Mini-Humbuckers with 1Meg Ohm Pots

[Butch Snyder]

I have a 2019 Deluxe Nashville Tele. It has the basic setup of Vintage Noiseless Tele pickups with a Vintage Noiseless Strat pickup in the middle. Came stock with 1Meg ohm volume and tone pots. The pickups sound great to me. Even though it sound good, I'd like to replace the neck pickup with a mini-humbucker. Not sure about 1Meg ohm pots with a mini-humbucker though.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

The only experience I have with those was in a Jaguar. Yeah, they make the pickups sound a little brighter than typical, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

 

[hamerfan]

You don't need a new pot. You can just add 1 meg resistor at the switch to have an overall 500k resistance just for the mini humbucker.

 

[Benjy_26]

I like my SM-1 equipped tele with 250k pots and use 500k pots with the minis in Gibson style guitars. I don't think a firebird style mini at the neck would be too bright with 1 meg pots. If it is, you could probably add some resistors to the circuit to make the mini hb "see" different pot values.

 

[Teleplayer]

I wonder if it would be worth swapping the volume control for a 500k. The bridge pickup will be slightly darker, but there will be less treble loss when rolling off the volume.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Don't call it a mini humbucker, call it a Tele single coil sized humbucker, or the pedants will be all over you like a rash

 

[Clint 55]

I've never found any pickup with a bit of wire on it to be overly bright in the neck spot regardless of 1 meg. It would just be your preference of pot.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Hey Butch, haven't seen you post for awhile...then again, I haven't been on the forum regularly lately myself.

Specifically, which pup are you planning on putting into the neck?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Don't call it a mini humbucker, call it a Tele single coil sized humbucker, or the pedants will be all over you like a rash

Do you have to work at being obnoxious or does it just come naturally? It's possible that he's putting in a Tele single sized humbucker, but it IS also possible that he really is going to put a mini humbucker in the neck, like the SM-1 referred to. It's always better to ask first before responding instead of just assuming, so you can get your facts straight so the pendants won't be all over you like a rash.

 

[jeremy]

personally, i dont like 1M pots for most things, i prefer a little less top which 500k or 250k gives me.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Humbucking options for Teles, assuming standard body routing and a standard pickguard, are fairly limited.

I've used a Fender Gen4 noiseless in my MIM and a SD Vintage Stack in one of my DIYs. I put a Hotrails set in a second DIY.

The Fender Noiseless are kind of "Marmite" pickups. You either love the "noiseless-ness" or hate the tone.

The Vintage Stack sounds good,, but may be a little genteel. It coil splits though, which may or may not be a requirement.

The Hotrails are anything but subtle. 10.9 kOhm, ceramic magnets, over-wound coils, etc. They too will coil split, however.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

What I would do is change the pot(s) and or the tone cap first, however, as these are by far and away the cheaper options.

Then, if you decide you want to, go ahead and change the pickup(s).

You can also consider a 4-way switch and or using push-pulls to coil split your humbuckers.

 

[jeremy]

nashville teles have three pups. usually normal tele pups neck and bridge with a strat pup in the middle so a 4 way isnt the best option. i believe that butch is talking about putting a firebird/lp dlx style minihumbucker in the neck ala brent mason and tons of others (even me) instead of the typical tele pup. is that right butch?

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

nashville teles have three pups. usually normal tele pups neck and bridge with a strat pup in the middle so a 4 way isnt the best option. i believe that butch is talking about putting a firebird/lp dlx style minihumbucker in the neck ala brent mason and tons of others (even me) instead of the typical tele pup. is that right butch?

My bad

 

[GuitarDoc]

Butch isn't responding because he is having too much fun playing his N. Tele with that mini in the neck.

BTW, I love Butch's tone, whatever Tele/pup he is playing.

Hey Butch, when you get a chance, please post some clips of your N Tele with the mini.