Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

St_Genesius

New member
Or are SD just not allowed to post it on their site (per the FAQs)? Have any of you reproduced it? Would discussion of its specifics here by non-SD employees constitute a violation of whatever agreement SD has with Fender?
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

go around your nieghboorhood and ask people, thats the public.
(BTW i dont even know who Jerry Donahue is, i had a teacher 2 years ago names Mrs. Donahue....)
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

Nite_Maresz_25 said:
go around your nieghboorhood and ask people, thats the public.
(BTW i dont even know who Jerry Donahue is, i had a teacher 2 years ago names Mrs. Donahue....)

Jerry is one bada** country player. Go pick up the Hellecasters' album "Return of the Hellecasters". It's him, Will Ray and John Jorgensen. Freakin' amazing playing, all instrumental.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

+1 on that.

I don't know jack about how he wires those G and L's.......but that guy can play his butt off. Coming from a rock and metal guy, I really dig the hellecasters. I know it's redundant but they're that cool. Hopefully someone knows the scoop, now I'm curious as well.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

I remember Phil "is the caller there?" Donahue...
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

are you wondering what the wiring scheme is, or just the legal matters?
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

It didn't occur to me that there might be any confusion over what or who I was talking about. It seems to me that others have already done a pretty good job of the who, here's the available info on the what, from the SD FAQ:

Can you give me the wiring diagram for the Jerry Donahue Tele®?
At Fender's® request, the JD Tele® schematic is not available for publication. In the meantime, for your reference, here are the selector switch specifications:
Position ONE:
The neck (Strat®) pickup with the tone circuit OUT, affording a clearer, brighter tone to compensate for the inherent dullness normally found in this position. The result: a lead guitar sound that echoes the blues shadings of Clapton, Hendrix, etc.
Position TWO:
The neck (Strat®) pickup with the tone circuit IN, allowing the guitarist to soften the tone for rhythm or mellow leads, as per a stock Tele rhythm pickup.
Position THREE:
The neck and bridge pickups are in the standard stock parallel wiring with the tone circuit IN, enhancing the customary Tele® sound.
Position FOUR:
By combining both pickups with a capacitor and resistor in a controlled degree of reversed phase, the guitar offers a bell-like, rich tone that echoes the classic Strat® sound. Until now, this sound could only be obtained by the use of the bridge and middle pickups on a typical Strat.
Position FIVE:
An updated stock-style bridge pickup with symmetrically staggered pole pieces for great string balance and a special wind for increased sustain. It captures that great old Tele® lead sound that launched post-War popular music in America, and has the same gutsy, "punchy" tone of Jerry's prized '52 Tele®.
By the way, the Fender® Custom Shop Jerry Donahue Signature model uses a Seymour Duncan APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue Model bridge pickup and an APS-2 Vintage Flat pickup for Strat® in the neck position. In any event, the wiring is fairly complex and the key to the Strat® sound is using a Strat® pickup in the neck position. Sorry we can not provide any more detailed information.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

MikeF said:
+1 on that.

I don't know jack about how he wires those G and L's.......but that guy can play his butt off. Coming from a rock and metal guy, I really dig the hellecasters. I know it's redundant but they're that cool. Hopefully someone knows the scoop, now I'm curious as well.

He's a nice guy too. I got to meet him and chat for a bit at GC in San Jose back in the 90's. He did a clinic for the morely direct preamp. He was using it himself at the time. Got my Hellecaster CD's autographed too.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

St_Genesius said:
It didn't occur to me that there might be any confusion over what or who I was talking about. It seems to me that others have already done a pretty good job of the who, here's the available info on the what, from the SD FAQ:

Can you give me the wiring diagram for the Jerry Donahue Tele®?
At Fender's® request, the JD Tele® schematic is not available for publication. In the meantime, for your reference, here are the selector switch specifications:
Position ONE:
The neck (Strat®) pickup with the tone circuit OUT, affording a clearer, brighter tone to compensate for the inherent dullness normally found in this position. The result: a lead guitar sound that echoes the blues shadings of Clapton, Hendrix, etc.
Position TWO:
The neck (Strat®) pickup with the tone circuit IN, allowing the guitarist to soften the tone for rhythm or mellow leads, as per a stock Tele rhythm pickup.
Position THREE:
The neck and bridge pickups are in the standard stock parallel wiring with the tone circuit IN, enhancing the customary Tele® sound.
Position FOUR:
By combining both pickups with a capacitor and resistor in a controlled degree of reversed phase, the guitar offers a bell-like, rich tone that echoes the classic Strat® sound. Until now, this sound could only be obtained by the use of the bridge and middle pickups on a typical Strat.
Position FIVE:
An updated stock-style bridge pickup with symmetrically staggered pole pieces for great string balance and a special wind for increased sustain. It captures that great old Tele® lead sound that launched post-War popular music in America, and has the same gutsy, "punchy" tone of Jerry's prized '52 Tele®.
By the way, the Fender® Custom Shop Jerry Donahue Signature model uses a Seymour Duncan APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue Model bridge pickup and an APS-2 Vintage Flat pickup for Strat® in the neck position. In any event, the wiring is fairly complex and the key to the Strat® sound is using a Strat® pickup in the neck position. Sorry we can not provide any more detailed information.

