovoice.com
Shure SM7B
This dynamic is often viewed as a radio mic, but it has a smooth sound and 50Hz–20kHz frequency response. There are bass roll-off and mid-range emphasis switches, but we set it flat. With an immediately pleasing sound both clean and distorted, it’s got a bottom-heavy focus that works great alone or in conjunction with a brighter mic—great attitude.
$399 street
shure.com
M-Audio Luna
Now available as the Luna II, this cardioid condenser has a large, solid brass capsule, Class-A electronics and a 10dB pad, which lets it handle up to 140dB SPL. It has a good, full low end and smooth mids, especially on the distorted tracks, and is well balanced.
m-audio.com
Heil PR 40
A dynamic supercardioid mic from Heil Sound, it features a large low-mass aluminum diaphragm, a heavy steel case and a wide frequency response from 28Hz–18kHz. Very nice bottom and high end, almost nondescript in a positive way. It sounds really cool with a Coles 4038, or the like.
$299 street
heilsound.com
DPA 4006
Now labeled under the DPA name, this high-end, phantom-powered omni mic is often used in classical recordings. Its got an extremely linear frequency response from 20Hz–20kHz, and can take up to 143dB max SPL. It sounds quite natural, with non-extended highs and lows that give you back just what you put in front of it.
$2,339 street
dpamicrophones.com
Reslo
A classic English ribbon mic from the early sixties, it’s got a frequency response of 40Hz–15kHz… no wonder it can be heard on some of those classic Beatles recordings. The output sounds like analog tape through an old tube console.
[Updated 12/12/21]
After eight years, New Orleans artist Benjamin Booker returns with a new album and a redefined relationship to the guitar.
That evening, Booker played a release celebration show at Euclid Records in New Orleans, which has become the musician’s adopted hometown. He spent a few years in Los Angeles, and then in Australia, where his partner gave birth to their child, but when he moved back to the U.S. in December 2023, it was the only place he could imagine coming back to. “I just like that the city has kind of a magic quality to it,” he says. “It just feels kind of like you’re walking around a movie set all the time.”
Witness was a ruminative, lonesome record, an interpretation of the writer James Baldwin’s concept of bearing witness to atrocity and injustice in the United States. Mavis Staples sang on the title track, which addressed the centuries-old crisis of police killings and brutality carried out against black Americans. It was a significant change from the twitchy, bluesy garage-rock of Booker’s self-titled 2014 debut, the sort of tunes that put him on the map as a scrappy guitar-slinging hero. But Booker never planned on heroism; he had no interest in becoming some neatly packaged industry archetype. After Witness, and years of touring, including supporting the likes of Jack White and Neil Young, Booker withdrew.
He was searching for a sound. “I was just trying to find the things that I liked,” he explains. L.A. was a good place for his hunt. He went cratedigging at Stellaremnant for electronic records, and at Artform Studio in Highland Park for obscure jazz releases. It took a long time to put together the music he was chasing. “For a while, I left guitar, and was just trying to figure out what I was going to do,” says Booker. “I just wasn’t interested in it anymore. I hadn’t heard really that much guitar stuff that had really spoke to me.”
“For a while, I left guitar, and was just trying to figure out what I was going to do. I just wasn’t interested in it anymore.”
LOWER is Booker’s most sensitive and challenging record yet.
Among the few exceptions were Tortoise’s Jeff Parker and Dave Harrington from Darkside, players who moved Booker to focus more on creating ambient and abstract textures instead of riffs. Other sources of inspiration came from Nicolas Jaar, Loveliescrushing, Kevin Shields, Sophie, and JPEGMAFIA. When it came to make LOWER (which released on Booker’s own Fire Next Time Records, another nod to Baldwin), he took the influences that he picked up and put them onto guitar—more atmosphere, less “noodly stuff”: “This album, I was working a lot more with images, trying to get images that could get to the emotion that I was trying to get to.”
The result is a scraping, aching, exploratory album that demonstrates that Booker’s creative analysis of the world is sharper and more potent than ever. Opener “Black Opps” is a throbbing, metallic, garage-electronic thrill, running back decades of state surveillance, murder, and sabotage against Black community organizing. “LWA in the Trailer Park” is brighter by a slim margin, but just as simultaneously discordant and groovy. The looped fingerpicking of “Pompeii Statues” sets a grounding for Booker to narrate scenes of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. Even the acoustic strums of “Heavy on the Mind” are warped and stretched into something deeply affecting; ditto the sunny, garbage-smeared ’60s pop of “Show and Tell.” But LOWER is also breathtakingly beautiful and moving. “Slow Dance in a Gay Bar” and “Hope for the Night Time” intermingle moments of joy and lightness amid desperation and loneliness.
