Telecaster rewire (series content!)

[the guy who invented fire]

Well, on the heels of rewiring my Esquire with a nice set of PiO caps and using the Eldred wiring I finally got around to redoing my Telecaster...

I put pickups in it in 2004 and haven't opened it up since then but after 9 years of blood sweat and beers the pots, switch and even jack were toast so I decided to try something a little different.

The pickups in that guitar are the Custom Shop 53 Tapped Tele Guitar Shop spec set and I wired mine like Seymour did for Jeff Beck and as he suggested when I bought them...with a 5 way switch.

1-bridge full output
2-bridge pull output + neck
3-neck
4-tapped bridge + neck
5-tapped neck
Master volume and tone

This is a fine set up and I've been very happy with it for 9 years but I have to say, I think my wiring is better!

I set it up with a 4 way switch for series/parallel, many Tele players are familiar with this. It adds a 4th position that is both pickups wires in series making it essentially a single humbucker with a rather wide magnetic field.

This still left me with the coil tap on the bridge pickup...I wired that to a push/pull pot.

While I was at it I put a no load tone pot in where the original tone control was as well as a NOS Russian Paper in Oil cap, new Switchcraft jack and all new cloth wire.

The wiring is amazing...

I've got 4 positions

1-neck + bridge in series
2-neck
3-neck + bridge in parallel
4-bridge

Then you pull the volume control out and you get the full output of the bridge pickup. adding new sounds to positions 1, 3 and 4 plus I can bypass the tone control with the no load pot.

All in all really amazing set up and I have to say the series set up SMOKES...it's nice and fat and articulate...great for playing nasty slide stuff with!

I know Seymour really likes the Beck style 5 position wiring but I think this should be looked at...you do have to add a wire to the neck pickup but I think the results are so worth the extra work!!!

The ONLY issue I have is I didn't want to use a push/pull for the volume pot but it worked out alright, I just knew there was no way to find a push/pull, no load, 250k solid shaft pot!

[MetalManiac]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

I always just buy prewired harnesses.I dont have the skill to go from scratch. I'll look for somthing like that one, that looks good.

[AniML]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

Sounds great. Try the "Arlo cocked wah" in place of the Eldred. it is more of a mid pass and has a much more vowely / quacky sound

You just need a .005uf cap to ground and send the signal through a .01uF cap and a 3.3K resistor, in series

diagram credit - phostenixwiringdiagrams (you can also wire it on a push pull or any DPDT switch)

[tonechaser]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

That's right up my alley. I've got a simmilar set up with pair of Klein Tri-state pups. The pups are running through mini toggles though because they are tapped twice and I don't have the no load. I used dual concentric pots so I could blend in different amounts of neck/bridge in the 2+4 positions. Well your 1+3 positions.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

Well...it's late and I'm wiped out but short post gig report of this Tele wiring.

WOW...SMOKIN'!

I love it...I lost NOTHING but gained a few very cool other sounds and it's not full of switches and crap to have to remember.

I think all Tele players should look into this set up...at least the series part!

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

As for tweaking the Esquire again, I think I'm gonna leave it as-is. It's not an additional sound I'll use all the time but it's a really cool sound.

Tonechaser: Your set up might be more complex but it'll work...I really like this series thing on mine right now!

The new might wear off in a few weeks but for now I'm really knocked out by it!

[Lazarus1140]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

I don't have the additional tonal options available with the no-load pot and coil tap, but I am sold on 4-Way switch for Tele. I am mixing a JD bridge with a Phat Cat neck and the parallel and series combinations are killer .... particularly the series combo. It is bright, articulate, and absolutely begs to scream. The unexpected benefit is that it doesn't have that wide open sound you would anticipate because of the space between the two magnetic fields. The sound is tight and full and retains the perfect dose of Tele bridge pup bite.

[Simon_F]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

Cool stuff. I put a 4-way switch in my Tele just last week and am digging the series combination too!

WOW...SMOKIN'!...... just about sums it up!

[Lewguitar]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

Jerry Donahue does it.

One of my favorite players too. Loved his stuff since the early 70's when I heard him with Sandy Denny and Fotheringay.

I've got a Custom Shop Jerry Donahue and Fralin Vintage Hot Strat neck pickup in my gigging Tele. Long as I wouldn't lose any part of the three selector switch tones I'm getting from that guitar right now, I'd be willing to try a 4 way switch and see what all the excitement is about. Maybe I will.

Most of us are using a set with one pickup RW/RP relative to the other pickup. And that's a must for the series option to work...at least from what I understand about humbucking pickups.

[tonechaser]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

[QUOTE=Tonechaser: Your set up might be more complex but it'll work...I really like this series thing on mine right now![/QUOTE]

There's kind of a lot going on in my setup but it works great. The hardest part was fitting all of the hardware and wiring on a standard control plate without turning it into a cluster ***k. I didn't want to do any more routing on the body. It's very tight inside the control cavity but it all fit even with a parallel treble on both pups. It's in the guitar in my pic. BTW the series option does rock.

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

The neck pickup doesn't have to be RW/RP to work in series mode but if you are running a typical Telecaster neck pickup you do have to lift the ground from the pickup cover with a 3rd wire.

It's a very cool deal Lew and no, you do not loose anything you have in a typical Tele set up...I used the schematic form Duncans diagram list and just changed it for the coil tap.

With that schematic the bridge position is the same, the next up is the middle position on a typical Tele, the next setting up is the neck alone setting and the last position is the 2 pickups in series.

A nice, high quality 4 way switch can be had for $12 bucks give or take and it's well worth it!

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

There's kind of a lot going on in my setup but it works great. The hardest part was fitting all of the hardware and wiring on a standard control plate without turning it into a cluster ***k. I didn't want to do any more routing on the body. It's very tight inside the control cavity but it all fit even with a parallel treble on both pups. It's in the guitar in my pic. BTW the series option does rock.

Tell me about it...I didn't think about it my my Telecaster is a Highway One, those are not routed like vintage (style) Telecasters...there is a raised place in the middle of the control cavity and I was over half done wiring it up when I realized I'd have to do away with that before I could fit the push/pull pot in there...

Been a long time since I'd taken a flat blade screwdriver and a hammer to a guitar but it always works!

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster rewire (series content!)

I couldn't imagine going without the series option on my Tele. SD Broadcaster in the bridge/Fralin Blues Special in the neck...