50‘s wiring

[PCollen]

Dumb question, sorry:

View attachment 915655

This is the 50‘s wiring from the Seymour Duncan website. Am I right, the cap isn‘t grounded on this schematic? Sorry, soldering/electricity isn‘t my main hobby
Anyone here tried this wiring?
Thanks!

The center tap of the tone pot is grounded and provides the necessary ground to the tone circuit as Wayne Alexander states in his post...see link below:


https://www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/tone-pot-wiring

 

[stefanhotrod]

I‘m blown away!

I‘ve soldered the 50‘s wiring like the Seymour Duncan version and it‘s really a game changer (TAD 250k CTS dimple pot, Fender CTS no load tone pot, .22 Orange Drop).

More lively, more dynamics, more twang and much more „in your face“ tone. Really fantastic!
I love the behaviour of the two controls and the option of the no load pot. What a difference to the standard wiring (also with best components). I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks all!

 

[Willie Johnson]

I was having the volume not fully shut off on my single P90 Esquire-like thing (still can't quite figure out how that happened--short or something), and redid it tonight with 50's wiring, and love it. Now my Tele is set up like this, and it sounds great, too. I have a .022 cap in there and might see how a .047 works. Very crystalline.

 

[_dave_]

I‘m blown away!

I‘ve soldered the 50‘s wiring like the Seymour Duncan version and it‘s really a game changer (TAD 250k CTS dimple pot, Fender CTS no load tone pot, .22 Orange Drop).
View attachment 920880
More lively, more dynamics, more twang and much more „in your face“ tone. Really fantastic!
I love the behaviour of the two controls and the option of the no load pot. What a difference to the standard wiring (also with best components). I couldn’t be happier.
Thanks all!

Gonna try this today. I’ve got modern wiring now, but dynamics and tone are good. I really enjoyed my Les Paul controls so am hopefully used to the interactivity. Also anxious to hear what the no load does to my (delta) tone. Thanks for this thread.

 

[sjtalon]

test leads are your friend....................save solder time for comparisons.

 

[_dave_]

Well I didn’t have much luck w/50s wiring so I put back the modern wiring EXCEPT I removed the treble bleed circuit and left only 3-way switching and I love the change. Seems less brittle. I also messed up the no-load pot but I don’t seem to be missing anything without it.
Never realized how much wiring makes a difference.

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Well I didn’t have much luck w/50s wiring so I put back the modern wiring EXCEPT I removed the treble bleed circuit and left only 3-way switching and I love the change. Seems less brittle. I also messed up the no-load pot but I don’t seem to be missing anything without it.
Never realized how much wiring makes a difference.

Hi.

Yeah, I like the treble bleed gone daddy, gone.

But, I also get that it works for others.

Everything I have (which is very little really) is or got put to 50s type wiring. I like it, and it seems to make a difference. Comparisons are hard though, as the old is no longer there and the difference is not super stand-outing.

Pax/
Dean

 

[moosie]

Well I didn’t have much luck w/50s wiring so I put back the modern wiring EXCEPT I removed the treble bleed circuit and left only 3-way switching and I love the change. Seems less brittle. I also messed up the no-load pot but I don’t seem to be missing anything without it.
Never realized how much wiring makes a difference.

You might try 50s again, but without the treble bleed circuit in place. It's one or the other, not both. 50s does other things, but along the way eliminates the issue that a TB is needed for. I've never used both at once (no one would, on purpose), but I wonder if that treble bypassing the voltage divider is messing up your evaluation of 50s.

 

[TokyoPortrait]

Hi.

…50s…treble bleed circuit…It's one or the other, not both.

Ah ha. It didn’t occur to me that *maybe* @_dave_ meant he tried including a treble bleed in with 50s type wiring. Cos yeah, you don’t want both. And when I said above I like treble bleeds gone, I meant that in the context of ‘going with 50s wiring necessitates that.’

Pax/
Dean

 

[moosie]

Hi.



Ah ha. It didn’t occur to me that *maybe* @_dave_ meant he tried including a treble bleed in with 50s type wiring. Cos yeah, you don’t want both. And when I said above I like treble bleeds gone, I meant that in the context of ‘going with 50s wiring necessitates that.’

Pax/
Dean

"I put back the modern wiring EXCEPT I removed the treble bleed".

When he bailed on 50s, he put it back to modern, except he also removed the TB at that time. So it was there during the 50s test.

That's how it reads to me.

 

[_dave_]

"I put back the modern wiring EXCEPT I removed the treble bleed".

