My Telecaster Mods explained... 

You know, in 40 yrs of playing and modding guitars, I've never heard anyone mention that neck shim trick -that is an incredibly out-there, original idea! You certainly walk the talk, so I'm excited to try it on my Tele, then my Strats. Thanks for pointing me twd my next project, and all the best to you :) subbed

Tory…you live a blessed life my sister

Great playing! I love that you don't play like everyone else.

Two mods I regularly do on 2-pickup master-vol/tone guitars. 1) The bidirectional tone control. I wire up a 1M linear pot with a "standard" capacitor value connected to one outside lug, and something around 1/4 to 1/5 that value connected to the other outside lug. The wiper goes to the volume pot input lug, as per usual. Maximum brightness (i.e., no treble cut) occurs when the knob is at the midpoint. Rotating in either direction gives a standard dulling effect, OR simply "sands off the edges". Original idea from Craig Anderton. Very effective and useful. Not that it would pertain to your playing style, but it's handy for anyone who attempts "pinky wah", because it cuts the amount of rotation needed to go from dull to bright in half. 2) The "half-out-of-phase" mod. This was attributed to the late pickup guru Bill Lawrence. Normally, putting a neck and bridge pickup out of phase with each other yields a very nasal and thin tone, with a big volume drop. However, placing a smallish-value capacitor (I use .01uf) in series with the neck pickup reduces its bass content, such that, when phase-reversed, and combined with the bridge pickup, there is much less cancellation, and no discernible volume drop. The result can sound surprisingly like the neck+middle "cluck" setting on a Stratocaster, despite only having a neck and bridge pickup. I've even done it on dual-humbucker guitars. While it won't sound anything like a Strat in such instruments, it does yield a very different and usable dual-pickup rhythm sound, with no harshness or volume drop. The perk is that when one is using only the neck pickup, reversing the phase of that pickup cuts a lot of the bass in a manner that sounds like one has gone over to the amplifier and turned the bass control down. And of course, flipping the phase-reverse switch restores full bass.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I think the neck shim would be something to experiment with on the tele. Makes sense. Thanks for sharing all the other tips as well.

you have the most enjoyable noodling

you know… there are times where I think the slush crush is just a phase and then the Zelda chime starts up 😍🥵😵

Thank you for sharing all this!! You're the greatest.

Beautiful

Thanx For Sharing Your Explorations & Mods

Holy cow, she's good.

Sounds amazing (as usual), and the new video is a huge upgrade. Fabulous stuff as always!

Loved seeing this. Thank you for sharing.

YOu are amazing artist , its not guitar at this level , your music is so strong ! JOY

BOP TAPPIN MASTER! 🍷 👍 🎸

I wonder it the shims help because you have your neck in contact with a harder/more solid surface than the stock set up which places two relatively soft, and dissimilar materials(maple and ash wood) together. Generally speaking, sound waves propagate better through harder, more solid materials, like metals(see: reverb plates), rather than something less dense, like wood. Amazing that the Roland is still just about the only "Guitar Synth" folks use too.

I wondered how you got that sound from pretty simple rig. Unique and brilliant. Thanks Tory.

3:25 on I’m just smiling so much it hurts! Bravo! Love the jazzy chords too.

Alfred Hitchcock sound track music just turns me on as much as Tory's a matter of fact explanations of music mod's ... Tory is obviously a down to earth really nice ... to nice person... hi Tory... you rocker you!

You inspire me to experiment and have fun. Thank you!

So, that's how you've got your sound. Metal shim. I've been thinking of it as a flute sound and thought you had Arnold Schwartzenegger fingers. I love it. After the close up look on your guitar I now will hear it as sound from under water. As always, great playing.

YES SHIM THE TELE CAN MAKE NOTICEABLE RESPONSE ! I LIKE The Seymour Duncan IN THE Neck For A WARM Solo Sound

I wondered if you used any compression at all because the notes all seem to be so consistent volume-wise. Very nice playing and sounds. Thanks for taking time to explain your mods and ideas!!

Thanks! I will try the backplate shim idea, that sounds pretty interesting. I will also give science magnets and ceramic pickup a try. The used Squier I picked up, inspired by you, came with ceramic pickups, which I swapped for Alnico 5, without too much thought. However, the alnico neck pickup is now too bright. I need to do some copper tape shielding already, so it's a good excuse for other experimentation.

Thank you❤

Fantastic

the only you tuber i have notifications on for... is there a jordan cover on the horizon? killswitches are so fun!

Thanks! The idea to put back plate between body and neck is very interesting! When wood tighten to wood there is a certain softness of materials in contact area. May be contact trough metal improves the transfer of vibrations, or may be it cuts the transfer from neck to body, so neck doesn't lose its vibe as it swalowed by softness of body's wood... I once had built some electric guitars from occasional materials and those made of metal (aluminum and steel) had quite nice resonance with special metal tembral character. There is a companies that builds aluminum necks bur they are a bit costly... i am not sure if sound they do will fit your jazzy style. In my experience combination of steel profile neck with plexyglass (perspex) fret-board do the best sound resonance, especially it's good for bass guitars

You should be touring with Matheny serious! Love your vibe! Never stop! 🎸😘👌 (great tips)

I think you should approach Fender with your ideas and get them to design a guitar for you, you've got such a good ear and the know how!?

