Wiring the Tone Pot only to the Telecaster Bridge Pickup - Ask Zac 157
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- Опубліковано 20 бер 2023
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The bane of most Telecaster players is getting both the neck and bridge pickups to sound their best. It seems when you get the neck pickup sounding right, the bridge is too bright, or if reversed, the bridge sounds great, and the neck pickup is just too dark to cut through. The bridge pickup needs the amp to be set darker, and the neck pickup requires a brighter amp tone. After struggling with this for years, I decided to try wiring the tone pot to only the bridge pickup on my Telecaster. This was a total game-changer. Now I could set my amp's tone controls for a clear yet fat tone on the neck pickup, then move to the bridge setting and tone down the treble, to get it sounding twangy yet without any icepick-like highs.
Wiring Schematic
www.askzac.com/post/no-tone-o...
Note on the Bill Carson book. Unfortunately, this is another title that has drifted out-of-print and is hard to find. Perhaps Willie Moseley, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and Hal Leonard will bring it back in some form.
#askzac #zacchilds #telecastermods
stop me if you have heard this before, but this "no neck tone cap" is a lovely approach to wiring up a telecaster. I recently got a well used "DEVILCASTER", a Blackguard inspired Telecaster made by a small and now defunct maker from Asbury Park, NJ called "PINECASTER". It needed some serious clean-up and I believe the pickups were not original so I had no guilt about replacing them with a set of Seymour Duncan LaBrea. It has a great tone on the neck PU but what really makes it special is how sweet and responsive it is with both pickups selected. In never would have thought to wire a guitar like this were it not for Zac's video and I'm very Grateful ... and thankfully not Dead.
I started doing this about 3 months ago and it’s a game changer. Had the same conversation with myself: “I never use the tone control for the neck.” Thanks Zac for the great content. 👍
Good stuff!
Brother, I don't use the tone control on any pickup. The volume knob could be a mute button as well.
Bill Carson in the '90's ,when he found out how popular SRV's pick-ups had become he said 'if they want pick-ups that are weaker & losing their power like that we can sell 'em all day long'.
SRV's strats had weak pickups?
@@LyricTenor85pickups lose their magnetism over time. So any old guitar is going to have “weaker” pickups. That’s one of many reasons the old Gibson PAF pickups sound so good.
Zac, this is a very useful mod. It might be worth noting that the reason it changes the pickup tone is because you're removing the 250k pot from the neck pickup circuit and now the path to ground is created by the 250k volume pot alone. Depending on the pickup design and other factors it is possible to affect the resonant frequency of the pickup too much, making it overly bright or maybe just peaky in a bad place. In that case you can experiment with splitting the difference by adding a resistor between the hot wire of the pickup and ground. At 250k you're theoretically right back where you started with the original stock wiring. More resistance (say 500k or more) allows less bleed to ground and will move the tone in the brighter and louder direction, but less so than your original mod. Use alligator clips, play, and swap out resistor values to taste. I actually fine tuned the tone of my bridge pickup this way, it can make a surprising difference.
Killer idea, Marshall. Have you done this?
That is a very good idea, and you could also experiment with smaller caps, like 0.022 uF, to get a higher roll off point.
I did this mod and I swear it changed how my bridge pickup sounds. I’m not sure how that’s possible? As for the neck, I think I’ll try a resistor like you mentioned because now my neck is much louder than the bridge and it is a bit peaky in an unpleasant way. I’d like it to just sound like it did wired normally with the tone all the way up so I think I’ll try a 270K resistor.
Yeah, .02 capacitor for neck and .002 for bridge with a push pull tone control. 300k pot.
Wonderful comments!
What's even better is if you use a one may go a higher linear Trimpos connected to that capacitor to dial in, as it were, how much or where that frequency is
Thanks so much for this Zach! My tech had done this to one of my Teles back in the late 80s and I’m in the process of doing it to all of them!
I really appreciate this video. After watching it a few months back I decided to get a cheap 2nd telecaster to try some different mods on. First mod was a set of Wilkinson Alnico 5 pickups and a wiring job. I went for the no-tone neck configuration using the schematic from your website. I never had much love for the neck pickup or the middle setting before, but now with the tone fully down, the middle position has this full, bright, sound that it never made before. I love it. Thanks, Zak.
