Any way to make series wired brighter?

[Clb8484]

I have a partscaster that I wired to be able to run the bridge and neck in series. I get the higher gain I was expecting, but it is much darker than when the bridge and neck are in parallel. Series setting sounds like tone knob rolled half way down even with it all the way open. I've got 250K volume and tone pots (although taking the tone pot out of the circuit doesn't make a huge difference). I'm wondering if the pot value is causing the dark tone.

I don't want to use 500K pots, but a couple ideas I had:

1. Put the electronics on a switch so that I can take the volume and tone out of the circuit completely - i.e. pickups straight to output jack
2. Using a switch - 500K resistor to ground in lieu of volume pot (basically like an always full volume 500K pot)
3. Some sort of treble bleed? Tone is too dark even with volume knob maxed though (and with tone knob switched completely out of the circuit), so not sure if treble bleed would help in that situation.

I got the idea for the series wiring from the Madcat v2. Watching videos of it the series setting is barely darker than the other settings, but I can't find anything online about how those are wired, except that they use a 4 way switch.

Any suggestions?

 

[BCblues55]

A “standard” 4-way Telecaster switch gives you the regular three pickup combinations plus the two pickups wired in series. I (and many others) have found this to be an easy and useful mod. i haven’t felt the need to go from 250k to 500k pots.

I’ve done it on a bunch of Telecasters to get an extra tone. It’s certainly a thicker tone than any of the other combinations, and it does take a little top end off, but I don’t find it that much darker. Just louder, more focused, if you will. But you certainly hear things differently than I do, so maybe you’re hearing something I’m missing.

I haven’t done on a Telecaster but on my humbucker guitars, I have put an .047 capacitor in series with the pickup’s hot lead (that is, I’ve inserted a capacitor between the hot wire and the volume control. I heard that Seymour Duncan likes to do this to cut the pickup’s muddiness. Not sure how that would be wired to a 4-way switch, but maybe someone else can help.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

 

[Novatuc]

What are your pickups? Remember noiseless pickups are already humbuckers so putting them in series leads to mud sometimes.

 

[Clb8484]

They are Heartbreaker single coils (technically strat pickups). They are RWRP from each other, but are not independently noise cancelling.

Edit: I dont think it should make a difference, but I am using a Freeway 3B3-01 (6 way switch) instead of a 4 way. Everything sounds like it is working correctly. Even the series setting doesn't sound wrong per se (humbuckers usually sound darker to me), but the video below made me question it: at 19:15 The series setting sounds awesome and not dark.

 

[old_picker]

Series wiring will have the effect of creating a boomy tone. That is the reason why pickups are wired in parallel on most guitars. I see many people posting who fear 500k pots and a brighter tone from a bridge pickup. It is that bright slicing tone from the bridge which makes the tele such a useful instrument on stage. If players want a thicker tone, use different pickups. Higher value pots won't make a huge difference but it does widen the tone in the upper frequencies. To combat the brightness use the tone control

Fender used 1 meg pots at various points in the development of the tele as we know it today. No reason why 500k or 1meg pots cant be used on your tele especially if you are finding it dull sounding.

I have never liked the series tone with tele pickups. If I am modding the circuit I'll add stacked concentric tone controls. I add as a matter of course a bleed cap on the volume control which holds up brightness as the volume is wound off. If I use a 4-way I'll use a cocked wah mod which to me is a way more useful tone than the ponderous series mod.

If your Heartbreaker rhythm pick up has a brass cover, it will be contributing to a thicker tone. Nickel silver cover will open up the tone.

 

[Novatuc]

It could be the neck pickup is overpowering the bridge pickup but if you start playing with pickup heights then that of course could lead to other problems.

 

[Boreas]

Don't fear a 500k V pot. Leave the 250k T pot. I have never removed a 500k pot I installed from a Tele. That said, I still have one Tele left with Vintage 64 pickups that I have kept at 250k. I like the fuller sound of the 500k with SCs. 500k or 1M with 'buckers.

 

[BryMelvin]

I have a partscaster that I wired to be able to run the bridge and neck in series. I get the higher gain I was expecting, but it is much darker than when the bridge and neck are in parallel. Series setting sounds like tone knob rolled half way down even with it all the way open. I've got 250K volume and tone pots (although taking the tone pot out of the circuit doesn't make a huge difference). I'm wondering if the pot value is causing the dark tone.

I don't want to use 500K pots, but a couple ideas I had:

1. Put the electronics on a switch so that I can take the volume and tone out of the circuit completely - i.e. pickups straight to output jack
2. Using a switch - 500K resistor to ground in lieu of volume pot (basically like an always full volume 500K pot)
3. Some sort of treble bleed? Tone is too dark even with volume knob maxed though (and with tone knob switched completely out of the circuit), so not sure if treble bleed would help in that situation.

I got the idea for the series wiring from the Madcat v2. Watching videos of it the series setting is barely darker than the other settings, but I can't find anything online about how those are wired, except that they use a 4 way switch.

