Tele - single coil bridge - humbucker neck wiring

[Simon Barden]

The Strat 'quack' is reliant on the pickup spacing. The three pickups on a Strat are closer together than the two pickups on say a Tele, so a Tele won't give you quite the same sound and less 'quack' in the middle position as positions 2 and 4 on a Strat do. You can obviously position two pickups closer together to get a similar 'quack', but then you compromise the single pickup sounds, either less bright if you move the bridge pickup forwards, or less depth and bass if you move the neck pickup back. Or a bit of both if you move them both together a bit.

Bridge humbucker orientation won't make that much difference to the sound as you can select, via the wiring, which humbucker coil is used for the split sound. The slug coil will sound a tiny bit more like a Fender single coil than the screw coil, but not a lot. Probably more difference in sound due to the screw poles being higher (so closer to the strings) than the slug poles.

What style of guitar body will this be going in? Trying to fit fairly complicated wiring solutions into a Tele control cavity can be 'interesting'.

[Woltz]

Agreed with Simon. I just drew up the diagram roughly on a piece of paper for what it would look like. It'd be tough to squeeze it into a tele cavity and be tidy. Can share it with you if you want. Perhaps have a look at the diagram on this thread as an idea as well - https://www.tdpri.com/threads/wiring...-an-s1.787197/

[ShimmyFix]

Thanks guys.
Woltz- it's Not a Tele. Control cavity is 1.5” deep and approx 5”x 2.25”. The push pull pots fit nicely along with the 3way toggle already installed. I'm ok with adding mini toggles too if needed.

Also worth noting there's room for another Humbucker at the bridge. The single coil is in a custom mounting ring. (I already have a Les Paul- thus mixing it up a bit on this one)

I'm wide open to possibilities. Even considering a piezo To add more flavor options. I saw someone demo one they added to a start it had its own preamp onboard and sounded really good. Kind of in between an electric and acoustic. I would think that option with a blend control to mix it in with regular pickups would offer a wide sonic spectrum

I'd be Interested to see what you drew.
.also I looked at the thread and saw numerous' diagrams. Was there one in particular you wanted me to see?

Ps What's a push push?

[Simon Barden]

A push-push is a switch (as first used on guitars by Yamaha on the SG2000 I believe) where instead of having to grab the knob and pull it up to engage, and push it down to disengage it, you push it down to engage, the knob pops up, and you then push the knob down to disengage it. It's a lot easier to use than a push-pull knob, especially if you have sweaty hands. Though if your hand moves over the and knocks the control knobs a lot when playing, you could possibly operate the switch by accident (although you do need to apply a modicum of downwards pressure to operate them).

They aren't as common as push-pulls, but are normally a very similar price.

[Woltz]

Thanks guys.
Woltz- it's Not a Tele. Control cavity is 1.5” deep and approx 5”x 2.25”. The push pull pots fit nicely along with the 3way toggle already installed. I'm ok with adding mini toggles too if needed.

Also worth noting there's room for another Humbucker at the bridge. The single coil is in a custom mounting ring. (I already have a Les Paul- thus mixing it up a bit on this one)

I'm wide open to possibilities. Even considering a piezo To add more flavor options. I saw someone demo one they added to a start it had its own preamp onboard and sounded really good. Kind of in between an electric and acoustic. I would think that option with a blend control to mix it in with regular pickups would offer a wide sonic spectrum

I'd be Interested to see what you drew.
.also I looked at the thread and saw numerous' diagrams. Was there one in particular you wanted me to see?

Ps What's a push push?

The link was more just for ideas.

I realised I'd misread your intial post and drawn something different.

For what you originally suggested I stumbled on this schematic which is is relatively tidy - https://forum.seymourduncan.com/atta...8&d=1502103951 . Just means you need a 4 way switch instead of a 3 way. I think this is nicer than messing around with two push-pull or push-push pots.

[Tidus55]

.....
Any other questions?

Hi Scott @WeirdBits & Simon @Simon Barden , now I resume our previous March posts

i'm on the way to finish my telecaster.



Now I have to prepare the control plate with the right wiring.

So to confirm that everything is right I put here the Scott diagram to which I made some small changes, I put two Bourns potentiometers of 500 for tone and volume with an orange of 0.22, I changed the connection from tone to volume as that of the 50s.



Is it right or do you have some advice to give me in particular also for the orange cap?
Also a question: but in this case it is necessary to put a resistance of 470 for the bridge single coil to see the pots at 250?

Anyway tell me everything that goes into your mind .... and thanks for the suggestions.

Cheers Stefano

[WeirdBits]

Sorry Stefano I had completely missed your post.

Your changes to the diagram look correct. The modified tone will give a vintage 50’s style control, just make sure the capacitor connects between the lug and the back of the pot (can’t see the back of the pot connection on your diagram). The key element of the 50’s style layout is that the tone link connects to the middle (output) lug of the volume pot.

The 500K vs 250K volume pot is always a compromise when you’re mixing a humbucker with single coil. The humbucker should sound better with the 500K pot, and I think particularly for the bridge + neck series setting on the 4-way. You can compromise and try to get a lower spec 500K pot with a value closer to 400K, or permanently add a resistor across it to give you a custom value but that alters the taper of the pot. I’d stick with the 500K volume pot at first and see how it sounds across all the different pickup combinations, as you can always roll off some tone if it’s too bright but you can’t passively add treble if a sound is too dark from a 250K pot.

Your question “necessary to put a resistance of 470” I assume is about adding a switched resistor across the pot for the bridge position so it has an effective 250K value? Unfortunately, with the way the 4-way switch is wired to give the series position you can’t add a resistor that is only connected in the bridge position, it would have to be in the circuit for all combinations with the bridge pickup. As stated above, I’d stick with the 500K initially and then decide later. You can always temporarily clip/connect a 500K resistor across the volume pot to see how it would sound if it was 250K.

[Simon Barden]

This didn’t flag up for me either. Maybe the forum software had a bad day?

[Tidus55]

Sorry Stefano I had completely missed your post.

Your changes to the diagram look correct. The modified tone will give a vintage 50’s style control, just make sure the capacitor connects between the lug and the back of the pot (can’t see the back of the pot connection on your diagram). The key element of the 50’s style layout is that the tone link connects to the middle (output) lug of the volume pot.

As stated above, I’d stick with the 500K initially and then decide later. You can always temporarily clip/connect a 500K resistor across the volume pot to see how it would sound if it was 250K.

Hi Scott and Simon

Thanks and Happy New Years, hope for the best for all of us.

Well, I went on with the project as in the previous msg; yes the 0.22 capacitor is soldered to the back of the pot and the central lug (Right?)

Now, after shielding the cavities and attaching the neck to the body,
I'm connecting the pickups:
Neck Humbucker and Bridge Single.
I attach photos with the polarities, As you can see from the neck to the bridge the polarities are:
South North (Humbucker) South (Single) .... is everything okay?
Or should I check something else?

Again thanks to all of you.

Stefano

[Tidus55]

Post Scriptum ....

The wires of my Humbucker: Black for - , green for + , Red/white for Series/Parallel (Black with White & Green with Red)

Stefano

For more info on the Humbucker at the neck this link is related to mine.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/donlis...review.795448/