Hey Zac. Watched your video this morning. That wiring made so much sense to me. I immediately changed one of my Tele’s and it was perfect. Exactly the sound I’ve been trying to find. So happy in fact, I’ve now changed two of my Tele’s. Thanks for the great tip ! Keep ‘em coming. Cheers ! Gord from Toronto.
Definite improvement in clarity with this mod, which I did a few months ago based on an earlier vid of yours. This week, after a long wait for the proper screws to arrive, I mounted the neck pup directly to the guitar body on my American Ash Tele. Wow! Combination of the two makes all 3 positions work together better and the clarity is a complete surprise. Suddenly this Tele is my favourite guitar. Thank you, Zac.
Zac, My son and I followed your video today and did this to my American professional telecaster with v-mod pickups. I could not believe the difference! There is a chime to the neck pick up that I don't think I've ever heard before. It still has the woody tone, but with no muddiness! I am now readjusting my pickup height to find the sweet spot. Thank you so much!
I've always loved the neck sound on any guitar, and I've ended up using the neck pickup on my Original 50's Tele almost all the time to play rhythm in a band. I like the prospect of more output too, it never quite matches the volume & cut-through of the bridge pickup. Thank you for the idea
I did this mod today and love it. The neck through my OD3 sounds like SRV now, then back to country twang on the bridge with tone at 8.
I went a bit overboard with one of my old Teles. A 4-way switch and a 3 pot control plate with modified Jerry Donohue wiring. I ran a master tone and two volumes. Here's where it got tricky, the pickups were a Fender 52 Tele reissue bridge with a Fender 57 reissue Strat neck. The switching was position 1 was the bridge and 2 was both like a normal Tele. Position 3 was Jerry's strat quack wiring and position 4 was the neck. The volumes were wired 50s style and the tone was push-pull. With the tone pulled up, both pickups had Jerry's faux humbucker wiring. The two volume pots made it so the pickups were blendable like a Gibson. We used the wiring diagram from Premier Guitar and bastardized it. It took a few tries and some gentle routing but it worked pretty good.
Holy cow! Just done the tone mod to my Tele and I'm instantly in love with the neck pickup! No longer is it dull, it has spank and amazing rhythm tone.
One thing to mention is that although you lose tone control on the neck, middle position can still be modified by lowering the tone and it still affects both pickups. Depending on your setup you can still get a nice warm, dark or even muddy tone if you desire.
Just wired a relic black guard this way and it solved all of my pickup balancing issues, thanks Zac!
Zac, this quick tone mod worked great! My 2012 Fender "Select" Tele never quite felt right. Changed out the pickups, pots & capacitor ... twice. Replaced the nut a while back; some improvement. Per the suggestion in your Tele setup video, I compared the capo feel to the open nut and lowered individual slots until they felt right. So, a decade later and it finally plays like a dream. Thanks for the tips!
I tried this wiring on one of my Teles based on a previous Ask Zac video. So far so good. Unlike Zac, I use all three positions on the Tele equally. I tell people that the middle position is one of my three favorite positions on a Tele. As Zac mentioned, the neck pickup is a bit brighter and more articulate now because the signal is not passing through the tone pot at all.
Thanks for this. I'm in process of building TWO partscaster teles. I've already wired the plates "modern" but will definitely keep this mod in mind if I don't like the end result. Hoping non-brass neck pickup cover (Ron Ellis) will help brighten the neck p/u.
Hey Zac . You talked about this some time ago . I rewound mine and it works perfect . Opens up neck and middle position and tames the bridge . Thanx a lot for your advices .
SO glad
Just did this on my 68 Tele-crazy improvement
Made both pickups sound better
I’ve always had a bridge tone knob on my strats but cut the neck free on them as well excellent. This made a huge difference on my Flying V as well -amazing😎
OMG! Huge difference! Thanks Zak... You fixed my tele!! I NEVER could get anything going with the neck pickup... even replaced it with an expensive Rio Grande "Vintage Tallboy" thinking the pickup was the problem and it still wasn't happening: way too bassy when switching from bridge. Did this wiring mod, plus raised the pickup up like you recommended in your setup video, and WOW, it is nite & day difference... now the neck sounds fantastic and is usable (full and woody!). Unlocks all three switch positions on this guitar whereas before I only could use the bridge. Great stuff!! Didn't think it would open it up that much but it sure did.
