Bill Lawrence 5 way tele wiring

[colin2121]

I am currently working on a tele build and thought I might try something different with the wiring.
I came across the Bill Lawrence mod and would like to try that one on the tele.
This is the switch that I have

And this is my plan for the wiring

That I based on the following from the internet


I would appreciate if the wiring gurus out there could advise me if I have got it right or wrong.
Also, the lug marked with the red arrow looks to be the earth/ground point - please correct me if I am wrong.

Many thanks in advance.

[Simon Barden]

Yes, your switch wiring looks fine to me.

That is a ground lug for earthing the switch, but you really don't need to use it on a tele with its metal control plate as it will be grounded by the plate.

The tone control is a non-standard arrangement. It may make the sound a bit bass light, as you have a full range signal passing to ground through a 250k resistance, rather than 250k and then a cap (which is passing treble frequencies). So you could wire that as standard if you wanted. It's not a major part of the circuit and is someone's personal preference.

[colin2121]

Thanks Simon, much appreciated.
And thanks for picking that up with the tone pot. I was so focused on the switch wiring that I didn't look at the pots. I will wire the tone pot in the standard format.
Still some way to go as I have sanded the body but not done anything else.

[Simon Barden]

You could wire the leg of the cap going to ground in the way I often do it (when using Orange Drops with long stiff legs) so it goes through the ground tab eye of the volume pot and then to the back of the volume pot (so don’t bend and solder the tab).

Then solder a link between the normally unused tab of the tone pot to the back of the tone pot, and you them have the full equivalent circuit to the Bill Laurence one. If you don’t like it, then you can quickly snip the ground link off and revert to full standard tone wiring without any soldering.

[fender3x]

You could wire the leg of the cap going to ground in the way I often do it (when using Orange Drops with long stiff legs) so it goes through the ground tab eye of the volume pot and then to the back of the volume pot (so don’t bend and solder the tab).

Then solder a link between the normally unused tab of the tone pot to the back of the tone pot, and you them have the full equivalent circuit to the Bill Laurence one. If you don’t like it, then you can quickly snip the ground link off and revert to full standard tone wiring without any soldering.

That is very clever. I may give this a try as well since the tone on my neck tele pickup sounds bass heavy to me. An easily reversible fix.

[colin2121]

You could wire the leg of the cap going to ground in the way I often do it (when using Orange Drops with long stiff legs) so it goes through the ground tab eye of the volume pot and then to the back of the volume pot (so don’t bend and solder the tab).

Then solder a link between the normally unused tab of the tone pot to the back of the tone pot, and you them have the full equivalent circuit to the Bill Laurence one. If you don’t like it, then you can quickly snip the ground link off and revert to full standard tone wiring without any soldering.

Thanks Simon.
I might give that a try. Sounds good.

[Simon Barden]

If it’s got the standard metal cover on the neck pickup, then cutting the grounding link can brighten the sound (or at least it’s supposed to). Obviously it will pick up more noise than before, but I’ve got Teles with Strat pickups in the neck and provided the cavities and pickguard underside, then I’ve never had any real problems.