New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

[Lewguitar]

This wiring may already exist somewhere but I've never seen it...I thought of it when I was at about 11000 ft. yesterday climbing Meadow Mountain (across from 14255 ft. Long's Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.)

Alot of guys have Tele's with a neck humbucking pickup. My James Burton Tele is already routed for one. I'm going to install one so I can get a little closer to Albert Collins tone. Maybe a 4 conductor 59N or Jazz or Seth Lover.

But here's the trick: USE A FIVE POSITION SWITCH.

Make the #3 posiiton the BRIDGE PICKUP by itself.

Make the #1 and #5 position the neck pickup...connect it to terminal #1 and run a jumper wire over to terminal #5.

Now, in positions #2 and #4 you'll have the neck and bridge pickups combined.

HERE'S THE TRICK: attach the red and white wires from the neck humbucker to terminal #1 on the other side of the 5 way switch (remember: it is TWO COMPLETE SWITCHES...one on each side!) and the output of that second side to ground!

Now, the humbucker will be split when the switch is in position #1 and #2.

So you'll have:

1. neck single coil
2. neck single coil and bridge pickup
3. bridge pickup
4. neck humbucking and bridge pickup
5. neck humbucking.

Pretty Cool huh?

Maybe Seymour has already thought of it... :smack:

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: New Tele wiring! HB & Single Coil...

Re: New Tele wiring! HB & Single Coil...

This wiring could easily be adapted to a STRATOCASTER with a bridge humbucker.

You'd wire it exactly as above.

Then you'd add the middle pickup to any of the 5 switch setting with a BLENDER POT.

You'd have 10 great Strat tones available without altering the looks of your Strat.

Master volume, master tone and blender pot to add the middle pickup.

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

I was also thinking that the Tele could be further tweaked by replacing the stock tone control with one with a push/pull switch to switch the humbucker from series to parallel. If done right, it'd be like a parallel overide switch!

The other thing that could be done is to use 500K pots and make one pot a push/pull switch that would put a 500K resistor in parallel with the volume pot and another 500K in parallel with the tone pot to make them function as if they were 250K pots.

Since the Jerry Donahue lead pickup in my James Burton could stand to be a little brighter, when I install the neck humbucker in this guitar I'm going to try 500K pots anyway...

Lew

 

[mongrollo]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

A pretty good idea, I have to reconice it....

Congrats, Lew!!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Reconice it? Thanks! (I guess... ) What English word were you going for? I can't speak any Spanish, by the way, so you're way ahead of me! Lew

 

[mongrollo]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Oh! Sorry! It was a home-made word that it is very similar to a spannish one. The correct one should be:

A pretty good idea, I have to admit...

Now I think it is right!

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

This wiring may already exist somewhere but I've never seen it...I thought of it when I was at about 11000 ft. yesterday climbing Meadow Mountain (across from 14255 ft. Long's Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.)

Alot of guys have Tele's with a neck humbucking pickup. My James Burton Tele is already routed for one. I'm going to install one so I can get a little closer to Albert Collins tone. Maybe a 4 conductor 59N or Jazz or Seth Lover.

But here's the trick: USE A FIVE POSITION SWITCH.

Make the #3 posiiton the BRIDGE PICKUP by itself.

Make the #1 and #5 position the neck pickup...connect it to terminal #1 and run a jumper wire over to terminal #5.

Now, in positions #2 and #4 you'll have the neck and bridge pickups combined.

HERE'S THE TRICK: attach the red and white wires from the neck humbucker to terminal #1 on the other side of the 5 way switch (remember: it is TWO COMPLETE SWITCHES...one on each side!) and the output of that second side to ground!

Now, the humbucker will be split when the switch is in position #1 and #2.

So you'll have:

1. neck single coil
2. neck single coil and bridge pickup
3. bridge pickup
4. neck humbucking and bridge pickup
5. neck humbucking.

Pretty Cool huh?

Maybe Seymour has already thought of it... :smack:

Lew

Fender's got that on their Hot Rodded Fat Tele, but the switch positions are different, they use a 2P5T switch, but it's independent throws (not shared like a normal 2P5T that we are used to ...ala strat) ... I can't remember their order though.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele wiring! HB & Single Coil...

Re: New Tele wiring! HB & Single Coil...

This wiring could easily be adapted to a STRATOCASTER with a bridge humbucker.

You'd wire it exactly as above.

Then you'd add the middle pickup to any of the 5 switch setting with a BLENDER POT.

You'd have 10 great Strat tones available without altering the looks of your Strat.

Master volume, master tone and blender pot to add the middle pickup.

Lew

Now this, I like ... That's a very versatile set-up, that doesn't get in it's own way (so to speak) . Cool!

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

The other thing that could be done is to use 500K pots and make one pot a push/pull switch that would put a 500K resistor in parallel with the volume pot and another 500K in parallel with the tone pot to make them function as ....

Lew

Only thing here is, and I posted a reply in regard to a query that was asked about the load resistor vs. taper issue. On the volume run from signal to ground it will work fine, on the tone though it will alter the taper of the pot, one solution might be to leave the tone pot alone, and if you have a .02uF cap, have the push/pull connected a ~500k resistor to another .01uF cap going to ground to simulate the action of a 250k pot. I'd have to verify that though Lew. The resistor on the tone pot will alter it's taper though.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Thanks Kent,

So how would one make a 500K tone pot function as if it were 250K?

Would putting a 500K resistor on the unused terminal (not the wiper) and then to ground do the trick?

Lew

 

[Artie]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Thanks Kent,

So how would one make a 500K tone pot function as if it were 250K?