Well what can I say I've had this same problem for years with my telecaster. I've aways wanted my neck pickup to be a tad brighter at all times but I often roll back the tone when using the bridge pickup during rhythm playing and bring up the tone for a solo. This simple mod has totally solved both my issues. Thanks Zac for the great tip 👍
I love that you also do this. I do the same exact thing. At first it was simply because I never actually use the tone knob on the neck pickup anyhow, only the bridge. I rarely use the middle position, so the bridge is pre set with the tone knob.
However what I found later was that it actually opened up the neck pickup a bit, gives it almost a Strat like essence imo.
I also found it gives a little more of that esquire bite in bridge position too.
Thanks for the insights! I'm currently building a tele, thanks to your inspiration, and I might wire it up like your teles!
I just tried this mod and now I think I'll be using my Tele a lot more. The tone change in the neck alone made it worth it, but now I can get a more balanced tone in the middle position as well. Great idea. Thanks!
My favorite wiring is modern with a treble bleed capacitor on the volume pot and a grease bucket which is moving the wire connecting the V to T from the bottom lug to the top lug of the Tone then putting two capacitors on the bottom two lugs on the Tone knob and removing the existing capacitor that is between the V and T. I do like the mod you do Zac if the neck pickups are mid to early 50's or a Texas Special neck pickup (lots of bass). My 63 OC duffs I have them wired modern with treble bleed and grease bucket and I like the way the V and T interact with them. For anyone that doesn't know a Treble bleed capacitor allows you to turn down the volume and the treble frequencies do not get cut, without a treble bleed capacitor as you turn the volume it cuts the treble frequency of your pickup and they get muddy as the volume goes down. Without a grease bucket wiring and capacitors the tone knob cuts the treble frequencies and increases bass frequencies as you turn down the tone knob. The grease bucket wiring and capacitors let the treble frequencies go down but the bass frequencies do not increase and stay the same. I have the same wiring on another tele that has a Texas special Bridge Pickup and 51 Nocaster neck pickup and it works really well.
I've been rewiring my teles for unique tones forever. Add a pickup, lose a pickup, add a knob, add a switch... etc. Great platform to test your soldering skills and get some interesting tones. And getting all of the PU's to play nice together can be a challenge. Love the videos! Thanks!
I’ve owned a 59’ tele copy for a year. It’s a jimmy page fender custom shop…I wanted a straight up 59’ tele and it had all the specs I wanted. 7.5 radius, flatsawn neck. Anyway two weeks ago I decided it was a keeper so I took the neck pup off the tone knob and removed the treble bleed. I used your diagram off your website…I would like to thank you for that! The bonus was it improved my middle position on my guitar. My next step is a refret with big frets, then probably Ron Ellis or Don Mare pickups. It was real easy to do the mod with your great info. If made that guitar much more useable.
Just discovered this page while researching how to turn my MIM PS Tele into a period correct guitar.
Glad I did
Tried this and it is much easier to blend the pickups. Thanks Zac!
Just made the jump. Thanks for the diagram and the walkthrough. I had been thinking about doing this for a long time and you gave me the confidence. Sounds great.
Have fun!
Took your advice on this a while ago, thanks so much, love it!
You touched on this before. I'm about to wire up my homemade tele, so perfect timing! Thanks again for all the content!
Enjoy!
I've been doing this to my teles for years thanks to Dan at TPS mentioning it several years back. This is a great shout and I totally concur! I find it more useful as well. Great video!
Good stuff!
I have an aerodyne tele I've never really gotten along with. Among the reasons is the vast tonal difference between the puckups. It has a P90 neck pickup, so it's an even bigger difference between the two. This would be really helpful.
I just finished what I call a Super Broadcaster: 3 Broadcaster bridges in a half blender wiring minus the tone control.
I just turn the amp treble down to accommodate the wide open pups and I love it, you get every tele and strat option with wide open Broadcaster pickups.
I'd like to tool up and offer them, it's so touch responsive, the full pickup tone range from dark to sparkle whenever you want
Awesome content as usual. I am inspired to try this on one of my partscasters
Hey Zac. I get it!
I don’t have that issue with my number 1 tele since I installed Bill Asher’s Sweet T pickups. They’re both great and balanced, but the neck is to die for. So clear and tone full. No mud.
