Wiring a tele....

[kylef]

Just how hard is it?

for someone who hasnt much knowledge in electronics, and hardly any in a guitar?

basically building up a guitar from fender parts. am i right in saying im needing to purchase something like vintage cloth wire to do the wiring?

i think with a diagram id easily do up the tone & volume controls, but the pickups and everything that goes with it im dreading........

as much info, tips, tricks and experienced advice very welcome guys!! cheers!

[jwells393]

There are all sorts of wiring diagrams for various pickup-switch configurations. Teaching yourself to solder is most important. No you don'thave to use vintage cloth wire. Any 22 guage stranded wire will do.

Use the TDPRI search function. Search for "soldering".

[braderrick]

Another option is buying a "pre wired kit". Then you would only have to make a few connections like the pickups and some grounds.

[Deaf Eddie]

for someone who hasnt much knowledge in electronics, and hardly any in a guitar

You need to be at above-beginner-skill level with a soldering iron, and you need to have a GOOD soldering iron. If you have that skill mastered, it's actually pretty easy to work on electric guitars.

[micpoc]

I haven't watched it yet myself, but TDPRI's own Terry Downs has a highly acclaimed instructional video on soldering you may want to check out. Otherwise, it's mostly practice.

[kylef]

its not really so much the soldering what im meaning, its more to do with the connections from pickups to the pots, and the pots and resistors and so on...

ive read up so much on this lately, but sometimes it just throws me.

so basically, what im really asking is how hard is the knowledge of wiring up a guitar, knowing where the pickups go where, and where the pots wire to etc.

thanks.

[Deaf Eddie]

Ah, the THEORY and PRACTICAL APPLICATION...

It ain't rocket science, if that's what you're wondering.

I have a few documents for the novice (and some of the "experienced") builders on my webpages.
Here are some links:


Parallel and Series

In and Out of Phase

Coil Shunts

Coils Shunted, Split, or Tapped?

What is RW/RP?

And, there are a few other goodies up there...

[kylef]

nice links mate.

anyone have a detailed diagram or pictures of a control plate....so i can see the wiring from the selector to the pots?

either selector will do...fender or a grizzly.

thanks

[rhomco]

Originally Posted by kylef

Just how hard is it?

for someone who hasnt much knowledge in electronics, and hardly any in a guitar?

basically building up a guitar from fender parts. am i right in saying im needing to purchase something like vintage cloth wire to do the wiring?

i think with a diagram id easily do up the tone & volume controls, but the pickups and everything that goes with it im dreading........

as much info, tips, tricks and experienced advice very welcome guys!! cheers!

Just go to stewmac.com and buy yourself a tele wiring kit. It will have everything you need except a soldering iron and wire cutters. The instructions included show you how (one way) to wire a Tele, Strat & Les Paul. Most importantly it shows the actual switch you will be using. There are other items that make the act easier/better such as emery cloth, soldering flux paste, shrink tubing and most important a popsicle stick to hold those hot ground wires down on the top of the pots while they cool down!
Good luck and show us your handy work.
Rob

[surfoverb]

It's so easy...I recently made the mistake of buying a pre-wired kit and the idiot had it wired wrong! So I was forced to re-wire it correctly which was the best thing I did because now I don't have to rely on anybody else. After I popped my wiring cherry and realized how simple it really is I can't believe it took me this long (15 years) to learn.

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by kylef

nice links mate.

anyone have a detailed diagram or pictures of a control plate....so i can see the wiring from the selector to the pots?

either selector will do...fender or a grizzly.

thanks

Picture below... but bookmark this link Diagram Heaven

[Deaf Eddie]

Ya beat me to it!

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams - Standard Tele

[kylef]

seems perfect to me.

althought that capacitor.....im sure when i looked at my paisley tele wiring, the volume pot and tone pot were joined with the capacitor, not just connected to the tone pot? shed a light anyone........?

also, where does the ground wire to the bridge connect about. im guessing just a bit solder on the back of the bridge?

thanks for the help guys, most kind!!!

[surfoverb]

Originally Posted by kylef

seems perfect to me.

althought that capacitor.....im sure when i looked at my paisley tele wiring, the volume pot and tone pot were joined with the capacitor, not just connected to the tone pot? shed a light anyone........?

also, where does the ground wire to the bridge connect about. im guessing just a bit solder on the back of the bridge?

thanks for the help guys, most kind!!!

That's where it gets tricky: Theres more than a few ways to do the same thing. I've got the cap going through the vol lug (the one that's bent down and soldered to itself)onto the pot and soldered both to the lug and the pot. The bridge ground (if you have one)can go to the tone pot or the vol.

