1 single coil + 1 humbucker in a tele - what 2 pots to use?

[infiniteposse]

Hi all-

I've been hacking away at a parts tele and have decided to go single coil for the bridge pup. The config will be a single coil bridge and a timbucker HB in the neck position. I'm uncertain what the best pot values for volume and tone would be to get the best tone from each pickup.

I'm kind of new to the wiring thing, but I know that single coils tend to like 250k pots and HB's prefer 500k. I'm unsure how to proceed to make things happy with both pups.

The pups in question are the Gibson HB which is @ 7.53 (neck pickup) and a Harmonic Design Single coil which is 8.33 (bridge) or something thereabouts, so hopefully nothing will get overwhelmed... We shall see.

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!

Lee

[Martian]

Popular belief operates under the premise that any pickup wound over 7K ohms should use a 500K pot. However, contrary to popular belief, it's the resonant peak of a pickup which truly is controlling, rather than the resistance value of the coil windings.

Based on your particular combo, here's the way I figure it: If you use a 250K pot, the neck pickup will sound dull and farty, yet the bridge pickup will probably sound great with a nice rip to it. On the other hand, if you use a 500K pot, the neck pickup will sound full and rich but the bridge pickup might sound a bit thin and clanky. Either way, the amp's settings would have to be done in such a way that one pickup would get favored over the other because to me, this setup brings out the inherent personalities of both pickups to such an extreme that not only are they incompatible, but the amp would have to be set in such a way to make all three toggle switch positions acceptable where none could maximize on the best tonality which can be had if the toggle was predominantly left in one position. And don't forget, a portion of the amp's setting would be in consideration for one pickup's hum vs the other one's which doesn't.

With Teles, I've always been confused as to the extreme popularity of this pickup setup although granted, a lot of people simply like the look.

Frankly, I think reversing the pickup configuration makes more sense or, if for whatever reason(s), this is unacceptable, I would think that if the full sized humbucker neck pickup's coils were wired in parallel with each other rather than in series, and then connected to the toggle switch, the amp probably could be set for where all toggle positions would sound great as the resonant peak and the respective positions of both pickups on the guitar would have an infinitely more compatible tonal response. The tweak would then be: 250K pots and a .047mf capacitor for a blues/rock type of overall tonality or a 500K pot with a .022 mf capacitor for a more hi-fidelity type of overall personality.

As always, this is merely my opinion and YMMV.

[infiniteposse]

Thanks for the feedback Martian-

So how's about a stacked single-coil-sized HB with close output to the
HB in the neck? I assume problem solved?

If this happened, use 500k pots for both tone and vol., correct?

Thanks!

[buddastrat]

I like 250K for most stuff. Way nicer taper for swells, even compared to an 500K audio pot. Even on a hot pickup like a JB it sounds warmer/thicker with a 250K.

[Martian]

Thanks for the feedback Martian-

So how's about a stacked single-coil-sized HB with close output to the
HB in the neck? I assume problem solved?

If this happened, use 500k pots for both tone and vol., correct?

Thanks!

I'd put a stacked single coil with MORE output than the neck. Remember, the closer to the neck, the louder/bassier even identical pickups become.

And yes, to the 500K vol/tone.

Glad to help!

[Bob V]

250K with .047 works very well for me (Lindy Fralin Unbucker 8K in the neck, Blues Special 7.3k single coil in the bridge), but I have absolutely no technical stuff to back that up aside from try it and see how you like it. Like Emeril Lagasse says, "Who makes up these rules?" but I'd defer to Martian's reasoning since he reached the same conclusions I did.

[Rosewood]

...and in the end your ears will be the only thing that can make the choice, lower value - less highs and output, higher value - more highs and output.

[disaster]

correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't you just wire an appropriate resistor between the single coil and a 500k pot to bring the value down?

[RvChevron]

You might want to check out the wiring diagram of this US Fat tele:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/telecaster/0108000_02B/SD0108000_02BPg2.pdf

The switching allows a full 500K pot in use when using the neck humbucker and lower pot value when using single coil.

It involves a resistor (the shrink wrap part). Here Fender uses a 270K ohm resistor when will make the single coil pickup sees a 192Kohm pot value approximately.

You might want to increase the resistor value to something like 470Kohnm to get a closest value to 250K. Using 470K resistor will get a value of 242K ohm pot value.

[westex]

You might want to check out the wiring diagram of this US Fat tele:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/telecaster/0108000_02B/SD0108000_02BPg2.pdf

The switching allows a full 500K pot in use when using the neck humbucker and lower pot value when using single coil.

It involves a resistor (the shrink wrap part). Here Fender uses a 270K ohm resistor when will make the single coil pickup sees a 192Kohm pot value approximately.

You might want to increase the resistor value to something like 470Kohnm to get a closest value to 250K. Using 470K resistor will get a value of 242K ohm pot value.

+1; that is what I would do. I did something similar with using the Suhr/Anderson switching on my HSS strat and it works well. Switches in 470K ohm resistors in parallel with a 500K ohm vol pot only when the singles are on.

[daddyo]

Great thread. I just stuck a Seth lover in my Tele with a Jerry Donahue bridge and I was wondering how I was going to handle the pot question.

[EADGBE]

You could try two 500K and two 250K and see which ones you like best. It may turn out that you like a 500K volume along with a 250K tone.