Hillman Guitar No. 8
FENDER THINLINE TELECASTER
Serial No. 368950
www.hillmanweb.com/hillgt08.html
After my grandmother's death in 1971, Sue-On took over where Nannie had left off in trying to satisfy my addiction for guitars. On Christmas 1975, she surprised me with a new Telecaster Thinline. She had heard me admiring the fatter overdriving sounds that many of the current rock and blues artists were getting, so, with a little bit of help from the staff at Brandon's Ted Good Music store, she found one of the newer Fender Telecasters that featured humbucking pickups. The finish was dark woodgrain and it came with a maple fingerboard and a factory-installed Bigsby. All it was lacking was a B-bender, and with a little help from our former rhythm player, the very handy Jake Kroeger, we soon installed our patented rod bender and the shiny new Tele was ready for action.This was the guitar we took to England three times and used on all of our English recording sessions. At the end of June in the following summer, I arranged to leave my high school teaching job a few days early and we flew to London to prepare for a 30 day tour of Workingman Clubs, Discos and C&W Clubs. We packed the new Tele, a Hohner battery-powered keyboard bass, records to sell, and our costumes. (In our third British tour, in 1979, we added piles of diapers for toddler Ja-On to our luggage, as we hated the strange pads that then passed for disposable nappies in England.)
We had partial sponsorship from Canada's Traynor Amplifiers who had arranged for us to pick up our British 220-wired equipment at Wing Music in Kent. They also supplied a good Rodgers drum kit for Sue-On. but we couldn't find a Fender Rhodes or any other electronic piano. Our keyboardist, Kevin Pahl, had to make do with a Hohner Clavinet and our keyboard bass for the entire tour. Luckily, our old friend Alan Jones, who had arranged much of the tour during one of his visits back home to England, was able to fill in on organ in some of the clubs which had a house organ. I carried this guitar all over the UK . . . wouldn’t let it out of my sight. I still have many memories of struggling with our 1 ½ year old son Ja-On strapped to my back, a suitcase in each hand, and the Tele case wedged under my arm, while pushing our way through the London Underground passageways and onto subway cars during rush hour. Needless to say, these odd foreigners with the strange Canuckian accents and bearing mountains of luggage weren't overly popular among the fellow commuters.
As suggested by the photos below, this guitar proved to be a good all-around instrument. The late '70s and early '80s were probably our busiest and most prolific time. Sue-On and I were teaching high school and Kevin was working as a flying instructor, grain buyer and crop duster. But somehow we found time for a Grandstand tour of US State and County Fairs, three tours of Britain, outdoor country festivals, a tour of the North and Western Canada, tours of military bases, and a multitude of dance dates in rinks and halls. We also produced and recorded nine record albums and guested/produced many more for other performers, wrote and recorded 50 original songs, worked with most of the top country artists of the day, performed commercials, had a number of our own TV series, made and raised babies, performed on Canadian Country Music Association Awards presentations, appeared on Network TV and radio shows . . . and, in 1980, won the top award from the Manitoba Association of Country Artists: The Entertainers of the Year Award. Amps, PAs, musicians, costumes, songs, promoters, etc., came and went . . . but the Thinline Tele was a constant . . . Bill and Sue-On . . . and Tele : ) Thanks ole buddy . . . and thanks Sue-On, ya give good Xmas gifts kid.
THINLINE GALLERY
.