FYI
Cheers
Thanks Zac, I just did to my tele and I love it! Should have done it a long time ago!
Thanks so much Zak for the helpful info. I have a Squire Bullet I have been upgrading with new pickups, etc. One idea that intrigued me was to have a vol pot for each pickup and then the Master volume pot. With neck pickup not needing any toning down, the bridge pickup could go through something like a 200k resister in series with a .047 or .033 cap to ground. Then the bridge is always in that toned down setting, With this rig, you could dial in a lot of bridge with a bit of neck or vice versa. From what I understand, if the pickups are wired in parallel, that helps knock down hum. So if the neck is on, let's say 30% with bridge at 80%, would that cancel out some hum? This would also get rid of the switch, which many guys happen to bang into while playing.
I do the same kind of thing on Strats, they have 2 tone controls, one for the Neck and one for the Middle and none on the Bridge! Putting the Bridge pickup on it's own tone control makes it usable and tames the icepick.
Zack, what a great idea.
I used to drop my bridge pickup lower to match the neck but it was never smooth w/o the tone rolled back.
Now I can lift it up a bit more and just roll some treble off the bridge.
Thanks
Thanks Zac ,now I understand the older teles a little better but I'm a modern wiring for teles person. I have to turn them knobs a lot , kind of like driving a twin stick Mack with a window in the back.
Great episode👍😅
Thanks!!!
Thank you! Works like a charm and was a breeze to do.
That neck pickup is alive! Great info!
Thanks for sharing this Zac. I'm going to try this, 😊
... follow up... definitely works I did it and I'm happy with it. thank you for sure and that great idea!...❤❤❤😊
Hope you like it!
I just saw this video Zac I ran up in my music room did it to my one tele tried it out and loved it so I did it on my reissue broadcaster amazing mod thank you so much.
That is awesome!
I saw your Instagram story about this and I was looking for more information. Thanks for the video! I think I'll try this out.
Great idea. I love your impression on the front position tone on the real vintage Teles.
In ‘93, I bought a new Fender American Vintage ‘52 Reissue. In those days the Vintage Reissues really attempted to copy the ‘52 all the way down to the nitro finish, the material the pick guard is made from and the original wiring scheme. It also came with a ln 😂straight pot and cap, plus a wiring diagram in case you wanted to change the wiring to the1990s “Modern” setup. I held out for a couple years, wanting to keep in as original as possible, but as you mentioned, that made the front pup almost useless.
So I eventually had it switched over by my luthier and kept the old parts.
I own several Teles, and I’ve actually recently been considering switching it back. But your impression and comments are making me reconsider that. 🤓🎸
very cool - i'm going to do that re-wire and play with that for a while on my Tele. thanks for that how-to
Tell me what you think
This is a really good approach. Was struggling with this yesterday, where to get a bridge sound I like, have to roll it off 50%, but then the mid position is a little dark, and the neck pickup is much too dark.
Thanks for mentioning that this mod is also "tried and true" with a humbucker in the neck - mine happens to be a Seymour Duncan Antiquity, full size Keef style 😎 I just took the plunge and it sounds great! Also good to know I can dial it back a bit with a resistor in series with the humbucker if need be. VERY useful information! Keep up the good work, Zac, and keep the faith. 😘🎸
Very cool!
I do this too! So much better!!! The neck pickup is a little brighter too.
I fought with my tele wiring for years trying different pickups selectors pots and caps. The solution that worked for me is the 50s Gibson wiring with a 15 cap and good CTS 250 pots. It is simple, solves the treble cut on the volume, & gives a very wide range of tones with beautiful sounds from 1-10 on both knobs. I liked it so much I did it to my strat
What is "Gibson wiring"?
50s gibson wiring...instead of using a treble bleed, you move the wire with the cap from the outside wiper of the tone pot to the middle wiper of the vol pot. and that goes to the output. when you turn down the vol., your highs stay, the sweep changes a little and it makes the tone a little more interactive. I always struggled with my tone getting dark when I turned down the vol till i discovered that about 20 yrs ago. I never could get it right with a treble bleed. lots of pics on google. funny how those original guys got it right.
