Blues for Greeny

[Pete Galati]

I wasn't really going to start another project today. I was just going to swap the W/B/W pickguard from Goldie's donor Tele, over to my HB Tele with the relic'd body. But I forgot how tight I cut the pickup routes in that guitar. I literally had to push the pickups into the routes. And naturally the W/B/W pickguard doesn't line up with that.

So I have to remove the pickup to recut that PU route. So there's no better time to rewire the whole thing, which I've been meaning to for a while.

So I gutted it, and threw together a new control plate assembly.

Here's a before picture:



Here's the new control plate assy, and a new switchcraft jack:



New pots, switch, jack, and I'm using cloth wire this time, instead of wire recycled from a car stereo.

I'm wiring this one up a little bit different than the other humbucker Tele's. I'm borrowing from how they wire '50s Les Pauls because it's a simpler circuit, it takes one less wire, and you bend the same lug over and ground it on all the pots. Everything was a lot easier to wire up.

The pickups on this guitar were out of phase, on separate volume controls before, and now I'll wire them in phase, and through master volume and tone controls.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

Just got an order from Specialty Guitars for a couple Tele knobs (didn't know I'd need them this soon when I ordered them) and a couple oil & paper caps for my Les Paul (just for detail in the control cavity).

They sent a complimentary pick, which almost fit over the welic'ing wear under the bridge, so I glued it on with some silicon sealant. Never liked that part of the relic'ing.



It's not wired up yet, but it'll look about like this when it's done. I spent some time last night reworking the neck pickup route, and screwed the pickguard down.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

These pickups are DiMarzio PAFs, from only a few years ago. So unlike the earlier ones, they have four conductor cables, which I really hate. They make a simple wiring job a whole lot pestier.

Chaos!

I like the Gibson style cables on the Duncan '59s better, with the single conductor, and braided shield. These usually sound ok though.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

I'm not so sure yet about connecting the tone control to the output terminal of the volume pot. But it sure is less effort to play this one without the out of phase pickups and two volume controls.

Both my other humbucker Tele's connect the tone control to the input terminal of the volume pot, but they both have PAFs by other brands, so I'm not so sure how valid any comparisons I make will be.

This is the first time this Tele's had a tone control though, and I think that's dampening the sound. A no-load 500K tone pot might be interesting.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

I tried a 1meg pot for the tone control trying to brighten the sound, but hated the sound. So I put the 500K pot back in, and moved the tone control's connection to the volume pot's input terminal.



Too late to test it loud by now.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

This poor guitar turned into a guinea pig. I didn't like the results of the last change. It sounded too hard.

I guess the last rewire put the 500K pot between the ground, and the tone cap.

So I moved the cap to the ground, lifted the grounded terminal of the tone pot, and connected it to the volume pot's input terminal. Aside from pot & cap values, it's now how Telecasters are normally wired.



Not that it really matters, but spending a few days testing changes that don't work very well, doesn't exactly help my playing! Now it's wired like the other two HB Tele's though, so I should be done.

Pete

[Pete Galati]

Just tested the last rewire. Nailed it this time!

I guess I could have just done what worked well before, but I think I learned something about tone controls anyhow.

Now I'm wondering how well this circuit will work on separate volume and tone controls in a Les Paul. Because neither the modern or '50s style Les Paul wiring worked in a Tele. At least not for me.

So I guess my Les Paul Junior Special's going to be the next guinea pig. Because the Tele wiring configuration might work better in a Les Paul too. I need to find out before I put my Les Paul Standard back together.

Pete