Arena Show and Dance |
SW Manitoba Wedding Dance |
High School Country/Rock Dance |
Boggy Creek Mountain Music Festival |
Formal Grad Ceremony Dance |
Miami Performance with England's Mick Sandbrook with my Beatle Bass |
Welcoming Ceremony for HRH Princess
Anne
Brandon CPR Station
See
The
Royal Visit
.
www.fender.com ‘72 Telecaster® Thinline Specifications Model Number 013-7402 Body Ash Neck Maple Fingerboard Maple (7.25" Radius/184 mm) Scale Length 25.5" (648 mm) No. of Frets 21 Width @ Nut 1.650" (42 mm) Machine Heads Fender/Schaller "F" Style Machines Pickups 2 Reissue Fender "Wide Range"Humbuckers, (Neck & Bridge) Pickup Switching 3 Position Blade Controls Master Volume, Master Tone Pickguard White Pearloid Bridge ‘70’s Strat Non Trem Unique Features Non-Veneered Semi-Hollow Body w/"F" Hole, "Bullet" Truss Rod Adjustment Strings Fender Super 250L’s (.009 to .042) Accessories Deluxe Fender Gig Bag TELECASTER SETUP GUIDES Suggested by Fender (Applies to most Fender electrics) Necessary Tools - Set of automotive feeler gauges (.002 - .025) - 6" ruler (with 1/32" and 1/64" increments) - Light machine oil ( 3-in-1, toy locomotive, or gun oil) - Phillips screwdriver - Electronic tuner - Wire cutters - Peg winder - Polish and clothe Strings
Make sure to stretch your strings properly. After you have installed a new set and have them tuned to pitch, hold the strings at the first fret and hook your fingers under each string (one at a time) and tug lightly, moving your hand from the bridge to the neck. Re-tune and repeat several times. Tuning Keys
Locking tuning keys - Imagine the headcap of the neck is the face of a clock, with the top being at 12 o'clock and the nut at 6 o'clock. Line the six tuning machines so that the 1st string keyhole is set at 1 o'clock, the 2nd at 2 o'clock, the 3rd and 4th at 3 o'clock, the 5th at 4o'clock, and the 6th at 5 o'clock. Pull the strings through taut, and tighten the thumb wheel locking the string in. Now tune to pitch. Standard keys - In order to reduce string slippage at the tuning key, we recommend that you use a tie technique. This is accomplished by pulling the string through the keyhole, and pulling the string clockwise underneath itself and bringing it back over the top of itself; creating a knot. You will need to leave a bit of slack for the 1st string, so you have at least 2 to 3 winds around the post. As you progress down the line to the 6th string you will reduce the amount of slack and the amount of winds around the keys. Vintage keys - For these keys you will want to pre-cut the strings to achieve the proper length and the desired amount of winds. Pull the 6th string to the 4th key and cut it (make sure when you are pulling the strings that you are pulling the string taut). Pull the 5th string to the 3rd key and cut it. Pull the 4th string between the 2nd and 1st keys and cut it. Pull the 3rd string just about to the top of the headcap and cut it. Pull the 2nd string about a 1/2" past the headcap and cut it. Finally pull the 1st string 1 1/2" past the top of the headcap and cut it. Insert into the center hole in the tuning key, bend and crimp to a 90° angle, and wind neatly in a downward pattern (carefully as to prevent overlapping of the strings). If your tuning keys have a screw on the end of the button, check
the tightness of the screw. This controls the tension of the gears inside
the tuning keys. DO NOT over-tighten these screws. They should be tightened
to "finger-tight". This is very important especially on locking tuners.