@@edt.5118
First of all Zac you are such an inspiration to all us guitar players and such a fountain of incredible information absolutely love your show... I felt compelled to chime in
I have owned and sold several telecasters over the years mainly because I didn't feel like modifying the neck pickup
Since I now own two guitars that are identical that come stock with the Twisted tele neck pickup the only thing I want to do is just disengage the tone control entirely and make the tone control knob the volume for the neck not sure if I'm going to go that route or not but I do believe that the TeleGib that Seymour Duncan made and traded to Jeff back was a guitar that was wired with two volume knobs no tone great topic as always
I did this with a four-way switch; the neck and bridge in series with the tone nearly off on the bridge is a very sweet, almost PAF-like tone, very nice! The only other thought would be to wire the "grease bucket" tone circuit, which is effectively a mid-pass filter (cuts both highs and lows).
Great idea Zac. I may have that mod done to a few of my Teles. I’ve always disliked the tone of the muddy tele neck pickup and one of the reasons that I liked Fenders custom shop Twisted Tele neck pickups that produce a brighter tone. But with this mod you can at least bring out the clarity of a standard tele neck pickup. Great episode and thanks again!
Thanks!
I'm with you. Those Custom Shop Twisted Tele pickups really sound wonderful on my guitar. I know a couple of other guys that have tried them and they love them too. Very clear, articulate, and pleasingly musical all around.
I've wanted to do this for ever, just didn't know how to wore it. Thanks!
Hi. That's was so interesting, many thanks for making the video. I have a beautiful 2015 American Tele, which has a belly cutout interestingly, in 2 tone burst (it was a special run). I never play it because of similar issues you described. So tomorrow I'm getting the soldering iron and I am going to do this mod. Thanks again for the idea.
Love it when people share their tricks, hate to have to figure all this out before I die! I will try this on a Tele that is sitting here looking at me. One thing I have done and seems to work when playing alone, but not sure well in would be heard in a band context. But I replace the 47 cap for a 22, and change the tone pot to a "no load". Using these in conjunction can help open up some room between the dark and the bright sounds.
Try some even lower caps, they sound awesome. Mod Garage (Premiere Guitar) has a whole article in tone caps
What a great episode! Thank you Zac
Thanks, friend!
I use the eric jphnson wiring on my strat for the same reasons. I love to have a tone on the bridge pickup. ( you can use a no load pot if you still want the all open sound when the pot is on 10). As you said you set the amp for neck or middle pickup and adjust the tone pots accordingly to balance. I am no pro like you but it works for me anyway. :)
Thanks Zac! I have 2 Telecasters with the same pickups and wiring. I will change one of them and let you know. I have six total so I may be busy for a little while!
Rock on!
I got a chance at a live radio station gig in Massachusetts two weeks back to seriously road-test my Tele wired this way. Perfect!
I was Session musician for 50 years. I enjoy your videos.
That's awesome!
I’ll give it a try on one - thanks Zack
Watching this video made me realize, I only have one tele in my stable. It is a CV 60's Custom, with nocaster CS pups and a 4 way. I'm VERY happy with this set up, so much so I don't even think about another tele. I pick it up, it works in spades. I now realize, I NEED another tele. My last 4 purchases have been strats, 1 US Standard, 1 Classic Player Custom Shop Design, 1 Eart sss, and just recently I bought a L Carlton S7(just got it, it's awesome after I set it up). My favorite guitar is my tele, go figure. I used a Wilkerson bridge plate with the saddles, just parts I had laying around, and CTS pots and PIO cap, stuff in my mind that was the best i could get. I now have another project forming in my mind, a blond black face with a soft V neck.
As an addition one could opt for a cap fr the neck pickup output to the switch. A bass roll off if u wish. Or a cap/resistor combi. Works great on standard tele and strat pickups. What people forget is that it isnt so much the lesser high frequencies of the neck pickup but the overtly overpowering low end because of string vibration (mainly E and A).
Thanks!! Really great info. I’m going to try it out.
Good luck!
The Telecaster is the musical equivalent to " the old family hand~me~down" The rusted car, motorbike, bicycle ... etc ... wedged in a garage or shed somewhere under stuff or out of sight. This item a ,relatively, inexpensive, reliable and magical piece of genius, that no one seemed to want or "get" anymore... it fell out of favor because it wasn't the new and cool "thing".
I bought my first Tele at a combo Mom and Pop music / pawn shop. My friends ,consequently , made fun of me . I tore it open ... changed out some capacitors and put some working pick-ups in it ... and then ... they heard "the sound". Several friends bought one and begged me to do what I did to mine for them.
