Pickups straight to the jack

[Onioner]

The bridge in my Telecaster died recently. Had to pull it out and I'm sending it in. Figured in the meantime I'd use just the bridge. I've heard of folks wiring directly from the pickup to the output jack (famously only Neil Young), and I'm nearly always a fan of shorter signal paths, so I thought I'd give it a go.

The pickup is a Zhangbucker Bell Tone, and it's probably not the very best choice for wiring straight out, as I nearly always have the tone rolled back from at least nine on down. Had to really adjust the amp to get anything that wasn't blarringly hot and bright. The articulation was great though. Took some good EQ to really get it going, but it was pretty cool.

Just wonderin' what others have tried. I'm thinkin' I might play with this concept a bit more. Why have controls on a guitar at all? Your amp EQs. Maybe your pedals do too. Need easy volume control? Pedal does that too. All the while you get a hotter, fresher signal. Seems a decent trade-off. 'Course, I guess you gotta use the right pickup, and you gotta only want a single pickup or combination. Telecasters seem especially well suited, but I'm sure there are other cases too.

Now, just gotta get that little Tweed workin'...

[gulliver]

You could also wire a resisters to simulate volume and tone control ... and a cap on he tone if you wanted it to sound rolled down. Comes down to if you think "clean" is getting rid of the pot vs an open signal that needs to be processed with resistance within the amp.

[Zhangliqun]

Straight to the jack is really just for high output pickups that tend to be a bit dark and force you to fight constantly for some sizzle and grind. That's really the only reason to do it -- you're just not getting enough clarity/treble. A mildly overwound Tele bridge is definitely NOT a good subject for this experiment, so put them 250k's back in there...

[sahhas]

the guitarist for the band "scum of the earth" --he was a splinter from some band, can't remember...
a few yrs ago i saw some youtube vid of him demoing some stuff, he played a fernandez guitar (vertigo model that was modified?)...
anyway, this guitar had one HB in bridge, no controls, it was just wired straight to the output jack, and he demo'd the guitar, played some of his heavy riff songs, etc...it sounded cool, although i can't remember how he controlled anything w/ it....and granted i don't think the music was about "subtlty".....
-he described the guitar as "dumb proof"....good luck....

[Custom50]

Glenn tipton does this with his stage guitars

[Onioner]

Well, I'll definitely admit that the pickup I'm using is not the right pup for this application. To say it has some jingle jangle would be gross understatement. It does definitely need some resistance, and I fully intend to wire it back up through a volume and tone. Sure, I could do things to simulate going through a 250K pot, and a cap, but then why not just use the standard pots and caps?

Does have me thinkin'. I like those super hot, sharp, gritty, raw sounds, and I bet ya there's a tele bridge out there that could sound fantastic through a Tweed Deluxe or something similar, but yah, this Zhangbucker is definitely going way too far. It's called a "Bell Tone," but I don't think you're supposed to feel like you're standing in the tower right before mass every time you play the top three strings...

Interesting though. I'd love to hear about more folks doing similar.

[choucas09]

I did it to my slide guitar. I love the sound I get. Clip...
FunkDragon.mp3

[EADGBE]

I wired a DiMarzio super distortion like this once. It was incredible sounding. It had maximum crunchabilty, volume, and power.

[kenneth]

Originally Posted by Onioner

Just wonderin' what others have tried. I'm thinkin' I might play with this concept a bit more. Why have controls on a guitar at all? Your amp EQs. Maybe your pedals do too. Need easy volume control? Pedal does that too. All the while you get a hotter, fresher signal. Seems a decent trade-off. 'Course, I guess you gotta use the right pickup, and you gotta only want a single pickup or combination. Telecasters seem especially well suited, but I'm sure there are other cases too.

I haven't tried this, but in general think I would struggle with it. I too also try and reduce my signal path, but would rather do without EQ controls on amps and pedals rather than guitars. In general, I don't adjust amp EQ much once it is dialed in they way I like it, and rely on guitar tone pots to match any differences between multiple guitars going into the same amp.

If I had to use amp or pedal settings to adjust for tonal differences between guitars, it would drive me nuts. I actually had to sell a tele clone, because it would not fit tonally with the other two guitars I play often, and I was always tweaking the amp EQ.

I suppose if I had the luxury of multiple amp setup, well, this would be great then. But I don't.

[zenitB]

I tried this to a Danelectro many years ago. The old lipsticks didn't have much output and it wasn't too icepicky and sounded pretty good. Higher output pickups might have you running to your amp to dial it in.

[willc68]

I run a Squier tele with both pu"s straight to the jack because I took the entire control plate to use on another guitar.

Really it sounds exactly the same as using guitar with the switch in the middle position.

This is just a temporary fix till I get another control plate.

[JSeth]

My '74 ES-345 is totally "frankenstein'd"... I pulled the varitone knob and switches out of her, used the hole for a mini-toggle that sends the output of the pickups straight to the output, bypassing tone and volume controls...

In my ears, it adds about 3-5% to the overall tone, with a lot of "sparkle" or prescence... the pickups are SD's, a PAF '58 on the 'board (leastwise I think that's what it is, since 1983...) and JB in the bridge... both are coil-tapped, as well...

The "pickups straight out" switch makes a nice pre-set, or when I have single coils and switch to 'bucker...