5 String Telecaster Build - Keith Richards Micawber 

Awesome project Dylan. I've been researching Micawber for quite a while for a replica build. I love that you did the rough "ugly" cut on the pickguard. A note on the aged gold bridge: Micawber's bridge isn't gold. It is a Schecter unplated brass bridge with unplated brass saddles which age quite easily. An aged version is available from ABM Custom Shop (through Thomann) and an unaged one through Armadillo Guitars if you or your friend are interested in updating this part.

Those Vintage V52 ICON guitars are excellent sounding as they stand...

Love these kind of mod videos. I don't have a guitar that I haven't tinkered with and these always inspire new projects.

Dylan, this video was great. I love the concept of blender knobs.

Why didn't you tune it to Open G and do the demo? That is the whole friggin' purpose of Keith's 5 String Tele??? It's tuned to open G. Hence no need for a low E string tuned down to G. It gets in the way.

Nice job!!! Has the Keith tone but more umph to it, I like it!

@DylanTalksTone You Are The Man 🎸 💪

12:05 That pattern you were playing around this point in the video… If you just dropped the 1st & 5th strings by a whole step, you’d be playing most of what Keef plays. He just moves it up & down the neck. It’s a lot of fun and worth playing around with.

ive been wondering about the 5 string teles, awesome video!

Very Cool !!!... makes me want one !!!

Dylan, I saw my name scrolling across the screen there at the end. You're quite welcome. Thank you for what you do!

That's was a cool project Dylan!

Thanks for showing that wiring setup, with the tone out for the middle position + volume blend. I think that's just the thing for me. Would be great to see a walkthrough of how you wired that, as a learning exercise. Just getting the nerve up to start soldering my own instruments.

Dude dylan! This is a sick video! Plus you're playing was a lot different! Better in my opinion! This may be out of your wheelhouse, but I will click on any video of yours involving you modifying or customizing a guitar to match a very famous one. I know you just want to trust your gut and only make videos about stuff that interests you, but I am a beginner and this video was awesome!

Very cool video Dylan!! Thank You! I’m planning to buy some PAF ‘s from you soon!

That's cool. I've got an old Carvin kit guitar that's about to see some seafoam green paint a new tortoise shell pickguard with vintage pickups. Gonna be fun.

Wow!blacking out the unused magnet makes it sound great!

Nice job Dylan Keith original has clay dots on the fret board and one of them famously fell out live on stage and to this day I’m not sure it’s been replaced

You definitely should have given that guitar a try first. The Wilkinson pickups sound great. I've replaced some of my Gibson humbuckers with Wilkinsons.

9:38 Yeah this Guitar can be strung any way you want, it can always be restrung as a 6 string Guitar again if you wish. All you need to do is add the 6th saddle to the bridge.

Open G tuning opens up a whole new world

He has a solid brass bridge not gold plated. Also, the bridge pickup is a lap steel guitar single coil. Gotah sells a solid brass tele bridge in chrome or gold. Not sure what the deal with the lap steel bridge pickup is. But I am assuming it is wound hotter to better.match the output of the paf humbucker. Like how you did the wiring. Building a paf neck tele parts caster. Been rummaging the Internet for ideas.

I’m making a 5-string out of a child’s acoustic -very narrow neck at 1-1/2 inches, kinda crowded for old-man fingers. It’s for slide, so I’m moving the high E-string toward the edge of the neck by moving it’s bridge notch over 2mm (not enough room at the nut-end to move it over) and raising the high-string-end action slightly (at the bridge only), both things to reduce slide-clatter. The low-string (now the A-string) takes the place of the low-E string in a normal six-string set-up, and it’s notch (bridge and nut) doesn’t need to change location. Then I simply divide the distance between high and low strings to locate the middle string (the G-string), dividing the two halves thus formed again by two to locate the other two (the D-string and the B-string). I’m still gonna use five of the six peg-holes-meaning a couple of strings do a dogleg before crossing the bridge. Looks weird but it work’s: I’ve tried more extremes bends before so I know this’ll be fine, long’s the bridge notches are deep and narrow enough. I’m gonna plug the unused tuning peg. I’m not sure what gage or metal I’ll use-prob’ly something mid-tone, mid-weight-see how it sounds. Why am I doing this? Anybody-not just Keef-who plays open-G (I usually wind it up to an open-A, same configuration) hates that bass-string on an open-tuned 6-string set-up. It’s the dominant note and gets in the way all the time. I discovered removing it quite independently and quite by accident when I was a teenager (I’m 67 now) when I broke the low string. Anyway, I bought this little Peavey child’s guitar from a neighbour’s widow. They bought it for their granddaughter who apparently didn’t want to play it anymore and grandma didn’t want to keep being reminded of better days now over. So She sold it to me for $40. It’s really a kid’s guitar, not just the modest size, but also the el-cheapo quality, painted banding, totally flat-grain I-don’t-know-what for the top (not even sure it’s spruce)-typical gift for someone who’s hedging that the recipient might not take to it. The neck can stand a little tweak-no biggie. Otherwise it plays not bad. Good for a slide guitar. Had some super bright, brassy strings on there as a six-string: sounded terrible. Tone it down for the 5-string. I’ve just cut out the new nut and bridge blanks from a piece of solid moose antler my grandson gave me-hard as rock. Wish me luck!

