Help Me Finish My Tele Wiring

[StuartJames]

It’s my first time at a complete wiring job so go easy on me. And I’m still learning the ins and outs of soldering. Just going for standard wiring on a 3 way switch.
I’ve been following this diagram. I have a Texas Special Neck that has 3 wires so I have grounded that extra yellow wire to the volume pot with the other black pickup wires
- Do I need that black jumper wire between the pots (above the capacitor)?
- Does it matter where the black wire from input jack goes (either pot)?
-Where exactly does the ground wire go to?
I have just put copper tape in the cavities. For the record it’s a Squier Silver Series with a SD Jerry Donahue in the bridge. I’ve put 500k pots in because it was sounding pretty dull compared to my other guitars
Would appreciate any input
Cheers!

 

[viking]

A ground wire is a ground wire , doesnt matter which pot casing it goes on to. The black connection between pots are just a security , if the nuts work lose , so that the ground to control plate is lost.
I have no idea of the wire colors on TS pickups.
Be careful not to over heat capacitor or pots. Only a few seconds too long can ruin stuff.

 

[Billy3]

Happy first wiring day. The jumper wire is good to have between pots. You can ground that jack wire to any pot you want. Doesn't matter. Remember try not to overheat your pots.
Viking you beat me to it. Oops!

 

[StuartJames]

Thanks guys, so looks like there is a seperate ground wire going from the volume pot Does that go to the body somewhere ?

 

[jfgesquire]

The extra ground wire from your volume pot can go to the body shielding or the bridge. USUALLY on a Telecaster the bridge pickup baseplate is screwed to the bridge, so a second ground contract is redundant, so long as the wrap start wire on the pickup is also soldered to the baseplate, which it almost always is.

 

[StuartJames]

The extra ground wire from your volume pot can go to the body shielding or the bridge. USUALLY on a Telecaster the bridge pickup baseplate is screwed to the bridge, so a second ground contract is redundant, so long as the wrap start wire on the pickup is also soldered to the baseplate, which it almost always is.

Awesome, thanks so much !

 

[kbold]

The vol to tone black wire is not necessary, as the pots are grounding themselves to the metal control plate ... check with a multimeter. It may be a failsafe to put the wire there anyway (some pots may not have case to plate grounding).

Time to get out the multimeter. Check the impedence of the ground points. If the bridge is grounded via the pickup, then the bridge pickup shielding will also be grounded when the bridge is fitted (same for the control plate cavity shielding). The shielding for the neck pickup cavity may not be grounded, so the shielding may need grounding.

With shielding, it's not a good idea to have excees uninsulated wire (like the yellow wire to the switch).
Why did you torture that tone cap? Do you have a sadistic streak?

 

[StuartJames]

The extra ground wire from your volume pot can go to the body shielding or the bridge. USUALLY on a Telecaster the bridge pickup baseplate is screwed to the bridge, so a second ground contract is redundant, so long as the wrap start wire on the pickup is also soldered to the baseplate, which it almost always is.

Ha ha , the cap does look in pain now that you mention it. The previous wiring was done by a pro so I followed his lead. I see what you mean about the yellow wire with the exposed bare wire, I will redo that, I have some shrink wrap I can apply. I found the cloth wire a pain to work with, will go with the plastic insulated wire next time. Thanks for the tips

 

[kbold]

I see what you mean about the yellow wire with the exposed bare wire, I will redo that, I have some shrink wrap I can apply. I found the cloth wire a pain to work with

Cloth wire is much easier to use than plastic insulated. (Cut, pull back cloth, solder.)
The cloth insulation compresses(concertina's) ... just pull the yellow insulation back over the bare wire (it should stay in place).

 

[StuartJames]

So I got it all wired up, it’s nice and quiet , but the middle position sounds thin , quiet and awful. The Texas Special and SD Jerry Donahue are out of phase I guess. Would the best way to fix this be to swap the wires around on the SD JD , so black wire to switch and the yellow to earth?

 

[jfgesquire]

So I got it all wired up, it’s nice and quiet , but the middle position sounds thin , quiet and awful. The Texas Special and SD Jerry Donahue are out of phase I guess. Would the best way to fix this be to swap the wires around on the SD JD , so black wire to switch and the yellow to earth?

Swap the two wires on the neck pickup with each other, switch and ground (the ones NOT attached to the neck pickup cover)

You can't just switch the Bridge pickup wires because the start wire to the pickup is also soldered to ground and will be noisy has heck.

Report back!

 

[StuartJames]

Swap the two wires on the neck pickup with each other, switch and ground (the ones NOT attached to the neck pickup cover)

You can't just switch the Bridge pickup wires because the start wire to the pickup is also soldered to ground and will be noisy has heck.

Report back!

Thanks for the advice. I was leaning towards swapping the bridge pickup wires, so really good to get this advice. It’s all done. It’s sounds better than ever and is nice and quiet. Thanks again

 

[tintag27]

Well done! I did my first Tele soldering when I upgraded my CV50 to a 4 way switch... There was plenty of good information on TDPRI and the web, but still I was pretty amazed when I fired it up and everything worked perfectly!

 

[Meteorman]

I found the cloth wire a pain to work with, will go with the plastic insulated wire next time.

Common (and understandable) mistake for beginners is to employ wire strippers on cloth push-back wire similar to plastic insulated wires.
Results in frayed messy ends.
Not saying you made this mistake, but sorta looks like maybe that happened.
Pushback is designed so you dont have to use wire strippers - just cut the wire (and cloth covering) cleanly with good, sharp wire cutters.
Pull back the cloth carefully, solder, and push the cloth back in place.
Congrats on getting your first job succesfully under your belt !

 

[jfgesquire]

Here's an example of the cloth being pulled right back up to the solder joint.



It was an American Performer with a P90 neck mod.

I redid the entire control plate, pots and switch. I love the cloth pushback. It doesn't melt like PVC and stays where you put it unlike silicone.

The PVC/silicone wiring you see is either from the P90 that I used, or the OEM ground wiring to the cavities. Performers get shielding paint before color coat so might as well use it.

 

[gladman1967]

View attachment 936547 View attachment 936548 View attachment 936542 It’s my first time at a complete wiring job so go easy on me. And I’m still learning the ins and outs of soldering. Just going for standard wiring on a 3 way switch.
I’ve been following this diagram. I have a Texas Special Neck that has 3 wires so I have grounded that extra yellow wire to the volume pot with the other black pickup wires
- Do I need that black jumper wire between the pots (above the capacitor)?
- Does it matter where the black wire from input jack goes (either pot)?
-Where exactly does the ground wire go to?
I have just put copper tape in the cavities. For the record it’s a Squier Silver Series with a SD Jerry Donahue in the bridge. I’ve put 500k pots in because it was sounding pretty dull compared to my other guitars
Would appreciate any input
Cheers!

Really intrigued to see your accomplishments on this guitar. I've just acquired a 1993 silver series tele in black. I see you've upgraded the bridge, presumably with a little extra routing required? If poss please, your recommendation on the new bridge would be grately appreciated.