Ok so we have the results, now we need the brain to put it together....where is Artie?

Luke
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

Luke Duke said:
Ok so we have the results, now we need the brain to put it together....where is Artie?

Luke

By coincidence, I did a Google search, found that same site, copy and pasted it, and am "analyzing" it as we speak. :laugh2:

Everything but position #4 is dirt simple, and I'm guessing that the phrase "controlled degree of reversed phase" is just code for a simple strategically placed RC network. (Thats a cap and a resistor for non-techies.) :)

I'm chewing on it.

Artie
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

ErikH said:
He's a nice guy too. I got to meet him and chat for a bit at GC in San Jose back in the 90's. He did a clinic for the morely direct preamp. He was using it himself at the time. Got my Hellecaster CD's autographed too.

Very cool! Is that San Jose CA?

Would have loved to see that. If that's the Ca. one I've been there. Ten years ago that was a pretty decent store, not like most these days. Ever been to Guitar Showcase?

Sorry for the hijack.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

ErikH said:
Jerry is one bada** country player. Go pick up the Hellecasters' album "Return of the Hellecasters". It's him, Will Ray and John Jorgensen. Freakin' amazing playing, all instrumental.
If it's country then I'm gonna have to pass, sorry. But I can imagine that It's probably good playing(as much as i hate saysing ANYTHING good about country music) there are some pretty damn good country players out there.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

Don't judge country based on the crap they play on the radio. Hey, when I was 13, I hated country too, because even then Nashville was mining only the worst of the worst for comercial play. But dig even just a little and you'll find some truly great music.

Nite_Maresz_25 said:
If it's country then I'm gonna have to pass, sorry. But I can imagine that It's probably good playing(as much as i hate saysing ANYTHING good about country music) there are some pretty damn good country players out there.
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

dont know what this means "and to be honest, i never really read it" but this is what i found:

"According to the Fender schematic for the U.S. Jerry Donahue model,
this is how the pickups are connected to achieve a "Strat-like" sound
(when the 5-position switch is in position #4 or second from Bridge-end).
Note that the two pickups are wired out of phase.
donahue2.bmp

I suppose the two resistor values could be tweaked in order to
balance the relative levels of each pickup, depending on what kind
of pickups you're using. I have tried these same values (actually
5.6k for the resistors) in my Tele, which has a Duncan Hot Tele bridge
PU (I'm using the tapped output, which gives about the same sound and
output as a stock Tele bridge PU) and a Rio Grande Strat PU in the neck
position, which sounds very similar to a stock "vintage" Strat PU but
has a higher output. I don't think using the stock Tele neck PU would
give very good results, but I may be wrong.

The sound is quite similar to a vintage Strat in the bridge+middle
"in-between" position, but of course not exactly like it, so that if you
have a choice and it's really the Strat sound you want, you will want to
use the Strat. But if you only want to bring one guitar along, the Tele
with this configuration will do a pretty good job. Besides, the sound
is nice in its own right. It's basically the sound heard in "King Arthur's
Dream" on the first Hellecasters CD. It's interesting to compare it to the
same song on JD's album "Telecasting", where I'm 99% sure he used a Strat.

It is possible to order the JD switch from Fender, but it costs something
like $45, I'm told.

I think this will clarify the matter. BTW, the resistors don't seem to be
necessary, or have minimal effect."
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

Well that's a bit different than my guess that I sent to Lew, maybe he could test both and see. Then again, I went only from what was described in the SD text. :rolleyes:
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

nepalnt21 said:

That diagram makes the "controlled degree of reversed phase" comment make perfect sense. They've got the two pups wired out-of-phase. Now normally, that would mean the the lower frequencies would cancel, with diminishing amounts of cancellation occuring as you moved up the frequency spectrum. Since the cap on the neck pup blocks the lower hz, you'ld end up with the bass from the bridge. Then as the hz moved up towards midrange you'ld start to get some cancellation. As you continued up, you'ld get less cancellation since the high-frequencies never are in phase to begin with. Especially given the difference between neck and bridge positions.

So, you'ld end up with a psuedo-scooped midrange. ;)

That would be an interesting technique to try with several different pup combo's.

Artie
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

St_Genesius said:
Don't judge country based on the crap they play on the radio. Hey, when I was 13, I hated country too, because even then Nashville was mining only the worst of the worst for comercial play. But dig even just a little and you'll find some truly great music.


Spend some time listening to Chet Atkins, Mele Travis , Jerry Reed and the Like. Thes guys will bring most shredders to there knees begging for mercy :)
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

Nite_Maresz_25 said:
If it's country then I'm gonna have to pass, sorry. But I can imagine that It's probably good playing(as much as i hate saysing ANYTHING good about country music) there are some pretty damn good country players out there.

It's not country per se, but it ain't metal!

Luke
 
Re: Is the Jerry Donahue wiring scheme truly a mystery to the public?

I have the wiring diagram on my work laptop which I can get to tomorrow. I'll post it then...
 
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