Bridge Telecasters can be found with two distinctive types of bridges. The most well known bridge is the vintage style three-section bridge. The other is the modern-day six-section bridge like the American Standard Telecaster bridge. Check your tuning. Intonation (Roughing it out) You can pre-set the basic intonation of your guitar, by taking your tape measure and measuring from the inside of the nut to the center of the 12th fret (the wire, not the fingerboard). Double that measurement to find the scale length of your guitar. For a vintage three section bridge a series of compensations will need to be made to compensate for the lack of individual string intonation adjustment. Adjust the 1st bridge saddle to this scale length, measuring from the inside of the nut to the center of the bridge saddle. Now, adjust the distance of the 2nd saddle back from the 1st saddle, using the combination of the gauges of the 2nd and 3rd strings as a measurement (Example: If the 2nd string is .011" and the third is .013" you would move the 2nd saddle back .024" from the 1st saddle). Move the 3rd back from the 2nd saddle, using the gauge of the 5th and 6th strings as a measurement. For the six-section bridge you will make adjustments for each individual string. Adjust the 1st string bridge saddle to the scale length, measuring from the inside of the nut to the center of the bridge saddle. Now, adjust the distance of the 2nd string saddle back from the 1st saddle, using the gauge of the 2nd string as a measurement (Example: If the 2nd string is .011" you would move the 2nd string back .011" from the 1st saddle). Move the 3rd back from the 2nd saddle, using the gauge of the 3rd string as a measurement. The 4th string saddle should be set parallel with the 2nd string saddle. Proceed with the 5th and 6th in the same method used for strings 2, and 3. Lubrication and String Breakage
Another point that should be lubricated is the string tree(s). For this point, a small amount of Chapstick®, applied with a toothpick, works wonders. Truss-Rod
Fender also uses a unique "Bi-Flex" truss rod system on some instruments. Unlike the "Standard" truss rods, which can only correct a neck that is too concave (under-bowed), the "Bi-Flex" truss rod can compensate for either concave (under-bowed), or convex (over-bowed) curvature, by generating a force in either direction as needed for the correction. Check your tuning. Install a capo at the 1st fret, depress the 6th string at the last fret. With a feeler gauge, check the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the 8th fret -- see the specification chart below for the proper gap. Adjustment at headstock (Allen wrench): If neck is too concave, (the guitar in playing position, looking up the neck towards the keys) turn truss-rod nut counter clock-wise. Too convex-- clockwise. Adjustment at neck joint (Phillips screwdriver): If neck is too concave, turn truss-rod nut clock-wise. Too convex--Counter clockwise. Check your tuning, then check the gap again with the feeler gauge. In
either case, if you meet excessive resistance or need for adjustment, or
you're not comfortable with this adjustment, please contact the Custom
Shop.
Action Players with a light touch can get away with lower action, others
need higher action to avoid rattles. Check tuning. Using 6" ruler, measure
distance between bottom of strings and top of the 17th fret. Adjust bridge
saddles to the height according to the chart, then re-tune. Experiment
with the height until the desired sound and feel is achieved.
Shimming/Micro-Tilt™ Adjustment Shimming is a procedure used to adjust the pitch of the neck in relation to the body. A shim is placed in the neck pocket, underneath the butt-end of the neck. On many of the American series of guitars, a Micro-Tilt adjustment is offered. It replaces the need for a shim by using a hex screw against a plate installed in the butt-end of the neck. The need to adjust the pitch (raising the butt-end of the neck in the pocket, thereby pitching the neck back) of the neck occurs in situations where the string height is high and the action adjustment is as low as the adjustment will allow. To properly shim a neck the neck needs to be removed from the neck pocket of the body. A shim approximately 1/4" wide x 1 3/4" long x .010" thick will raise the action approximately 1/32". For those guitars with the Micro-Tilt adjustment, loosen the two neck screws on both sides of the adjustment access hole on the neckplate by at least 4 full turns. Tighten the hex screw with an 1/8" hex wrench approximately 1/4 turn to raise the action approximately 1/32". Retighten the neck screws when the adjustment is complete. The pitch of the neck on your guitar has been preset at the factory and in most cases will not need to be adjusted. Note: If you feel you need this adjustment to be made and you're not comfortable with the procedure, take your guitar to your authorized Fender Service Center. Pickups
Intonation (Fine Tuning)
Additional Hints
FENDER VISITOR CENTRE TOUR Official Fender Musical Instruments Site Artists Who Play Fender Official Danny Gatton Site Bill Hillman's Telecaster Journals Telecaster Shootout Fender Discussion Page Guitar Chord Finder Guitar Player Mag Online Hot Country Rock Guitar Licks & B-Benders Stringbender Brad's Page of Steel Bigsby Website |
|
|
|
|