Try it in open G. It won't take long to adjust and is a lot of fun!

REMOVE LOW E TUNER ALSO HELPS WHEN YOU GO TO G TUNING

They are really well made guitars actually. Guitar snobbery is alive and well i see.

Messing with a Vintage? Not too scary, but can you imagine how the guy felt when he was carving up Keith's original 54'? Think I might have had shaky hands!

Harley benton makes a tribute Mcawber for 200 bucks if you aren't handy buy nice build!

It actually sounds really good. Wish I could hear Honky Tonk Woman on it. 😅

Cool build, especially the wiring. One thing I dont understand is why so many people still used humbucker rings when they modded their strats or teles back in the day for humbuckers. Probably a looks thing.

Thanks 🙏 Dylan very interesting. Do you have a schematic of that particular wiring? Thanks

Would be so much more interesting if a bridge was custom made for 5 strings and a new nut cut for 5 strings. Should be easy for Dylan to make custom wound pickups specifically for 5 strings allowing for a new string spacing.

Hi Dylan, such a wonderful job you've done! Only thing I've always wondered is -though I am aware you just made carbon copy of original guitar- is there particular reason or tonal difference for having a humbucker slightly foward towards the neck? Another tele from same era and probably second most well-known humbucker-equipped tele, Jeff Beck's TeleGib, has neck humbucker in "regular position" which most tele with humbuckers including ones in regular production lines follow till this day. It'd be grateful if you could share your insights once more.

The 'Vintage ' brand is not so cheap here [NZ] plus a relic one costs $NZ100 more! There are many Chinese versions that are half the price & just as good ; Vintage is made in Vietnam but designed in UK. I made a Keith Tele, American Ash body, Canadian maple neck, Humbucker & Tone Rider bridge single coil. Sold my Fender.

Black sharpie or nail polish would cover the pole piece

McCawber has Schaller tuners on it. The brass bridge was given to Keith by Pete Townsend.

Can’t find the link to the Stones cover band. Did you post it in the description?

I need some of that metal blackening stuff! I've got a strat neck pickup in the neck of one of my Mustangs, and would love to black out the pole pieces to make it better match the whole no exposed poles look of the Mustang! Link to product? Pretty please?

Keith uses 5 string open g on many tunes. Played brown sugar hundreds of times using 5 string open g

8:11 Yes the 6th string is staying off the Guitar for this Video.

Not a relic fan but that is a cool guitar.

How do you control the overall volume of the guitar with the switch in blend mode?

Kewl

Your missing the key ingredient, Strat switch tip 😆

Love it!! Wiring diagram? Maybe I'm blind...but don't see it. Thanks

Sorry I was wrong they are black not clay but one is missing on the 17th fret I was right about that much 😂

Where did you get the knobs? These Vintage guitars are close to $600 on Reverb

where'd you get that bridge? The link you gave is for a modern 3 screw bridge, and I got a white telecaster body I am converting into an esquire that I need a gold six saddle bridge for, and it's a 4 screw bridge body.

Just buy the new Harley Benton TE53KR it's already a Micawber Tele just needs a little aging😏🤘🎸

😊

Looking for the link to the Stones tribute band you mentioned?? Please provide. Thanks p.s. Or at least tell me their name so I can Google 'em

Kieth plays Ernie Ball regulars.

Pretty sure it was brass bridge

Dylan, why didn't you use MFD magnetic field design in the bridge pickup? Try showing in a video of winding up a Dylan talk tone MFD pickup because I want to see the MFD special sauce

why dont tune it on open G like the Keef?? without that 5 string have no sense though

Micawber, from Charles Dickens' book "David Copperfield") - pronounced 'Mic-AUB-er'. Rhymes with 'dauber'. Otherwise cool.

Didn’t Trev Wilkinson design that guitar?

Dylan don’t know how Vintage guitars are good, actually pickups are very good. Those are not “some” Chinese knock offs, they use Wilkinson pickups/hardware which people buy to upgrade Fenders&Squiers. Guitar is maybe better stock, but many Americans live “under a rock” 😂

Love how Americans talk about "Overseas" as if it's one place.

UK company, made in Vietnam... would help if you did SOME homework

Cool. Only it's not at all like the Keith Richards guitar. Honestly dude, you talk a lot but you don't show the actual working progress with cutting, wiring, soldering, routing etc. That's what I came to see. And to listen to it in open G tuning. The bridge on Keiths guitar is a Schecter brass.

Gold hardware generally sucks…gaudy, doesn’t age well. Really only looks good on whiteish guitars.

It’s a bad idea children, you’re installing expensive hardware in a crappy instrument, which feels cheap and have all sorts of issues starting from keeping in tune. You ends up with expensive unplayable unsalable dust collector.