Would putting a 500K resistor on the unused terminal (not the wiper) and then to ground do the trick?

Lew

Putting a 500k resistor in parallel with the tone pot would effectively make it a 250k. here's a couple calculations I did:

Tone setting resistance
full . . . . . . . . . 250k
3/4 . . . . . . . . 234.375k
1/2 . . . . . . . . 187.5k
1/4 . . . . . . . . 109.375k
0 . . . . . . . . . . 0

However, you would not want to place a resistor between the unused lug and ground, as that will just give you one more load to ground.

ie., if you had a 500k volume pot, with a 500k resistor in parallel, now add in the tone pot 500k to ground, you're total p'up load is: 200k.
Probably not what you want.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Thanks! I'm probably going to add a neck humbucker to my James Burton Tele. I like 500K pots with full size humbuckers. I'll probably use the Jerry Donahue Tele bridge pickup that's already in the guitar. It's a fairly warm pickup so I'm thinking maybe I'd like it with a 500K pot. But I was trying to figure out a way to make both 500K pots function as 250K pots just in case I don't like the JD pickup with 500K.

I had a Strat with overwound Fralin Blues Special pickups that sounded a little dull to me and lacking sparkle, with 250K pots. Changing to 500K pots gave the guitar the sparkle I prefer.

So maybe the JD pickup would sound fine with 500K pots anyway...it actually sounds fine with 250K pots. I just wouldn't mind a little more sparkle from it.

Thanks again! Lew

 

[Artie]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

One quick note: to make the math easier, I assumed a linear taper tone control above. Notice that adding the resistor in parallel gave it a bit of a "curve" or modified-taper. If you started with an audio taper pot, you'ld modify the taper even farther, but I'm not sure which direction. You could end up with an even steeper curve, or flatten out the original. :smack:

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Thanks Kent,

So how would one make a 500K tone pot function as if it were 250K?

Would putting a 500K resistor on the unused terminal (not the wiper) and then to ground do the trick?

Lew

Although I covered this in the *other* topic, you can't without effecting the taper, it will become a bit more linear-like as the high end will not start to roll off as quick as an audio ... *However the top (10) will be a 250k, so if you don't mind the taper changing a bit that will do you. * Really though, the only thing you are doing with a larger valued or smaller valued pot on a tone knob is increasing the amount ( or decreasing ) that the highs are kept away from ground. Now that will brighten things up a bit (or warm it up, going with a smaller value pot). Roughly speaking, a 500k-A tone pot will sound the same set at 7.5 as a 250k-A tone pot at 10 (with the same cap value); turning down from there they will cover the same range, and fall off at the same taper; however the 250k pot will have a bit *longer throw* to it's rotation.
I would have to check it, but I believe that a 500k pot @ 10 W/ a .02uF would sound the same as a 250k pot @ 10 W/ a .01uF cap. At ten of course, turned down they would sound different of course. The load on the pups by the volume pot wouldn't have anything to do with it what so ever, in other words the tone pot doesn't really damp the resonant peak of the pups like the volume pot value does ... It does however drain off more high end (per the same cap value), so many interpret that as being the same. I think the taper issue won't be that big of a deal Lew, a bit more linear when the resistor is added. If this interests others, then somebody stick it in the vault for when someone ask the question again in a month. The other related post wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

Putting a 500k resistor in parallel with the tone pot would effectively make it a 250k. here's a couple calculations I did:

Tone setting resistance
full . . . . . . . . . 250k
3/4 . . . . . . . . 234.375k
1/2 . . . . . . . . 187.5k
1/4 . . . . . . . . 109.375k
0 . . . . . . . . . . 0

However, you would not want to place a resistor between the unused lug and ground, as that will just give you one more load to ground.

ie., if you had a 500k volume pot, with a 500k resistor in parallel, now add in the tone pot 500k to ground, you're total p'up load is: 200k.
Probably not what you want.

I covered this, and on another topic also ... It would depend on whether or not the R is tied to the wiper and it's NOT a straight load ... the tone pot gets it's signal from the cap (or the cap only allows the highs to see ground), so the load is not straight across the board, it really doesn't load the signal, just bleeds off more or less highs ... not the same as a volume pot loading the signal, although it can warm up the signal ... But isn't the same.
There are three ways in which that resistor could be hooked CW:CCW; CW:W; W:CCW. These have various effects upon the taper of the pot though.
A standard two section approxiamation of the audio taper, which is what everyone sells just about, the stock resistance for a 500k is Full ... 500k, 3/4 ... 250k, 1/2 ... 50k, 1/4 ... 25k; Now take those and show me where you are putting the resistor, and how you are coming up with those numbers above.

 

[Kent S.]

Re: New Tele & Strat wiring! Humbuckers & Single Coils!

One quick note: to make the math easier, I assumed a linear taper tone control above. Notice that adding the resistor in parallel gave it a bit of a "curve" or modified-taper. If you started with an audio taper pot, you'ld modify the taper even farther, but I'm not sure which direction. You could end up with an even steeper curve, or flatten out the original. :smack:

Okay, even with a linear (assumming a resistor of 500k) taper ... a 500k pot will be full ... 500k/P/500k = 250k, 3/4... 375k/P/500k =~214k,1/2 ... 250k/P/500k = ~167k,1/4 ... 125k/P/500k = 100k. So I don't know where you are coming up with those numbers? These are idealized numbers though, not taking into account the tolerance and precision of an actual pot however ... as some can be pretty crappy. See my other posts on a related thread under question about pots. Or maybe this is an old posting, oh, well, kinda two of the same threads going on in two different titles.