Booker worked with L.A.-based hip-hop and electronic producer Kenny Segal, trading stems endlessly over email to build the record. While he was surrounded by vintage guitars and amps to create Witness, Booker didn’t use a single amplifier in the process of making LOWER: He recorded all his guitars direct through an interface to his DAW. “It’s just me plugging my old Epiphone Olympic into the computer and then using software plugins to manipulate the sounds,” says Booker. For him, working digitally and “in the box” is the new frontier of guitar music, no different than how Hendrix and Clapton used never-heard-before fuzz pedals to blow people’s minds. “When I look at guitar players who are my favorites, a lot of [their playing] is related to the technology at the time,” he adds.
“When I look at guitar players who are my favorites, a lot of [their playing] is related to the technology at the time.”
Benjamin Booker's Gear
Booker didn’t use any amps on LOWER. He recorded his old Epiphone Olympic direct into his DAW.
Photo by Trenity Thomas
Guitars
- 1960s Epiphone Olympic
Effects
- Soundtoys Little AlterBoy
- Soundtoys Decapitator
- Soundtoys Devil-Loc Deluxe
- Soundtoys Little Plate
“I guess I have a problem with anything being too sugary. I wanted a little bit of ugliness.”
Inspired by a black metal documentary in which an artist asks for the cheapest mic possible, Booker used only basic plugins by Soundtoys, like the Decapitator, Little AlterBoy, and Little Plate, but the Devil-Loc Deluxe was the key for he and Segal to unlock the distorted, “three-dimensional world” they were seeking. “Because I was listening to more electronic music where there’s more of a focus on mixing than I would say in rock music, I think that I felt more inspired to go in and be surgical about it,” says Booker.
Part of that precision meant capturing the chaos of our world in all its terror and splendor. When he was younger, Booker spent a lot of time going to the Library of Congress and listening to archival interviews. On LOWER, he carries out his own archival sound research. “I like the idea of being able to put things like that in the music, for people to just hear it,” says Booker. “Even if they don’t know what it is, they’re catching a glimpse of life that happened at that time.”
On “Slow Dance in a Gay Bar,” there are birds chirping that he captured while living in Australia. Closer “Hope for the Night Time” features sounds from Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market. “Same Kind of Lonely” features audio of Booker’s baby laughing just after a clip from a school shooting. “I guess I have a problem with anything being too sugary,” says Booker. “I wanted a little bit of ugliness. We all have our regular lives that are just kind of interrupted constantly by insane acts of violence.”
That dichotomy is often difficult to compute, but Booker has made peace with it. “You hear people talking about, ‘I don’t want to have kids because the world is falling apart,’” he says. “But I mean, I feel like it’s always falling apart and building itself back up. Nothing lasts forever, even bad times.”
YouTube It
To go along with the record, Booker produced a string of music videos influenced by the work of director Paul Schrader and his fascination with “a troubled character on the edge, reaching for transcendence.” That vision is present in the video for lead single “LWA in the Trailer Park.”
Note the cavity cover on the back, which houses the components of Andy Summers’ mid-boost system.
In general, you can use any Telecaster and convert it to Andy Summers’ specs. If you want to stay as close as possible to the original guitar, the way to go is an alder body—just like Andy’s, which is 2-piece—with a 3-tone sunburst finish and white double binding.
The neck should be quarter-sawn, 1-piece maple with a C profile, 21 vintage-style frets, and a 7.25" fretboard radius. Of course, you can choose your own specs here, too. The original guitar has a brass nut rather than bone or plastic, and it should be no problem to find a brass nut blank for a Telecaster. You will need different tools to work on it compared to bone, plastic, or graphite, so keep this in mind. If you do not have the right tools or don’t feel comfortable making nuts, you should leave this task to your local guitar tech. Summers’ guitar has Schaller M6 tuning machines, which are still available from the German Schaller company, and two chrome butterfly string trees. You may not really need two of them—usually one for the B and the high E string will do the trick, especially with a well-made nut.
The original has a heavy brass bridge plate with six individual brass saddles, which will increase overall weight significantly. You can still buy this type of brass bridge from several companies, but there are much lighter bridges on the market.
The stereo output jack is installed in a rectangular chrome plate, like on a Les Paul, which I think is superior to the typical Telecaster jack cup. Interestingly, the plate on Summers’ guitar is only held by two of four screws, but do yourself a favor and use all four to make this spot as strong as possible. You should attach the plate really tight, especially when you use an output jack with a tight grip for the plug.
“Electronically, there is nothing too specialized that you will need for the controls.”
The rest of the hardware is chrome and standard: two regular strap buttons, a standard Telecaster control plate, ’60s Telecaster flat-top knobs, a black ’60s-style top-hat switch knob on the 3-way pickup selector switch, and two flat-lever mini-toggle switches. You should have no problem getting all of these parts from any guitar shop. The pickguard is a 3-ply mint green pickguard with a standard humbucker routing for the neck pickup.
