Super Tele with 5 way switch and two "humbuckers"

Hi All, (first timer here)

I am upgrading my Satin MIM Tele.

Currently I have a Hot for Tele and Lil59 installed, but I have ordered a STK 1N instead for the neck, to have noiseless operation and being able to split the STK and 59 in various ways.

I saw this harness pre soldered on ebay from a "custom shop"in the US for 116AUD including shipping.

500k CTS brand, audio taper volume control
500k CTS brand linear taper tone control
treble bleed mod to allow all of your highs to pass to your signal when the volume is potted down
Sprague “Orange Drop” poly caps (2 of them) .047mfd & .022mfd values
5-way lever-style twin-pole "Super Switch"
Switchcraft mono input jack
vintage-style cloth-covered wire

Switch Position:

Position 1 (top): Neck humbucker full on
Position 2: Neck humbucker split to inner coil only
Position 3: Neck & bridge humbuckers, both full on
Position 4: Bridge humbucker split to inner coil only
Position 5: Bridge humbucker full on

In then asked to have the switching changed to this (to have noiseless in all five positions) which they will do at no extra charge.

1. Bridge humbucker full
2. Outer coils parallel - Neck (N) & Bridge (S)
3. Both humbuckers full
4. Inner coils parallel - Neck (s) & Bridge (n)
5. Neck Humbucker.


Should I buy the parts separately or is this a good price, compared to time and effort?

Thanks

It depends on your wallet.

If you are confident with your wiring and soldering abilities then parts should be a lot cheaper. If not, how much is your time, effort and possible frustration worth?

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

It depends on your wallet.

If you are confident with your wiring and soldering abilities then parts should be a lot cheaper. If not, how much is your time, effort and possible frustration worth?

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Well I am ok with the soldering etc. Its is more the time factor,sourcing the parts and so on. Also when I look at just the CTS pot alone i can see they are around 8 dollars, super switch nearly 30 and on, so I don't think I will be saving much.

Pretty much answered my own question here ;-)

Thanks for reply WeirdBits.

Welcome mate, sounds like a cool plan, enjoy

I reckon the initial Pickup selections would sound better as that would give you each PUP in single coil mode rather than parallel.

Another thought would be to run with the 2nd option and add in a couple of push/pull pots so that you can coil split independent of the 5 way switch.

Cheers, Waz

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

I reckon the initial Pickup selections would sound better as that would give you each PUP in single coil mode rather than parallel.

Another thought would be to run with the 2nd option and add in a couple of push/pull pots so that you can coil split independent of the 5 way switch.

Cheers, Waz

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Thanks Waz, Yes but then I am dealing with the dreaded hum and I really don't want that. I have a got a single coil Strat and PRS EG (korean) both with great singlecoil tones. Plus the STK is a nice sounding "singlecoil'... also I am not a purist for SC sounds ;-)

/Markus

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Originally Posted by stan

Welcome mate, sounds like a cool plan, enjoy

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Thanks Stan, it never ends doesnt it ;-)

I like your second option, I not long ago YTed the fender blacktop with two humbuckers and a 5 way switch and they were wired the same, I really like the way it sounded and was considering doing my scratchie the same.

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Originally Posted by D.K

I like your second option, I not long ago YTed the fender blacktop with two humbuckers and a 5 way switch and they were wired the same, I really like the way it sounded and was considering doing my scratchie the same.

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Thanks DK, it is actually (apart from the #3 position) a one for one old PRS custom 24 rotary switch setup. Always loved the tone of that old girl and flexibility in tonal variations.

AND no hum or anything ;-)

/Markus

And all ordered....

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Originally Posted by bruunm

Yes but then I am dealing with the dreaded hum and I really don't want that. /Markus

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Hi Markus, I have split Tonerider Alnico IV's in my EX-1 and being HB's there is no hum or unwanted noise when they are reduced down to the one coil. The split SC sound is not as sharp or bright as a Strat or Tele and in your option 2 above that way they should combine reasonably well to provide similar sound to middle position on a Tele. Tend to think it will be hard to pick the difference between positions 2 & 4 though, probably very subtle if any at all.

