Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

[Butch Snyder]

Hi all,

I have a Fender Classic Player Baja Tele and I would like to install a set of Vintage Stack pickups. I use a lot of effects and the hum is really amplified. Normally, this would be an easy change; but my Tele has a 4-way switch as well as an S1 switch. See the drawing below.



I need to know where to connect the wires; especially where the 4-way switch is concerned.

Thanks, in advance.

[Scott Miller]

Re: Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

Okay....based on the diagram above, here is what you do:

NECK pickup:
Put the Duncan black wire where the Fender yellow wire is.
Put the Duncan green wire where the Fender black wire is.
Put the Duncan red & white wires together (solder them together and tape them off)
Put the Duncan bare wire to ground on the back (or side) of one of the pots.

BRIDGE pickup:
Put the Duncan black wire where the Fender white wire is.
Put the Duncan red & white wires together (solder them together and tape them off)
Put the Duncan green & bare to ground on the back of one of the pots.

That should do it.

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

Okay....based on the diagram above, here is what you do:

NECK pickup:
Put the Duncan black wire where the Fender yellow wire is.
Put the Duncan green wire where the Fender black wire is.
Put the Duncan red & white wires together (solder them together and tape them off)
Put the Duncan bare wire to ground on the back (or side) of one of the pots.

BRIDGE pickup:
Put the Duncan black wire where the Fender white wire is.
Put the Duncan red & white wires together (solder them together and tape them off)
Put the Duncan green & bare to ground on the back of one of the pots.

That should do it.

Thanks Scott. That's awesome! So, the bare wire on the neck pickup basically acts as the cover's ground?

[JOLLY]

Re: Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

it doesn't get much better than that for an explanation

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

I ordered a set of Vintage Stacks (STK-T3b/STK-T1n) and am very excited to install them. They are among my very favorite pickups. I have been without Seymour Duncan pickups for far too long; basically using stock pickups or experimenting with some DiMarzios. It will be nice to be back in the family of actual Duncan pickup users. I have used the Vintage Stacks a few times and loved them every time.

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Fender Baja Tele and Vintage Stacks

Received the pickups yesterday; installed and adjusted the heights. They are just as great as I remembered from previous sets I have owned. I hadn't owned a set in a while though and I instantly noticed a couple of differences sonically. From an output perspective, they are about the same as the stock pickups I removed. They are warmer and fuller-sounding than the stock pickups. I need to adjust my amp a bit. The wiring Scott Miller advised was correct. The interesting thing is that before, in pos. 2 (both pickups in parallel) with the S1 engaged, I got this cool Strat quack kind of like a Jerry Donahue Tele. With the Vintage Stacks, it's there but less and more of that out-of-phase "honk". It still works though.