Telecaster Guitar Forum - View Single Post - Wiring a humbucker w/4-way switch

Deaf Eddie · June 30th, 2009, 03:03 PM

If you decrease the value of the tone cap - that's the cap that has one leg on the tone pot's middle lug and one leg on ground - it should brighten the guitar up a bit. Try a .020uF, that's the standard tone cap value for humbuckers. Make sure that the legs of the cap don't touch anything they are not supposed to touch.

Did you remember to solder the red and white leads from the bridge pickup together, and tape them up?

The throw with the lever pointed at the neck (let's call that #4, because this is a Tele) should be the series throw, the loudest, fattest tone the guitar makes.

Tell me - is the parallel throw (#2, at the bridge end) also thin and twangy?
If so, then the pickups are wired out of phase.

It would be VERY uncommon for two pickups from the same brand to be out of phase, but it happens (it happened to me with a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90s). So...

If that's a YES, then swap the black and green leads from the bridge pickup - put the bridge pup's green on the 4-way, and its black on ground. The bare lead does NOT get moved.

If that's a NO, then we have a puzzle...

Try the tap test: with the guitar plugged in and the amp's volume set low, turn the guitar's volume and tone all the way up.

Now, run the pickup selector through all its throws, and tap on a pickups' polepiece at each throw to confirm they are working when they should, and don't sound when they are not supposed to.

If you tap and get a solid "THUNK", the pickup is working. if you get a faint "tick", then the pickup is in the circuit, but shunted (shorted). If you get nothing, the pickup is out of the circuit.

You can test your coil-shunt p/p this way as well - with it IN, both coils of the neck pup should THUNK; with it OUT, one coil will THUNK and the other should just "tick"...

June 30th, 2009, 03:03 PM	#66 (permalink)
Deaf Eddie Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Sunny San Diego, CA Posts: 1,741 14 Photos	If you decrease the value of the tone cap - that's the cap that has one leg on the tone pot's middle lug and one leg on ground - it should brighten the guitar up a bit. Try a .020uF, that's the standard tone cap value for humbuckers. Make sure that the legs of the cap don't touch anything they are not supposed to touch. Did you remember to solder the red and white leads from the bridge pickup together, and tape them up? The throw with the lever pointed at the neck (let's call that #4, because this is a Tele) should be the series throw, the loudest, fattest tone the guitar makes. Tell me - is the parallel throw (#2, at the bridge end) also thin and twangy? If so, then the pickups are wired out of phase. It would be VERY uncommon for two pickups from the same brand to be out of phase, but it happens (it happened to me with a pair of Seymour Duncan Antiquity P90s). So... If that's a YES, then swap the black and green leads from the bridge pickup - put the bridge pup's green on the 4-way, and its black on ground. The bare lead does NOT get moved. If that's a NO, then we have a puzzle... Try the tap test: with the guitar plugged in and the amp's volume set low, turn the guitar's volume and tone all the way up. Now, run the pickup selector through all its throws, and tap on a pickups' polepiece at each throw to confirm they are working when they should, and don't sound when they are not supposed to. If you tap and get a solid "THUNK", the pickup is working. if you get a faint "tick", then the pickup is in the circuit, but shunted (shorted). If you get nothing, the pickup is out of the circuit. You can test your coil-shunt p/p this way as well - with it IN, both coils of the neck pup should THUNK; with it OUT, one coil will THUNK and the other should just "tick"... __________________ YMMV - I been wrong before...