Cheers, Waz

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Hi Markus, I have split Tonerider Alnico IV's in my EX-1 and being HB's there is no hum or unwanted noise when they are reduced down to the one coil. The split SC sound is not as sharp or bright as a Strat or Tele and in your option 2 above that way they should combine reasonably well to provide similar sound to middle position on a Tele. Tend to think it will be hard to pick the difference between positions 2 & 4 though, probably very subtle if any at all.

Cheers, Waz

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Hi Waz,

Yes 2 & 4 will be veeeeery subtle. I used to have a '91 PRS Custom 24 and it had those selections out of (obviously) two full sized buckers. But from my experience I will only be using 1,3,5 and either 3 or 4 whichever sounds better. I just want to avoid hum at all cost, something I never dealt with before moving Aus from Europe, matter of fact I used to be disgusted with people that used noisecancelling pickups at all ;-)

Your stacked pickup doesn't have inner and outer coils. The second coil on it isn't wrapped round the magnets, so you'll get no sound! It's only there to provide hum cancelling. So what you are likely to get in positions 2 and 4 is one single coil + single coil in parallel, and one bridge single coil + hum cancelling coil sound. Since SD have stopped doing individual pickup wiring diagrams (boo!) it's a lot harder to check how individual pickups are wired and the only STK-T1N pickup diagram I could find doesn't show any split, so there's no way of telling which is the coil with the magnets and which is the dummy coil. So you may end up swapping some of the connections around in order to get a modicum of hum cancelling in all positions.

Note that as the stacked pickup coils will have a different number of turns on each coil to the Li'l 59 coils, you won't get perfect hum cancelling in the mixed positions, but hum will be reduced.

The up side is that you'll get more variation with positions 2 and 4 than you thought.

But simply shielding the control and pickup cavities will get rid of most of your hum problems anyway.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Your stacked pickup doesn't have inner and outer coils. The second coil on it isn't wrapped round the magnets, so you'll get no sound! It's only there to provide hum cancelling. So what you are likely to get in positions 2 and 4 is one single coil + single coil in parallel, and one bridge single coil + hum cancelling coil sound. Since SD have stopped doing individual pickup wiring diagrams (boo!) it's a lot harder to check how individual pickups are wired and the only STK-T1N pickup diagram I could find doesn't show any split, so there's no way of telling which is the coil with the magnets and which is the dummy coil. So you may end up swapping some of the connections around in order to get a modicum of hum cancelling in all positions.

Note that as the stacked pickup coils will have a different number of turns on each coil to the Li'l 59 coils, you won't get perfect hum cancelling in the mixed positions, but hum will be reduced.

The up side is that you'll get more variation with positions 2 and 4 than you thought.

But simply shielding the control and pickup cavities will get rid of most of your hum problems anyway.

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Thanks Simon,

Valid points...

Guitar is fully shielded and nope... its noisy... annoyingly so as I love the "hot for tele" that is currently in the neck position.

If they both have four wires, yet aren't split-able then what good are the four wires?

Either way, its all ordered now, so I will update here and maybe throw some tones up on Soundcloud or something.

They put in the four wires so that you can access just the standard single coil part of the pickup, as some people like to have a non-hum cancelling option as the extra coil does affect the sound a bit.

I'm surprised that you've got so much hum even after shielding the cavities. It's normally pretty good at stopping or really reducing hum levels. You must be playing in a very electrically noisy environment.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

You must be playing in a very electrically noisy environment.

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I am, it is called Australia :-D.... never worried about it when growing up in Switzerland or later living in Denmark (I am danish, don't ask its complicated, hehehehe)

Also just realised my title of this thread... ;)

Should have said Tele with Super 5 way switch... NOT.... Super Tele with 5 way switch... I mean it could become a super tele...

Super tele sounds about right to me.

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Originally Posted by D.K

Super tele sounds about right to me.

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Hehe.. maybe once I whack a new neck on it... with a nice flamed maple and thick ebony board and premium treatment for frets... ;-)