I am humbled

Hi Tory, thanks for your videos, I like so much your technique ! and mods are really cool, I was wondering if you still use the Strandberg or maybe it no longer fit your style ?

It's pretty amazing that although seemingly forgotten, Stanley Jordan is still alive and well, and is still a huge influence on people. It almost seems as if it's happening indirectly, as if by osmosis. I've seen more than a few people taking his genral approach and running with it. Ms Slusher is probably the most Stanley approved I've seen yet. I *love* the use of "cheap" guitars with "cheap" pickups. I have one expensive telecaster, a cheap Jet Telecaster, which rules, then a very inexpensive Tribute G&L. Both the so called cheap guitars out-play the expensive Fender by a country mile. Cheap guitars rule.

I like your tone it sounds natural not dark to me.

a back plate shim seems like a wild idea but it's working for you. Very intersting. I'd want to try it on a tele, though I'm not a tapper.

Any chance of a jazz phrasing lesson in future? It’s a tough nut to crack, and yours is so good

thanks for the my telecaster mods explained video for explaining your telecaster mods that has been installed for jazz playing that has great lines and phrases upon short harmonic chords intervals using right hands that is really great way to play the piano style of jazz guitar. I love the kill switch concept. I also wonder what gk3 system can do for the tone or whatever holdsworth clean sound. anyway, I actually wonder actual music tools ( arpeggios, scale, intervalic concepts) you use upon certain chords to produce jazz pheases thanks you tory cool slush

You are plugged in to the same universe as clint strong !he must be your male counter part!

I don't play guitar, but It's really interesting to see all that you've done with your setup. I LUV everything you play, but I have to admit your approach to Jazz is what I connect with the most. (Full disclosure, I have a longstanding passion for the artform). I'm hoping and waiting (patiently) for an album devoted to that aspect of your guitar artistry. 😉

Geeeesh Tory! Now you’re beat boxing??? How about spoons?

First time seeing any of your videos, and I'm impressed with your talent and skills. As I was watching and listening, I was thinking that those are the best high fret tapping tones I've ever heard. I've heavily modded my Strat to get the kinds of tones etc. that I want, so I can appreciate and admire what you've done to your Tele. 👍 Regarding your neck plate mod, did you notice any significant difference in the tone and sustain when playing the high with regular picking, not tapping? Thanks, I'll be watching more of your videos.

The change from the neck shim is most likely due to action height differences. You might wanna mess with the truss rod and saddle height a bit on guitars that don't have a shim in them.

Think with that shim idea you have moved the fret board nearer to the juicy axis, strong part of your fingers, as your palm is still resting on the body. This might actually be your secret sauce. I tried tapping like you and I just don't have the finger strength...raising the fretboard up a mm or two (and more onto the hand) will probably make it easier.

That neck shim is amazing. You basically made the neck the sound of the guitar isolating it from the body? Also did you had done that to the Strandberg too? (Still miss that guitar - Ola should send you a new one).

Movie soundtracks you'd be perfect

I got a question Tory.....with you adding that steel back plate for a neck shim were your pickup adjustments able to raise high enough towards strings? Thanks..!

Oooh, I really what you’re playing! I don’t understand why people don’t like the neck pickup either. A good, dark Tele neck pickup can be the most beautiful, piano like sound. Compared to a Strat it’s almost like there’s a compressor or limiter squashing the transients? Oh, and surprise: a good Tele neck pickup is fantastic for RATM-type riffs! I’ve thought about doing something to get the bridge pickup a bit closer to that neck sound. I’m not sure I understand the shim installation. Is it an angled shim? Does it have holes so the screws can go through, or is it not far enough in for that to be an issue? I should add that my Tele isn’t a Fender but a neck-through build from china or Indonesia, so I wouldn’t be able to do that, but I want to try it on my two bolt-on guitars. The Tele has/had craaaaaap hardware but amazing sustain and the fretwork and neck is very good, so I’m slowly upgrading it as great offers become available. I got a set of Tele pickups by Kinman for 120€, for instance 🍾🥳

sounds like jazz

How did you do that? Every since you mentioned hacking your pickups with magnets, I've been wondering if an adjustable magnetic field would be useful. It's interesting you discovered shimming the neck to body connection has a dramatic effect. How could ithers not consider this. I thought you did a good job painting the optical illusion or is this an open attic? I started feeling boxed in.

Sorry, not sure I caught that... You said you put a metal neck plate between the body and the neck as a shim? If I'm not mistaken, that's an old Danny Gatton trick as well, though I think he said he did it to protect the wood or something rather than for any tonal reason. If you're randomly stumbling upon Gattonian mysteries in your tele tone quest, you must be doing something right.

It's official you're also a court reporter! 😊 Most excellent like always.

How can I subscribe twice? Inquiring minds must know!

Wal Mart scrunchie is super important. 😘

poof like magic damn right

I think I just need to stop trying to play guitar and just sell them....sheesh. lol