I have been experimenting on Telecasters for years and I love finding new or new / old mods. I love your channel BECAUSE you love the simplicity of this genius instrument! Keep the great videos coming and send Keith Williams my best !
Piqued my curiosity...so, I JUST modded my CV50 (with Lindy Fralin Blues Special). Definitely upped the volume and balance with bridge. ...not sure about the improved tone/clarity on the neck.....didn't hurt tone for sure.....likely made it more clean/bright/articulate. Thanks Zac!!! SIX MONTH UPDATE: Bought a second CV50 and noticed it too had a weak neck pup, so weak that even when I raised the height, if sounded like it didn't belong on the guitar compared to bridge and bridge/neck...weak, dull, muddy.....so I modded this guitar this morn and it really improved the neck tone. More clarity, louder...betterer. Got a nice bonus today....ordered a set of Lollars.
There's another "mod" you can do to a Tele that kind of brightens up the sound (probably depends on several factors though), but you move the wire that connects the tone pot to the volume pot from the volume pot lug that goes to the switch to the lug that goes to the output jack (the middle lug). It has the effect of a treble bleed, when you turn down the volume it doesn't seem to cut the highs like usual. Also it seems like the pickups are brighter than usual. The tone pot still works for both pickups, so you'll wind up making adjustments. But you could combine both mods, disconnect the neck from the tone pot and move the tone pot wire to the middle lug. That would be no tone pot for the neck, but a treble bleed for both pickups. Then you'll have a preset tone for the bridge and a brighter neck even when backed off. Your videos are great, keep on keepin' on.
I do this too. I'm working on an idea where no matter where you set the tone control it will only go down to a preset level. It would save a lot of fiddling. Just slam it all the way off - and yet it would sound like it was set half-way, let's say (to a pre-chosen tone setting). You could always get less of the tone control but not more than your preset sound.
I got this idea from you a while ago, Zac. Big difference. Takes the extra zing off the top end of the bridge pickup, especially in a rock format, and makes the neck pickup much more useable in every genre. I guess if you're a jazz player, you might want a tone control for the neck pickup, but for most things I do, it works great. You can always blend in the tone knob in the middle position if you need more cut, but so far it hasn't been a problem. Another trick I've used is to take the metal cover off the neck pickup. Doesn't look traditional, but it gives the neck pickup much more clarity and an almost Strat-like sound. For that, I left the tone knob connected to both pickups. Although, it might work nicely with the tone knob disconnected from the neck pickup.
The neck cover removal makes a big difference
Hey, can you explain your comment “takes the extra zing off the top end of the bridge pickup”? I thought the way this was explained, it’s supposed to only affect the neck pickup position. I want to try this mod, but not if it affects my bridge tone which I like as is
Thanks for the no-tone bridge-pickup mod idea! I got a chance at a live radio station gig in Massachusetts two weeks back to seriously road-test my Tele wired this way. Perfect!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
It is neck pup, right?
nice! i like the effect on middle position-now can blend in the brightness of rhe bridge for more variations! 👍
I believe in the middle position it acts exactly the same way it did before the mod: tone pot is connected to both pickups- that should not be different
@@waitin4winter well, it is different. the tone knob affects the bridge only. at least on my guitar!
Listened to that J.D. Simo album this morning on my commute to work. Great variety of tunes on there with some fantastic playing!
Enjoy!
I have a dual p90 guitar. I think this could work on this great. Thanks for the idea.
SO cool...thank you.
I wired one of my teles up with a 4-way switch where position one is bridge, two is neck, and the in between 1.5 is both and the tone control acts as tone for all three settings. Then positions 3 (bridge) and 4 (neck) are broadcaster style blends with the tone control blending in the opposite pickup. I love having all the variety in one tele, but never really thought about issues it might cause playing live since I'm just a bedroom player. I agree though that I never adjust the tone on the neck, so maybe there are some other creative wiring options to look into.
I have some T-Type guitars I will Guinea pig this on...Also, Might want to explore putting a lipstick in one of my strat's neck pickup positions. You make a valid point here, Zac, about variety of sound.
That's how my tele is wired. I did it about a year ago and I so love it. Basically I was rolling the tone back for the bridge pickup and kept havong to open it back for neck, plus the neck and bridge would not balance quite well in the middle posish ... well problem solved!
