Check this weird Tele wiring for me, please?

[Rich_S]

I'm not sure if this post is better here or in the Pickup Room, but here goes. I want to re-wire my Tele with two volume controls. I never use the tone, so it's just wasted. I mostly use my bridge pickup but also love the middle position, often turned down a bit to clean it up.

So, what I'd like to get is one volume pot for the bridge pickup alone, and the other controlling the volume of the neck pickup and the neck/bridge middle position. It's bit trickier than the typical 2-volume setup with a pot for each pickup, and the ability to mix them in the middle position.

Here's what I came up with; I think it works but I'd appreciate it if you wiring gurus could check it for me. The only downside I see is that the bridge volume pot is always connected between the pickup hot and ground, so it's loading the signal down in the middle position.

Comments?

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Check this weird Tele wiring for me, please?

I believe that your attempted wiring scheme has been implemented on some models of Cabronita Telecasters. So I would look into that. I don't know if it has the ability to have one pickup entirely without completly cutting output on both of them.

 

[gregory]

Re: Check this weird Tele wiring for me, please?

Loading down both pickups in the middle position can actually be a good thing since it can otherwise be too bright relative to the other positions. Though brighter when both pickups are on is usually desired if only because it's what people are used to hearing.

What are the pickups and what are the values of the pots?

You said you would always keep the tone control on 10, but unless it is no load it is still a acting very much like what you have in the middle position in your diagram. Without this loading when just one pickup is on it may be too bright.

Other than that the wiring is doing just as you've intended.

@Christopher: neither control is intended to do any blending.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Check this weird Tele wiring for me, please?

Ah, I missed the part where the neck volume also controls the middle position. Now that I have looked over it closer, it appears to work fine as intended.

Once you get your Tele wired up and play it for a while, could you let us know how you like the wiring? It looks good on paper, but it also seems like it could take some getting used to.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Check this weird Tele wiring for me, please?

A fellow Drexel U. guy over at the TDPRI offered this modification, which removes the loading of the bridge pot when the switch is in the middle position. I think I'll try it this way, since I like middle position tone I get now, with a single 250K pot and a no-load tone pot. BTW, the pickups are an STL-1 and an SM-3 minihumbucker. I'll stick with 250K pots since that's what's working for my in the present setup.