Fender '51 Nocaster NOS - Pickup Wiring

[iim7v7im7]

Hi,

I just ordered a Nocaster which is wired with vintage wiring (arrives Wednesday). How many of you have left them this way vs. modern wiring? I'm thinking that the blend of the neck and bridge might sound very interesting (thick). On other guitars I do roll of the tone knob on bridge pickups, expesially with distortion. For those of you who have had it both ways what are the pluses and minuses of ech configuration tonally?

Thanks,

Bob

[Polynitro]

I tried 4 wirings on my Tele: Blend (51 nocaster wiring), 53 Tele, 52 Tele (vintage), and the 'modern' tele with a .047 tone cap...The modern is the most versatile but I liked the nocaster blend too, it's different.

[Sniper-V]

I prefer the modern wiring. One of my favorite Tele tones is to have the tone wide open on the neck. It's simply way too dark to really be usable for anything I do. Thankfully it's relatively an easy fix or mod.

By the way,

I'm looking for a sweet playing and lookin' CS Nocaster or CS '51 Relic'd in like a white blonde, I want it under 7lbs too.

[Platypus]

Modern is definitely my preference. Some of the settings are simply unusable for me with the vintage in my opinion

[iim7v7im7]

I have 48 hours to evaluate the instrument. I can get a sense of teh bridge with the blend turned down and the neck in the middle position. But I suspect, like yourselve's I may go with modern if I decide to keep the instrument.

Thanks Again,

Bob

[FlackBase]

Second thing I did with mine was change the wiring to modern. First thing was to put these big o' frets on her!

http://www.sharpenyouraxe.com/pics/frets.jpg

[usc96]

I left mine vintage, but that was more out of not having someone in the area I trust to have do the wiring. The front vintage position is about useless, but the blend and back are nice.

[bluesjuke]

I kept mine Vintage wired for months because I liked the Blend so much I didn't want to give it up.
Finally I gave in and changed it to modern wiring.

I have never looked back since.
I'm glad that I did it. Using the tone control of the modern wiring you can get close to blend sounds and so much more.

Next one I get will have the wiring changed within the first week.

[Dylan61]

I have my Nocaster for a Month now, I think the blending is not doing very much at all...I will change to anther type of wiring.

I heard good storys about the Baja wiring, might do that.

[BMC]

Flack, which size frets are now on your Nocaster?

[Dana Olsen]

Flack, which size frets are now on your Nocaster?Looks like 6105's left tall in the final levelling - am I right? (I love guessing!)

Dana O.

[iim7v7im7]

Hi,

Despite the fact that the dealer listed it as "custom vintage wiring circuit" on their website I was confused because when I spoke to him after trying a few that he had ins stock he said the neck pick-up was not "muddy". This as you can imagine is inconsistent with vintage wiring.

After speaking with the dealer this morning I found out to my delight that it is indeed wired with custom modern wiring circuit. I believe that there is a .022 tone cap between the volume and tone pots. BTW, it is equiped with a 9.5"R neck with 6105 frets as well.

Thanks to all,


Bob

[FlackBase]

Yep, they are 6105s left very tall.

Good eye!

[Polynitro]

Hi,

Despite the fact that the dealer listed it as "custom vintage wiring circuit" on their website I was confused because when I spoke to him after trying a few that he had ins stock he said the neck pick-up was not "muddy". This as you can imagine is inconsistent with vintage wiring.

After speaking with the dealer this morning I found out to my delight that it is indeed wired with custom modern wiring circuit. I believe that there is a .022 tone cap between the volume and tone pots. BTW, it is equiped with a 9.5"R neck with 6105 frets as well.

Thanks to all,


Bob

So it's the masterbuilt heavy relic? What color did you get?

[iim7v7im7]

Polynitro,

No it is not a masterbuilt....Just a CS team built model and it is not a relic. It's a vintage blonde model and NOS. The shop must have ordered them configured this way (perhaps out of experience with customer preference?). I know this is not how they are listed on the Fender site. The instrument should arrive on Wednesday.

Bob

[Aslan]

I have a Nocaster NOS and I really liked the tone of the bridge pickup without the tone control and just the blend control. The middle position is just the front pickup without a tone control and the front postion was to bassy to be useful so I did a little research and then changed the cap to .0033 and now the front postion gives me a nice jazz sound. This is simple to do so you might try this first and see if you like it, the only drawback is you don't get both pickups at the same time. I like this because you get a very pure tone from the Nocaster that just sings, anyway give it a try.

[gregc]

I like the stock Nocaster wiring. The bridge alone cranks, the blend pos'n is EZ to work for neck pup only or the great rhythm tone of both pups together, and what some call the muddy neck tone pos'n sounds like Zeps 'I Can't Quit You Babe' tone, 'specially good thru a cranked amp.
YMMV, of course.......

[Redfish]

Has anyone tried wiring a Nocaster with a four way switch to get the neck/bridge in series? I've done this with other Teles in the past and loved it and was just wondering if the Nocaster neck pickup is compatible with this mod.

[Polynitro]

Has anyone tried wiring a Nocaster with a four way switch to get the neck/bridge in series? I've done this with other Teles in the past and loved it and was just wondering if the Nocaster neck pickup is compatible with this mod.

I've played a Nocaster at GC that had that wiring and yes it is usefull...I was thinking of doing one in my 52RI.

[bluesjuke]

Second thing I did with mine was change the wiring to modern. First thing was to put these big o' frets on her!

http://www.sharpenyouraxe.com/pics/frets.jpg



Where did you have it done?