Electronically, there is nothing too specialized that you will need for the controls: a standard 3-way pickup selector switch, two 250k audio pots for master volume and master tone, a gain control pot for the booster, and two additional mini DPDT on-on toggle switches for switching the booster on and off and for the phase control of the bridge pickup. The resistance of the gain control pot depends on the booster you want to use: e.g. for the Fender Clapton mid-boost kit, a 500k type will work great.
For the bridge pickup, there is a standard early-’60s-style Telecaster single-coil pickup, and every pickup company will have something like this in their catalog. Because the bridge pickup is installed to an out-of-phase mini-toggle switch, your pickup will need three conductors, with the metal base plate separated from the pickup’s common ground, and a third wire that connects the bridge plate individually to ground. If you have a regular two-conductor model, you need to break this connection, soldering a third wire directly to the base plate.
Interestingly, the bridge pickup on Summers’ Tele is installed directly into the wood of the pickup’s cavity. I see no reason why you shouldn’t install it the regular way on your guitar.
Here’s a close-up of the bridge on Summers’ historic Tele.
Photo courtesy of Ten-Guitars (https://ten-guitars.de)
In the neck position, there is a ’59 PAF humbucker with a conventional two-conductor wiring installed directly into the pickguard in the standard way, with the open pole pieces facing towards the neck. The choice of late-’50s PAF copies has never been better than it is today. You can buy excellent versions from a lot of companies, just make sure to choose the correct string spacing, which is usually called “F-spacing” or something similar, and is usually 2.070" (52.6 mm). (Gibson spacing, or G-spacing, is 1.930" or 49 mm.)
You’ll need humbucker routing on your body to make it fit. If you don’t have a body with humbucker routing and don’t want to get your Tele body re-routed, you can consider one of the numerous stacked humbuckers that will fit into a standard Telecaster neck pickup cavity. My experience is that there is a noticeable difference in tone compared to a full-sized humbucker, and it will be a compromise.
Next is the active booster. Finding a good booster module and wiring it up is much easier than fitting it into the tight space of a Telecaster body. There are a wide range of available booster options. There are complete DIY sets available that include the PCB and all of the necessary parts to build your own, and there are also drop-in PCBs that are already populated, like the well-known Fender mid-boost circuit kit. You can also find mini-sized booster modules using high-quality SMD parts, which only require a fraction of space compared to the regular PCBs.
“Finding a good booster module and wiring it up is much easier than fitting it into the tight space of a Telecaster body.”
The available options include treble boosters, mid-boost circuits, full-range boosters, etc. Choose what you like best. The problem will be that you need to stuff it into a Telecaster body. As you know, there is not much space inside a Telecaster, and you need to add the booster itself, the 9V battery, an additional pot for controlling the booster, and two additional mini-toggle switches—one for turning the booster on and off, and the other to get the bridge pickup out of phase. This is a lot of stuff! On Summers’ guitar, this problem was solved by adding a large cavity on the back and closing it with a plastic back plate, as on a Gibson Les Paul.
A look inside the cavity for the mid-boost unit.
Photo courtesy of TeleManDon from Vancouver Island, BC (https://tdpri.com)
You can clearly see the two big routings for the booster’s PCB and the 9V battery, plus the additional pot to control the amount of boost as well as the mini-toggle switch to turn the booster on and off. If you are not afraid of routing two big chambers into your Telecaster’s body, this is a suitable way to go.
On a Telecaster, there are not many alternatives I can think of to fit all these parts. One possible way of saving space would be to use a stacked pot with two 250k pots for volume and tone, so you have the second hole in the control plate available for the gain control pot of the booster. Between the two pots, it should be no problem to place the two mini-toggle switches. Or you use a push-pull pot for the gain control to save one of the mini-toggle switches. The guitar will look much cleaner, at least from the front side. But you still have to put the booster PCB and the battery somewhere. A customer of mine did this by completely routing the area under the pickguard. But even with only a regular single-coil neck pickup, it was a really tight fit, so with a regular-sized humbucker, it will be close to impossible. So, you or your luthier will have to be creative, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a company offers Andy Summers Telecaster bodies with all chambers already routed.
Here we go for the wiring. Wherever possible, I tried to keep the diagram as clean as possible. The wiring of the booster is only an example and depends on the booster you want to use, but the basic wiring is always the same.
Here’s a helpful schmatic of the Andy Summers‘ Telecaster wiring.
Illustration courtesy of SINGLECOIL (www.singlecoil.com)
That’s it. Next month, we will take a deep look into guitar cables and wires, what really makes a difference, and how you can use this to reshape your guitar tone. So stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!
