Johnson Tele upgrades

[es336td]

I have an old Johnson Tele... it looks nice (except the goofy headstock), plays nice, and sounds ok... I replaced the useless neck pickup with a GFS blade pickup; slight improvement. I want to now take an old Strat 5-way switch and get something similar to this (1 is all the way towards the neck and 5 is towards the bridge):

1 - neck pickup: pretty much as it is unless I can boost the output a bit.
2 - a combo of the neck & bridge that sounds similar to a Strat in the neck/middle position
3. - both pickups, as it is now.
4. - a combo of the neck & bridge that sounds similar to a Strat in the bridge/middle position
5 - the bridge pickup

Once I get this working, I want to upgrade to Duncan pickups. Favorite Tele players (in no particular order): Jerry Donahue, Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, Ray Flack, Jimmy Olander, Steve Wariner... and numerous others.
Thanx!

L

 

[Artie]

Re: Johnson Tele upgrades

Is this a traditional Tele configuration, with a neck and bridge single? If so, your #3 position is already as close as you can get to what you want in the #2 and #4 positions. Really, your only "good" choices are:

1. neck
2. neck & bridge (series)
3. neck and bridge (parallel)
4. bridge

. . . using a standard Fender Tele 4-way.

However, if you mod the bridge to take a full humbucker, I have a killer 5-way diagram in the works.

 

[prophetofthor]

Re: Johnson Tele upgrades

good read

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/triffic/index.php


5 position tele. . . .