Wiring a nashville tele for the first time.....what should I do?

[BigRedCaboose]

Hi all!

So electric guitar isn't my number one forte as I play acoustic 90% of the time. Regardless of that, I'm building my first partscaster and I'm a bit clueless as to where I need to start with pickups + wiring. Before I started looking into the Nashville setup, I knew I wanted something with the classic tele sound (punchy, twangy classic country stuff....think something like Buck Owens) so I figured the best match and tone for me is the Broadcaster set. The Nashville style fascinates me, and like the idea of how adaptive it can be. Question is.....where the heck do I start? It's been a little overwhelming trying to figure out which pups match with what, which pots to add with what, where to wire everything, matching outputs.....etc. etc.

From what I've read, the standard way nash teles are wired goes as this: bridge / bridge + mid / mid + neck / bridge + neck / neck. Maybe it might be different, but the same basic layout stands. If it were possible, I would love to add the direct-to-jack bridge position, similar to what an Esquire has. I'm not extremely worried about having to have bridge + mid / mid + neck, so what would y'all suggest? Could a push/pull pot that would engage the mid work?

One more question: since I prefer the broadcaster pup set for the bridge + neck, what strat pup would best accommodate them for the middle? I personally like the sound of the antiquity strat texas hot pups, but I'm not sure if those would coexist well with the broadcasters.

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Blille]

Welcome!

Given that it's your first I would go simple and think of it as a Strat with two knobs. There's a lot of fancy stuff out there, I have a Nashville with 7 sounds I love, but it may be too much. Unless you're going to have someone solder it for you.

You also want 250k pots, like the ones that come standard in a tele and a normal 5 way switch like the ones that come standard in strats. And the antiquity should be fine.

With this wiring what you lose is the classic tele neck + bridge position. An easy way to work around that is to swap the neck and middle pickups in the wiring. So you would have

bridge
b+neck
Neck
N+middle
Middle

And you lose the bridge + middle position instead of the bridge + neck.

An alternative is to keep the 3 way switch and to engage the middle via a push pull or mini switch. What you miss here is the middle only position:

To go straight to bridge you would need to install a "blower switch" like this:

For that you would need one of your switches to be push pull. More details here: https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/guitar-wiring-explored-adding-a-blower-switch

That said I would stay away if I were you and would keep it simple. The tele cavity gets full quickly.

Have fun!

 

[Mincer]

For a middle pickup, the Texas Special would work, but you'd have to swap out the hot and ground as SD's pickups are out of phase with Fender. Another good choice is the Five Two, which is a great traditional Strat pickup that blends well with the Broadcaster set.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Are you totally sold on the Nashville setup? My Tele is a Tele Plus that was setup like that, and I never liked having the Strat pickup in there. Kinda weird, since I love the middle on a Strat.

I ended up pulling the middle pickup, and added a 4 way switch. That gives the normal 3 positions, plus bridge and neck in series. It sounds like a fatter version of the bridge, and it blows my mind that all Teles aren’t wired this way.

It’s an extremely straightforward wiring setup, doesn’t compromise any of the classic Tele sounds, and adds an equally useful one.

 

[Chistopher]

I'd say go with the traditional Nashville Strat wiring. As for pickups, 5/2 is good for the middle.

One big question to ask is what do you think of the Tele neck pickup? I usually prefer humbuckers instead of the standard one they have in there.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Chances are you'll only be able to fit one push-pull. You can use that for a blower switch or a bridge plus neck, and, by extension, bridge plus middle plus neck in parallel in P2. Other options may exist, I don't know.

Alternatively you could fit an S1 switch, which opens up a whole new can of worms, options wise, but I would keep it simple.

 

[alex1fly]

Yeah Broadcaster pickups are fun. The ones I've used have a sound that's thicker than a regular single coil, thinner than a humbucker. A beautiful middle ground.

Nashville Teles generally have a regular 'ol Strat pickup in the middle. If you go this route, look at the polepieces of the Strat pickup. I'd probably want flat polepieces, rather than staggered, because the Broadcaster pickups have flat polepieces. It'll say in the pickup description, and you can kind of tell by looking at the photos.

 

[64 Tele]

I've got a Deluxe Nashville (2006). I missed the neck/bridge combination like a standard Tele.
After doing some research on line, I ended up picking up a Fender SuperSwitch that allowed the middle position to have neck/bridge, kept all the rest of the positions like a stock 5 way Deluxe Nashville switch. I never used the middle pickup alone position like stock switching.
I went with a set of SD Alnico Pro 2 pickups (including the middle that I swapped to SD Pro 2 Strat pickup).
In hindsight, the Tex Mex Fender pickups were pretty darn good, and I could have lived with the stock ones.

 

[alex1fly]

My favorite Strat single is the SSL-6. A little beefier than standard but still very classic sounding.