NGD/Help! Nashville Tele with Twisted Tele pickups - Thoughts on middle (strat) pickup?

[smithfactory]

Hey all, I have looked around to see if I could finds an answer to this, but have had no luck, so your help would be appreciated!

I recently locked down a 1999 American Deluxe Nashville Telecaster in trans teal - really excited about it, but not crazy about the noiseless pickups that come stock.

I've always wanted to grab a set of the Twisted Tele pickups, but didn't want to mess with my American original Tele, so this is my chance! Additionally, I understand that the TT pickups are NOT RWRP, which means that if I throw in a RWRP strat pickup, it should work nicely.

I've played around a lot with humbuckers so have a pretty good idea how the outputs of each pickup would correlate, but I have pretty limited experience with playing around with single coils, so I'm not sure exactly how it would work out. I know the neck is 5.9k and the bridge is 10.4k, so I'm assuming I should have something somewhere in the middle? I've got a Vineham Texas Red (basically a clone of the Fender Texas Special), which has an output of 6.5k - any thoughts on this?

Any help would be great, thanks!

I'll add in the obligatory NGD photo - this is from the seller and I'm picking it up this weekend:

 

[Moodivarius]

Texas Special.



Scott

 

[Ricky D.]

Nice looking guitar. What’s that switch between the knobs?

Your Texas Red ought to balance with the TT set, no idea at all if it would be RWRP. But you can sort that out once you have the guitar in hand. Speak up if you need help checking that.

 

[smithfactory]

Nice looking guitar. What’s that switch between the knobs?

Your Texas Red ought to balance with the TT set, no idea at all if it would be RWRP. But you can sort that out once you have the guitar in hand. Speak up if you need help checking that.

Thanks - I think it adds the neck pickup into any configuration l, similar to a blender knob on a strat.

Thank you for the offer! The Texas Red I’ve got in-hand is a RWRP middle, so it should work well with the (as I understand it) non-RWRP TT set. If I run into any issues, I’ll definitely reach out!

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

That's pretty. Love the color.
The toggle switch adds the bridge pickup in positions 4 and 5 only.

 

[smithfactory]

That's pretty. Love the color.
The toggle switch adds the bridge pickup in positions 4 and 5 only.

Ah ok! I haven’t even had a chance to play it plugged in yet. I got my info from an old Cream City Music listing ha!

 

[jim232777]

Love transparent finishes. Very nice! (Sorry, no middle pickup experience to contribute.)

 

[SPUDCASTER]

Did the '99 come stock with the noiseless pickups? If it did, you might have 1meg pots.

My 2016 came stock with the noiseless and 1meg pots.

I had [email protected] Pickups make me a set of true single coils and a new harness w/250k pots.

Also, a no-load Bornes push/pull to engage the neck/bridge combo.

Won't hurt to try the Texas Red since you already have it. Good luck.

 

[smithfactory]

Thanks - never even thought of that! I’ll have to check out the pot situation for sure.

 

[Antoon]

I would keep the specs of the neck pickup as a guideline so 5.9k A5 awg 42..

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

The pots are 250kOhm according to the service manual.
The tone pot is no load.

Service Manual (pdf)

 

[smithfactory]

The pots are 250kOhm according to the service manual.
The tone pot is no load.

Service Manual (pdf)

Oh my god this is amazing!! Where did you find this? As an aside, would love to get one of these for my 2006 Am Deluxe Strat as well.

Just incredibly helpful - thank you!

 

[tegel]

I have a ‘98 in red. I didn’t care for the noiseless either. I tried a few others and settled on Lollars. Neck: Royal T, Middle: 64, Bridge Special T.

At first I tried swapping out just the neck, but it didn’t play well with the others (output was too low). I contacted Lollar, and they recommended this combo.

 

[smithfactory]

I have a ‘98 in red. I didn’t care for the noiseless either. I tried a few others and settled on Lollars. Neck: Royal T, Middle: 64, Bridge Special T.

At first I tried swapping out just the neck, but it didn’t play well with the others (output was too low). I contacted Lollar, and they recommended this combo.

Looking into it this weekend, I THINK my plan is to go Fender Twisted Tele neck, Fender Texas Special mid and SD La Brea bridge. I just need to get some info on winding and polarity - I believe both the Fender and SD sets are RWRP, but they use opposite “standard” polarity, so it might actually work for me.

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

Service manual for the 2004-2010 American Deluxe SSS Strat

 

[smithfactory]

Service manual for the 2004-2010 American Deluxe SSS Strat

Amazing, thanks!