Tele Wiring Options / Questions

[bobbymack]

Have really been digging my new Vintage Hot Rod tele with the Duncan mini HB in the neck. :AOK

I'm gonna reverse-wire it so the switch is at the other end of the plate and the Vol knob is closest to the neck...

Anyway, I'm not sold on the existing 50's wiring scheme as it doesn't allow for blending the neck and bridge p/us. In looking for 60's type wiring options, I found a cool reverse wiring tele diagram at Lindy Fralin's site (http://www.fralinpickups.com/images/teleschem.jpg), and a HB / sgl specific tele diagram at Seymour Duncan's site (http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...e_hb_neck.html).

Thing is, they are quite different. I know from playing with the wiring on my LPs that there are different ways to skin a cat, but I'm new to the tele thing, and wonder which is the better option. Any differences to account for because of the HB in the neck, for example is the 4 way (series/parallel) switching mod alot of guys like moot because of the HB?

All input / suggestions are welcome, as I'd prefer to only do this once, ham fisted solderer that I am. Thx fellas!

[Jim Collins]

Those two diagrams, while appearing to be different, give you the same selections -- neck only, neck+bridge, and bridge only. The fact that the humbucker pickup has four conductors plus ground only makes the diagram look more complicated, but it isn't. Two of the conductors (red+white) are tied together, and not connected anywhere else. (This places the two coils of the humbucker in series.) The green wire serves as ground for the coils, and the bare wire serves as a ground for the base/cover. These are seperated so that you can accommodate different wiring schemes, while still grounding the base/cover. For instance, let's say the humbucker is out of phase with the other pickup. To correct this, you could swap the black and green wires while still leaving the bare connected to ground, and the problem would be fixed. The typical Fender neck Tele pickup has only two leads, with the chrome cover tied to the ground lead. A Texas Special neck has an independent ground for the cover, which gives the pickup three leads -- similar to the humbucker in this diagram (provided you ignore the red+white join, since it is not connected to anything else).

[bobbymack]

Thanks for the info Jim, but I still think the wiring schematics are different. My neck mini is a two conductor btw so the red and white tie offs in the SD diagram are irrelevant...

Look at the connections to the lugs of the pickup selectors for starters, they are clearly different. Then, the cap is grounded off of the center lug on one tone pot, and an outside lug on the other tone pot.

Then, look at the different ways the jack wires are connected to the pots, etc etc...

Am I making sense here? I know it's confusing because the Fralin diagram is reversed and the Duncan diagram is not reversed, but still the wiring scenarios are quite different to my eyes, and I'm looking for input as to which if one might have an advantage or two over the other...

[WordMan]

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/sho...d.php?t=245435

Check out the above thread - there is more on this topic...

The Duncan schematic looks good, but it doesn't comment on the pot you should use - 250 or 500...the thread I link to goes into more of that kind of stuff - hope it helps...

[Jim Collins]

I was concentrating on the wiring to the switch. Even though that appears different, it isn't.

Let's ignore, for a second, how the tone control is wired to the volume pot. The two tone controls, themselves, aren't really different. In one drawing, the input to the tone control is the center lug (the wiper) of the tone pot, and the high lug of that pot is connected to the cap, which is connected to ground. In the other drawing, the input to the tone pot is the high lug, with the center lug connected to the cap, which is connected to ground. These two are actually the same. In the case of the tone control, it does not matter whether the input lug is the center lug or high lug, as long as the other lug is the correct lug. (Tone controls do not use the low lug.)

The only difference in these two drawings is how the tone control is connected to the volume pot. In the Duncan drawing, the tone control is connected in the traditional fashion -- from the high lug of the volume pot. In the Fralin drawing, the tone control is connected to the volume pot in what some people call the 50s wiring -- from the center lug of the volume pot, which is also used as the output lug. (In both drawings, the tip of the output jack is connected to the center lug of the volume pot.)

Personally, I've never tried the 50s tone wiring. I believe its proponents say it preserves some of the highs when you roll off the volume.

[edward]

Originally Posted by Jim Collins

...
The only difference in these two drawings is how the tone control is connected to the volume pot. In the Duncan drawing, the tone control is connected in the traditional fashion -- from the high lug of the volume pot. In the Fralin drawing, the tone control is connected to the volume pot in what some people call the 50s wiring -- from the center lug of the volume pot, which is also used as the output lug. (In both drawings, the tip of the output jack is connected to the center lug of the volume pot.)

Personally, I've never tried the 50s tone wiring. I believe its proponents say it preserves some of the highs when you roll off the volume.

The so-called "50s wiring" is a personal preference thing. Some like it, others don't. The good thing is that it's an easy trial/error so give it a whirl. The point to it is that the tone pot gets its signal from the output side of the vol pot as opposed to the input side. The net effect is that rolling off the volume results in less treble bleed than in "modern" wiring. Gurus of tone (of which I am not) say, however, that there are tradeoffs. I don't hear the tradeoffs, but to each his own ...so use your ears and decide for yourself. FWIW, I like the 50s wiring mod in my LP ...makes a significant diff (improvement) in how the volume and tone pots behave rolling down from 10 (though when set at 10, I can't hear a diff between the two schemes). Yet on my Tele, it is wired "modern" and I find no reason to change it (though I may just experiement with it anyhoo).

As for other wiring options, I also like the plate reversed so I get volume, tone, then the switch front to rear. I am also installing a 5-way ("superswitch" with 12 lugs IIRC) that will allow more tonal options than a regular strat 5-way. This way I can have a broader palatte of tones w/o having push/pulls or extra switches.

Edward

[bobbymack]

Thanks guys, it would probably help if I understood more about pots...all I think I know is the center lug is the output (?, or at least generally??)

The Duncan and Fender diagrams are quite similar, so I'll likely go that route.

The 50s wiring for Teles is a different animal than the 50s Les Paul wiring. The posters above are correct re: LPs having less treble bleed when rolling off the volume, net is sort of a brighter LP, which I don't like in my R8 or R9s. I tried the 50s and went to a modern / black rose modified wiring setup which I like better, esp with all audio taper pots...only downside is vol pot does not totally kill output at zero, only about 98%.

Anyway, the Tele 50s wiring refers to a 3 way switch that is: Neck with Tone Pot bypassed, Neck with Tone Pot, and Bridge with Tone Pot -- there is no blending of the neck and bridge pickup on the middle position. Which is what I don't like about it.

The "66" Tele wiring is what most people consider standard tele wiring: neck, neck/bridge, bridge.

[Jim Collins]

The center lug of the pot is the wiper lug. It is not, inherently, an output, but it can be used that way.

There are several, different meanings for the non-scientific term "50s wiring". In fact, I've also heard it used to describe what is, essentially, the reversing of the input and output of the volume lugs, in Gibson style wiring (2 vol/2 tone), in order to make the volume controls completely independent. Why this particular wiring is sometimes described as 50s wiring eludes me. I've never seen any documentation indicating it was ever used. (The volume controls really are independent, but you suffer a tremendous treble loss when you roll off the volume.)

Context is everything. There were actually two, different Telecaster wirings used in the 50s, neither of which is the same as 66 wiring. Blender wiring was used very early, before the 52 wiring you describe.