[w0odman]

If your bridge pickup has a brass bassplate underneath then it is grounded by the pickup screws and you don't need that wire.

As far as the capacitor is concerned, it can go either way. See how they have a ground wire running from the back of the tone pot to the volume pot? That is doing what the capacitor legs would be ding if you ran it between the pots.

What I do is run the capacitor leg through the volume pot lug and then up on top of the volume pot. Then solder it at both points instead of bending back the lug.

[kylef]

Wanna get this straight before i start...all parts should be here this week so all systems go!!



The black wire that runs from the first lug on the volume pot.....that runs to the selector switch, and touches 4 different points? do i have to strip back the cloth from the wire, and solder it to 4 different points of the switch? if so, why is this?

also, i am running the capacitor from the tone control to the volume, as that is what happens in my other tele (im wiring it the same basically), therefore, what does this cancel out? as in, do i forget about that part of the diagram? or what do i have to do different? its a .22k cap im using, the one shown in the diagram is a .47k. so do i just run the cap from the second lug of the tone, to the second lug on the volume, and thats that part done?

excuse my amatuerish ways. still learnin....which is why i wanted to make a partcaster - so i could understand the ins and outs of the tele!!

thanks you

[kylef]

got the cap thing pretty sorted now after reading back the posts!!

just the easy question then - The black wire that runs from the first lug on the volume pot.....that runs to the selector switch, and touches 4 different points? do i have to strip back the cloth from the wire, and solder it to 4 different points of the switch? if so, why is this?

does anyone have a good photo of under their control plate to get another idea?

[Deaf Eddie]

do i have to strip back the cloth from the wire, and solder it to 4 different points of the switch?

Yup, here's how the Tele 3-way switch works in this drawing:

Can you see the symmetry of the switch in the drawing? Split vertically, the switch is like a rotated mirror image of itself. See that?

The switch itself is a two pole/three throw switch. Split vertically, each side of the switch is a pole, with the common lug for the right side at the bottom, and the common lug for the left side at the top.

The common lugs are the constant, the other three lugs in each pole are the switchable lugs. As you move the switch, it selects between each of the three switchable lugs having continuity with the common lug - one switchable lug is connected to the common at each throw, for both sides of the switch.

Your two pickups are soldered to the common lugs, and two of the three switchable lugs for each pole are connected to the volume pot - that's your four connected lugs.

As you work the switch, you can see the each pickup is connected to the volume pot in two of the three throws. For each pickup, in one throw, it plays alone, in one throw it plays with the other pickup, and in one throw it is not connected.

[kylef]

thanks very much for that reply eddie. gives me a better understanding of it!!

whats the need in the 3rd volume lug to be bent back though?

[w0odman]

I'm pretty sure that the lug being bent back has something to do with grounding. But that is what I was talking about before.

Instead of bending the lug back, just run the leg of the capacitor through the lug and then ontop of the pot. Solder at both points. It always freaks me out trying to bend the lug back. Sometimes they aren't long enough to reach the pot and soldering that can be a mess.

[kylef]

cheers mate!

what happens with the cap at the tone then? does that just get forgot about then? since the same thing is happening on the volume instead?

or then what happens with the second lug of the tone?

[Deaf Eddie]

whats the need in the 3rd volume lug to be bent back though?

IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING - with no actual electronics background - that it grounds the variable resistor (the pot's wiper). It's the alternate path for the signal - it either goes to the output jack or to ground.

[w0odman]

Originally Posted by kylef

cheers mate!

what happens with the cap at the tone then? does that just get forgot about then? since the same thing is happening on the volume instead?

or then what happens with the second lug of the tone?

The capacitor runs from the second lug of the tone pot through the third of the volume like we talked about before. This just eliminates the need to run that ground wire from the top of the tone pot to the top of the volume pot since the legs of the capacitor are now doing that job.

[kylef]

aaaaaaah ive got you, ive got you!!

really sorry mate!! must be frustrating ha. getting there though, know exactly what your talking about!!

thanks very much!! what an understanding forum!!

[kylef]

next problem......ground to bridge!!!

my soldering iron will just not take the wire. no matter what i do, it just wont stick.

apart from that, there isnt musch space in there between the pickup and the route, so the wire is struggling to get through into the control plate anyway....

so, i know that to get the guitar playing i dont need this ground, but it is a good idea to have it there, and id like the wiring to be perfect anyway.

so basically, is there a different place i could put the ground instead of the bridge?

i tried putting it in one of the bridge screws....but same problem again, the bridge wont screw down as the wire is then in the way. hmmmmmmmmmmmm.?????