NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
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Axolotl
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NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Axolotl » Wed Feb 13, 2019 7:54 am

So, I've wanted one of these MIM cabronitas for years, but they are not as easy to come by and when I had the chance either I didn't have the dough or I was chasing something else. But now I saw an opportunity, as I had the cash and my friend was willing to haul it for me from the US. I always wanted the blonde one, but there was none to be found, so I pulled the trigger on this sunburst from 2013. I got a pretty good deal with it and it comes with a stacked pot for the tone control, which is missing in the original, and an upgraded output jack. I also got a used "La Burrito" Rutters bridge that popped right in and improved the looks and the sound. It also fixed the string alignment to the pickup poles, which is a common issue in these guitars.

The pickups sound great! Yes, a lot of people say to swap them for TV Jones, but I think I'll wait on that. I have no filtertrons of other pickups on this style to compare to but they sound bright yet sweet, clear as a bell (me being mostly a single coil dude). The guitar unplugged sounds loud and there is sustain for days. A very different beast compared to my offsets. The sound is quite unique.

The neck is truly amazing, it's just the second maple neck that I have in my 18 or so guitars. It is very thick, it feels super slick, like you could bend on forever. The finish on the back feels a bit sticky -these come finished in poly- but I'll promptly assault it with some scotchbrite.

Tobacco burst is not the most exciting finish in my book but the body looks great, the grain of the wood is beautiful and it looks like a 1-piece body on the front and back.

In any case, an amazing guitar that didn't disappoint. It's the first newer guitar I have bought in a while and it feels nice not to deal with quirks, refrets and other adjustments I do to vintage instruments.

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Last edited by Axolotl on Wed Feb 13, 2019 11:47 am, edited 3 times in total.

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MKR
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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by MKR » Wed Feb 13, 2019 8:57 am

that's awesome. i used to have one that i loved as well. nice score on the bridge too.... I never could bond with the stock bridge on mine.

Agree about the pickups too.

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Embenny
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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Embenny » Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:31 am

Nice. I love cabronitas, and I love filtertrons in general.

Don't rush to put TVJs in there. I remember reading a lot of head-to-head comparisons, including tech specs/testing, and the bridge pickup is really close to the TVJ Classic+ bridge, so much so as to be almost indistinguishable. I think the neck pickup is where there's a bit more of a difference, with the TV Classic being clearer and a lower wind.

Also don't forget that you can always bring the inductance of the neck pickup down (brightening the tone) by pulling out 6 of the 12 polepiece screws. If you find the neck too dark, that's a super easy thing to try.
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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Axolotl » Thu Feb 14, 2019 2:30 am

mbene085 wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:31 am
Also don't forget that you can always bring the inductance of the neck pickup down (brightening the tone) by pulling out 6 of the 12 polepiece screws. If you find the neck too dark, that's a super easy thing to try.
^^^ Thanks for the tip on the screws, mbene085, I'll try it if I need to. Which 6 pieces would that be? One row? 3 of each row? So far I'm loving them pups though. I also read that the fidelitrons and TVJ were really close, so at their price tag a swap wasn't justified. I'm loving the cleans, I think "airy" is a good description of the sound. It also sounds warm and snarly with low gain drive. I'm just fucking loving this thing, and the fact that it didn't break the bank makes me love it even more :D

Yes, the bridge was a huge improvement. The stock 6-saddle bridge looked so out of place on this guitar. And I've been wanting to try bronze (compensated) saddles forever. In my impression the sound got louder and more sustained. I recorded the guitar before swapping bridges to see if there is a verifiable, noticeable change in the sound. Still gotta go back to it to do the comparison though.

I'd thought I add that this is the first MIM I've owned in a while. Gotta say craftsmanship is spotless and the fretwork is excellent. There are just a couple of brown wood spots on the back on the neck that probably wouldn't have made the cut in a MIA instrument. Other than that it feels as good and solid as my AmStd Tele.

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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Embenny » Thu Feb 14, 2019 3:37 am

The polepiece "trick" works with any of them. On a PAF you only have one row of screws so you have to do them in a straight line. On a filtertron, you could do either coil, or a "Z" like WRHBs, or zig zag back and forth. Filtertrons are narrow pickups and I don't think there would be a dramatic tone difference between either approach.

But most people don't realize that you can do that at all - but it works with any humbucker with at least one coil of screw polepieces. Removing one polepiece per coil makes that coil stop "seeing" string vibration, so you essentially turn it into a single coil with a humcanceling dummy coil in series. This thins out the tone, but less so than wiring a coil split (and still cancels hum).

I own a set of TV Classics, and they're nice pickups, but I've played Fidelitrons before and I wouldn't spend $300 to swap them out. The stock pickups are pretty great.
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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Axolotl » Fri Jan 31, 2020 11:18 am

I've been digging this guitar so much lately. After a well deserved honeymoon it did spend a few months in its gigbag, but I took it out for a spin a few weeks ago and haven't been able to put it down since. :-* It sings and shines and it's a joy to play.
The shiny black guard always looked a bit meh to me so I got a cream 1-ply guard. I love how it lightens up the whole color scheme. Also, when changing the guard I saw a hole and that allowed me to see that the lower horn is chambered as well (I didn't know for sure).

So yeah, here is a vanity pic for the latest, minor yet noticeable change:

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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by JVG » Fri Jan 31, 2020 3:09 pm

Very nice! The white guard is definitely a good move.

I really like sunburst guitars. I know they don’t get much love on this forum but i think it’s a classic, timeless look.

Enjoy!
J.

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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Maggieo » Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:14 pm

I love it!
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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by Lamar Fandango » Fri Jan 31, 2020 4:36 pm

That's just a damn fine looking guitar!

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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by fuzzjunkie » Sat Feb 01, 2020 9:21 am

I didn’t see the original post, but as I was scrolling down today I thought, yeah I love Filtertrons , I like Tobacco burst better than the usual Targets bursts, blackguard, hmmm, if it were mine I would put a white or cream guard on there.

You did, and it looks excellent!

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Re: NGD - Cabronita Thinline Telecaster

Post by MKR » Tue Feb 04, 2020 8:06 am

fantastic!

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