Wiring diagrams for Telecasters with a neck humbucker?

[Mark]

I recently played a Tele with a neck humbucker. It sounded pretty good and one of the comments about the guitar was that it was more versatile than a regular Tele.

I was thinking there would be quite a few options with these two pickups and a mega switch. To my surprise I couldn't find any circuits showing interesting possibilities.

Anyone come across any interesting diagrams?

[Reeltarded]

What did you want to do with switching?

You can wire it for so many combos by itself, or with the bridge. I love the front Tele pickup though. Bigger round clean than a Strat. If it has the old wiring with the plunky Helen Keller cap I snip that off and pretend it's an acoustic.

I don't use the tone control, so I would put a 3 position rotary there to control the humbucker, and wire that to the 3-way that is already there, or use the 4-way for ser/para things in the middle 1 or 2 positions.

[Structo]

I would probably go with a four way switch and have the humbucker split in #4.

[Colossal]

Mark,

Check out this link (fifth pull-down menu from the top):
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/

Specifically, humbucker in the neck position for a Tele:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wi ... g_1humneck

[Mark]

I suppose the tones I am curious about are the bridge pickup shunted by a 0.0033uF cap. The neck humbucker out of phase with the bridge pickup. The humbucker wired in parallel. The bridge pickup in parallel with one of the humbucker coils.

There are a few possibilities with this guitar.

[sixstringer]

Finding really usable voices is the challenge. I’ve wired many Teles many ways and never found a really good, usable voice from a split Humbucker. I had a ’59 Esquire (real one) with a PAF (real one) in the neck position for 39 years (until it got stolen) and it sounded great and was very versatile. After losing that guitar, I set out to find another, versatile Tele. I’ve went a bunch of them, with all sorts of pickups and wiring setups. I have several right now but the one I play out the most started out as an overly bright guitar, by far the brightest Tele I’ve ever had. It played great and sounded terrible. After a dozen pickup changes, I’ve settled on a Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro (the darkest Tele bridge PU they make) with a cap added to roll of even more highs) and a vintage Seymour Duncan mini Humbucker (with the adjustable pole pieces) for the neck. The guitar has a four way switch (1:bridge, 2:bridge & neck in parallel, 3:neck and 4:bridge & neck in series) and a push/pull phase switch on the tone control. All the positions are musical. If you use a front/ back PU in series setup with the 4 way switch, don’t forget to separate the neck PU ground and the neck PU cover ground.

I have another Tele with a Tom Anderson stacked coil, stock Tele size PU in the neck and it’s the best sounding neck PU I’ve heard in a Tele.

I like your idea about a switched cap on the bridge UP, maybe I’ll try that. Good luck.

[Mark]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJEt-KO4ShQ

Here is what the 0.0033uF cap on a hot Tele pickups sounds like. It's a Mike Eldred thing. I'm not an Eldred fan, but it might be useable?

[Structo]

http://support.fender.com/service_diagr ... A_SISD.pdf

[Cliff Schecht]

I might have some insight here later, I've been swapping pickups in and out of my Tele all year and just found a super versatile set. For the neck, I have a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails on a switch for series/split/parallel. This pickup goes into parallel for peerrrfeecctt Tele neck tone and in series for a pickup that can push any amp into distortion. The series position also rolls off a lot of treble and replaces it with MIDS so it's a great lead pickup in series.

Middle pickup is a Wilde 280SM Strat pickup. Sounds very much like a Strat and my go to pickup for a stratty sound. Not as deep and pretty as the neck but it's a balanced sound and pretty snappy in the tele.

The bridge pickup in my Tele I have been fighting since I started swapping pickups. Every pickup I put in there squealed and squeaked like a mofo with high gain. I finally bit the bullet recently and put on modern stainless steel bridge. No more magnetic bridges for me, at least on this tele, as the SS bridge fixed the squeal problem instantly and looks super snazzy to boot.

The bridge pickup is a SD Little '59 for the Tele. I paid $25 for it on TDPRI (as well as $25 for the Wilde pickup) and so far have been enjoying it. I think I have changed the sound a bit by mounting the pickup straight in the bridge position instead of slanted (see pics that I'll post later) but so far this pickup, a simple overdrive and my BF Deluxe does a very convincing Zep tone. FWIW this pickup got the series/split/parallel switch but mostly stays in series while the neck is parallel. That to me seems to balance perfectly for most songs that switch from rhythm to lead. Since this was a Nashville Tele I felt obligated to put in that third pickup but honestly, I could live without the middle pickup with the two SD I have in there.

One last thing: The SD Hot Rails, according to a buddy of mine who is paraphrasing Seymour, says that if you want a set of Bardens (ala Danny Gatton) for cheap then buy a set of Hot Rails and wire them in parallel. I've had my HR for so many years but never thought to wire it in parallel. To be honest, I'm completely sold, that HR (a Strat neck flavor in my Tele neck position) is the best pickup I've heard in a Tele neck to date. I might try a HR in the bridge someday and see if the two compliment each other like I expect they would.

[Colossal]

http://support.fender.com/service_diagr ... A_SISD.pdf

Do you think the guy that did this drawing might have been having a bit of fun?