Any suggestions?

stick to 250 K but use No load pots

 

[birdawesome]

I think the reason why series sounds so dark is similar to having an extremely long cable run. Your signal is just now running through an incredibly long run of wire, that is neck into bridge or bridge into neck. Those windings go on for an incredibly long distance if stretched out, so it could essentially be a capacitance thing with that signal to have to travel through so much wire.

It could be a worthwhile experiment for you to wire your pickups directly to the output jack to see how big the difference is. That’s as bright as you’re going to get it, basically. It’ll let you know whether or not switching to either a higher value pot will be worthwhile or not.

 

[NoTeleBob]

Basically you have a humbucker. Some frequencies get cancelled. More of a BB King tone than a Slash tone.

If you have duel volume controls, back down the neck a little to maybe 8 and it will brighten up as the bridge gets more authority. If you don't have volume for each pickup, consider installing a concentric control. Or, set it up so that when you go series, a resistor gets dropped in the hot side of the neck pickup to cut it back a little.

One other thing you can do is put a capacitor in series with the hot output when you're in series mode (or just put it on a push-pull and switch on when you want it... best of both worlds). A small cap in series will filter bass. BUT, the sound will get thinner. A .001 is a serious bass filter. Larger values will filter less bass. Test in small increments... there's a big difference between .003 and .001. Capacitors add in parallel so get a few and mix-n-match to test.

 

[tubejockey]

Do you really need more highs, or less lows? I have never found strat singles in series to be very useful unless I have a bass control to trim it off. You could probably wire in a trimpot as a bass control that only activates in that position, leaving the saturated mids and highs intact.

 

[Clb8484]

I think the reason why series sounds so dark is similar to having an extremely long cable run. Your signal is just now running through an incredibly long run of wire, that is neck into bridge or bridge into neck. Those windings go on for an incredibly long distance if stretched out, so it could essentially be a capacitance thing with that signal to have to travel through so much wire.

It could be a worthwhile experiment for you to wire your pickups directly to the output jack to see how big the difference is. That’s as bright as you’re going to get it, basically. It’ll let you know whether or not switching to either a higher value pot will be worthwhile or not.

So straight to output jack would be as bright or brighter than swapping in high value pots?

 

[birdawesome]

So straight to output jack would be as bright or brighter than swapping in high value pots?

yep. Straight to output jack is as bright and loud as they can be without any sort of active circuitry

 

[Geo]

Sounds like something circuit wise is not right especially when you mention taking the tone pot out of the circuit.
Best to review all that. If you have Heartbreaker Bella Noire pickups those are more vintage and not hot output
so don't think if those are an issue.
I have 4-ways on 8 Telecasters having both std. and noiseless pickups. The series on all are full, very clear and
bright.

​

 

[Cosmic Cowboy]

I have a 4 way on every tele. Its gonna be darker. Its more for single-string overdriven leads for me.

In the context of an overdriven solo...in a mix...it is great. But not a tone I really use for anything else. But if I need some Duane or Woman tone...I can get it out of my teles.

Otherwise its not in series.

 

[tfarny]

It's darker, and - it doesn't sound like a vintage PAF, it's a compromise. I think it works better when you are starting with underwound, bright pickups in the first place. It can definitely be too dark in my experience, and in the end I don't find it to be as useful as a simple boost or EQ pedal. You can change the pots to whatever values you want, just use your ears and decide what sounds best to you. I don't think it makes a major difference.

 

[Wallaby]

I think the usual suspects for getting a brighter tone are what is possible. Pickup adjustments primarily IMO.

I personally wouldn't compromise single-pickup or middle-position tone one iota to improve the series tone.

it's a compromise.

For sure. Some out there must find it useful, the series/4-way switch mod seems to be endlessly popular, but some descriptions of it I see just aren't realistic.

 

[Peegoo]

I have a homebrew Tele beast with the 4-way switch and the series selection is quite boomy.

I incorporated a "bass cut" circuit (really a low/mid cut) as used for many years on some Hohners and G&Ls, and more recently on many Reverends. It works well to brighten things up.

Click Here for diagram

 

[memorex]

With two (theoretically indentical) pickups in parallel, their total inductance is halved. When the same pickups are in series, their total inductance is doubled, or 4 times their parallel value. Since the total inductance is much greater, this will limit the high frequency output of the pickup combo, as well as lower its resonant frequency. A passive bass cut circuit would cost you all the gain from running the pickups in series. The only real way to keep the gain and get more high frequencies would be to add an active EQ circuit, which may not be what you want to do.

 

[Sparky472]

I have a homebrew Tele beast with the 4-way switch and the series selection is quite boomy.

I incorporated a "bass cut" circuit (really a low/mid cut) as used for many years on some Hohners and G&Ls, and more recently on many Reverends. It works well to brighten things up.

Click Here for diagram

I like this idea a lot, particularly incorporating it just on the 4th/series position. I might give it a go… @Peegoo - where did you put the bass cut pot/knob, just outta curiosity…