spaceprophet
New member
Long time lurker, first time poster.
I've been hanging around this forum for years but I've never really felt the need to start an account and post anything, because the answers have always been there for me already, in one thread or another. I've learned pretty much all I know about pickups, magnets, tonewoods, pots and capacitors just from browsing this forum. Special shouts out to Lewguitar, Aceman, blueman335 and the guy who invented fire. Your knowledge and experience is invaluable.
Anyways, to the topic at hand: I'm looking at upgrading the pickups in my recently acquired 2017 MIM Tele (maple neck and fretboard, alder body). I've already replaced the bridge and the electronics, and now it's time to rip the pickups out. I'm very, very tempted to go for a setup with a neck humbucker.
I already have a 4-way switch in there, so I figured I'd want to go with a wiring that allows me to split said neck humbucker and give me the following:
Position 1: bridge only
Position 2: bridge and neck humbucker
Position 3: neck split
Position 4: neck humbucker
I've found a diagram that's in the ballpark of what I want to do, except the second position has the neck pickup split instead of in full humbucking mode.
So, my question is - how would I have to wire it all up to get the above configuration, if at all possible?
Now, on to the pickups themselves.
I had an SH-1n and an STL-1 in an ash Squier a while ago and while I did dig the concept, those pickups didn't really cut it for that application and I eventually sold the guitar on. The bridge pickup sounded great on its own but was a little bit too weak and lacking in the mids compared to the neck pickup, which in turn was too dark to play anything but bluesy leads. I tried disconnecting it from the tone pot which got me the treble I wanted, but the volume mismatch was still there and I missed being able to roll the edge off for the bloozier stuff.
Right now, I'm leaning towards an SH-2n Jazz for the neck position and an STL-1b Broadcaster for the bridge position. The Jazz is supposed to work well with 250k pots and reportedly has a decent split sound, while the Broadcaster ups both the output and the mids compared to the '54 and should be able to balance a humbucker, at least in theory (yeah, I know resistance doesn't equal output - one of the first things you learn here!
).
I think I'm pretty much set on the Broadcaster based on the demos I've heard, but I'm still open to suggestions when it comes to the neck humbucker. However, the application limits the options - it has to be bright enough for chord playing even with 250k pots, it has to be splittable, and it has to sound good split.
Would an Alnico II Pro work? I understand they're supposed to be slightly more articulate than your average vintage style A2 humbucker, but is it enough? What are they like when split?
Or perhaps a Pearly Gates?
Hit me!
I've been hanging around this forum for years but I've never really felt the need to start an account and post anything, because the answers have always been there for me already, in one thread or another. I've learned pretty much all I know about pickups, magnets, tonewoods, pots and capacitors just from browsing this forum. Special shouts out to Lewguitar, Aceman, blueman335 and the guy who invented fire. Your knowledge and experience is invaluable.
Anyways, to the topic at hand: I'm looking at upgrading the pickups in my recently acquired 2017 MIM Tele (maple neck and fretboard, alder body). I've already replaced the bridge and the electronics, and now it's time to rip the pickups out. I'm very, very tempted to go for a setup with a neck humbucker.
I already have a 4-way switch in there, so I figured I'd want to go with a wiring that allows me to split said neck humbucker and give me the following:
Position 1: bridge only
Position 2: bridge and neck humbucker
Position 3: neck split
Position 4: neck humbucker
I've found a diagram that's in the ballpark of what I want to do, except the second position has the neck pickup split instead of in full humbucking mode.
So, my question is - how would I have to wire it all up to get the above configuration, if at all possible?
Now, on to the pickups themselves.
I had an SH-1n and an STL-1 in an ash Squier a while ago and while I did dig the concept, those pickups didn't really cut it for that application and I eventually sold the guitar on. The bridge pickup sounded great on its own but was a little bit too weak and lacking in the mids compared to the neck pickup, which in turn was too dark to play anything but bluesy leads. I tried disconnecting it from the tone pot which got me the treble I wanted, but the volume mismatch was still there and I missed being able to roll the edge off for the bloozier stuff.
Right now, I'm leaning towards an SH-2n Jazz for the neck position and an STL-1b Broadcaster for the bridge position. The Jazz is supposed to work well with 250k pots and reportedly has a decent split sound, while the Broadcaster ups both the output and the mids compared to the '54 and should be able to balance a humbucker, at least in theory (yeah, I know resistance doesn't equal output - one of the first things you learn here!
).I think I'm pretty much set on the Broadcaster based on the demos I've heard, but I'm still open to suggestions when it comes to the neck humbucker. However, the application limits the options - it has to be bright enough for chord playing even with 250k pots, it has to be splittable, and it has to sound good split.
Would an Alnico II Pro work? I understand they're supposed to be slightly more articulate than your average vintage style A2 humbucker, but is it enough? What are they like when split?
Or perhaps a Pearly Gates?
Hit me!