When he bailed on 50s, he put it back to modern, except he also removed the TB at that time. So it was there during the 50s test.

That's how it reads to me.

Yeah, I got confused with everything and thought I might’ve messed up the no load pot indent along the way.
I also think the no load might use opposite tabs than normal. I pulled the treble bleed at the end, maybe I had the 50s right, but got tired and went to bed.
Next try will be 50s with the no load. I’m not sure if the pot I have will still work with the indent. I may disassemble it and try to correct any deformations I may have accidentally done. Otherwise I’ll re order a new one.
I’m also considering removing the neck pu cover to open up the tone a bit. I’ve got an open cover on the way.
Probably will best wait til next weekend to solder anything til after I’ve got my head straight on what I want. I’ve also got a push pull pot for possibly 4-way I had previously but not all to sure I really would use it as much as the delta tone.
Thanks for the replies.
Oh- and if anyone has a diagram for 50s including no-load pot, would appreciate it much.

Thanks again.

 

[_dave_]

I finally did it. Sloppy soldering but solid contact, need to string up.
Will probably resolder cleanly at some point but hopefully this is the correct 50s with no load.
‘Just move one lead over…’.

 

[_dave_]

test leads are your friend....................save solder time for comparisons.

THIS saved me lots of guessing time.
THANKS @sjtalon for the heads-up.
Not easy when iron is hot and eager to wire-up without a clue

 

[_dave_]

oh…and TOP LOADING today…

 

[_dave_]

Wow. Wow.
50s wiring
No load
Top load
Telecaster
Brass saddles
Vintage tuners
Pickup height adj
Usable volume
Usable tone
I turned off my dirt/boost pedals (gulp)

I Love TDPRI.

THANKS GUYS.

 

[_dave_]

I notice that now my guitar is a lot brighter. I’ve turned amp tone down and no load is at about 50% and is nice but still very OPEN sounding, not trebly but VERY clear. (Kind of crispy)

Any suggestions to warm it up a bit? I may remove the no load and considering back to normal wiring. (Or experimenting)

Would an .022 tone cap make a difference? — I have a .047 now, backing off almost all the way sounds very nice…

(I’ve got a twisted tele neck and a broadcaster bridge pickup from a ‘14 am Std tele. )
Thanks.

 

[moosie]

I notice that now my guitar is a lot brighter. I’ve turned amp tone down and no load is at about 50% and is nice but still very OPEN sounding, not trebly but VERY clear. (Kind of crispy)

Any suggestions to warm it up a bit? I may remove the no load and considering back to normal wiring. (Or experimenting)

Would an .022 tone cap make a difference? — I have a .047 now, backing off almost all the way sounds very nice…

(I’ve got a twisted tele neck and a broadcaster bridge pickup from a ‘14 am Std tele. )
Thanks.

A no load tone pot is exactly the same as a regular one, with one exception. On 10, it is completely removed from the circuit. But there's no difference in brightness or other tonal aspect, just because you're using one. Unless you dial it up, and remove it from the circuit. The effect of that is a tiny bit more treble. Many can't hear it. I'm not sure I can, it depends on my other settings, and if I'm paying attention. No way would I hear it in a band setting.

If you regularly keep the tone rolled back, no-load is pointless. In that case, the cap value is of more interest. Theoretically, the same tone is available with a bigger cap, but the sweet spot will be at a different place on the dial. In practice that rarely works. I suggest using the smallest cap that gets dark enough for your taste. The full sweep of the pot will be available to dial in the nuances between full treble, and that darkest point. A bigger cap simply makes the low range of the sweep useless.

I prefer a .015, or .01 for single coils. In fact, smaller would probably work fine, too.

Keep in mind, some folks are very used to finding the desired treble cut with just a slight roll back, to say 8. If you like that, and are familiar with it that way, you may not appreciate having to spin the dial further to get there.

If you're in testing mode, I'd get some alligator clips, and roll through a bunch. Start by finding the smallest cap that gets dark enough. Work up from there only if you want to have LESS sweep, even if it means part of the dial being unusable.

I haven't closely tracked all that you're doing, but if 50s wiring seems much brighter, it's because the volume is rolled back, and before you were experiencing a lot of passive treble loss. It could happen even with a treble bleed, depending on the recipe, your actual pot and pickup values, etc.

 

[_dave_]

Thanks moosie, I think because I ride the vol up and down, (mostly down and bring up as a boost as needed) I’m noticing the brightness of the 50s wiring more, I think.
I’ll try the .022 cap I have and go from there.
I am learning quite a bit as I Frankenstein my Tele.