I’m gonna try this!
holy moly! been stranglin my telly and it sounds so much better with the NECK PICK UP MOD. there is a sweet, creamy, audible, feedbacky, chimey return now. just freakishly opened up that ALNICO FIVE pup. looking forward to recording this axe now.
thanks missah ZAK gonna get anudder one of these and gone to work it the same way. fuggiddaboudit
Great idea I’m going to try this on my strat … and tele
I first did this on my tele to fix the overly dark neck pickup and loved it. I realized I never touched the tone control on the neck pickup on any of my guitars, so I changed the rest of my guitars to be the same way. It is amazing on a strat! I took the neck and middle pickups out of the tone circuit and have one tone pot just for the bridge, and the other got switched to a blend pot for tele middle position tones. It really made a strat more useable and simplified for this tele guy.
I like that Strat wiring!
Now I'm really intrigued about the "deep soft rhythm" sound!
Great video as always, Zack, you're awesome! I've got a question: What happens to the middle position in that case? Does the tone work, or does something funny happen there? Cheers!
Tone works in the middle.
I did this with my Tele ages ago. It's much better. I also fitted a treble bleed circuit. Both very useful mods.
Always awesome! Thanks Z!
You bet
I put a SD 1/4 pounder in the bridge of my tele, and it kinda did the same thing....but this might be interesting to try ..thanks Zac
Gotta add another thank you. Tip jar, here I come! My Vintera 50's Tele was impossible to balance, with exactly the problem you described. The A3 bridge was sweet but the A2 neck was mud, mud mud. Turn up treble on the amp, and the bridge became piercing. Tried this today, boosted the amp treble a bit, and was able to find a good tone setting for the bridge. And as you mentioned almost in passing, the mod itself brightened the neck pickup a little even before the amp change. Curiously, without adjusting the tone knob, the middle position is now only a little brighter than the neck only. Nevertheless, now I can play rhythm on either neck or middle, then switch to bridge for a lead. Awesome!!!
SWEET!!!!
Zac. Thank you so much
I don't even play but this video series you made is made me hooked on the Tele.
You are soooo good at it.
Now there is a sound from Don Rich I can only find on I don't care Buck's song. So bright metal.
Would I ove for you to identify the set up.
Best Bob
I'm experimenting with blending coil split on my lp. Such a nice neck tone with no tone control attached.
Zac, i did this mod and notice that when the tone is at zero on the brigde position, theres a little bit of the neck pickup blend together... my tele has a phase inverter selector switch, i notice that the phase inverter works on the brigde position were it supose to be the brigde pickup alone, so i realize that both pickups are work together when roll off the tone in brigde position... but i cant understand why... anyway its very cool effect cause i can turn to only brigde to both pickups only rolling the tone to zero to 10... thanks very much! my tele is alive now!!! to many new sounds! i have a 4key selector, and your mod improves all positions that they work together, in series in phase, in series out of phase, in paralel in phase, in paralell out of phase... by far the most versatile instrument!
after some test i understand why i did wrong... in my four way selector, the position were i solder was not the brigde pickup, but the neck black wire... but this way the tone acts like a blender and not like a tone... is cool too, but i mod to be equal your configuration, with tone link at brigde hot wire...
I do not own a Telecaster, but got to play some early '60s TCasters when they were fairly new, and built one in '71 or '72 ... I later sold Telecasters in the early-to-mid '70s in my brother's music store ... found that I really like that old wiring, especially with the out-of-phase notch position that gave both pickups together. Stereo wiring is a solution but you lose that neat Telecaster in-between sound. At any rate, that bridge PUP has to be toned down! I wire my Stratocasters to the bridge pot ....
Really a good idea, not that new but little known. The mod, minimally invasive and reversible , deserve to be more popular. With a broadcaster type bridge pup, more powerful and less ice-picky, that can give a very versatile and balanced guitar. Also using a smaller value (to taste, try 0.022 as a starting point) cap can make for a more usable tone pot wich cut the harshness without too much loss of sharpness.
I do the same with Humbucker equiped guitars, I never use the tone knob for the neck pickup. Always found it needs more treble
Thanks!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!
I did this to one of my telecasters then within minutes decided to do it to the others.
Genius