Should I upgrade my electronics?

[100LL]

Asking for opinions with regard to the notion that popped into my head of upgrading my Tele electronics.

Background; I have a 2019 Special Edition Deluxe Ash Telecaster that has upgraded pickups to an American Vintage ‘52 set.

I am thinking about now upgrading the electronics to a Mojotone Pre-wired Tele Premium Guitar Wiring Harness

Wanted to ask here if this is a worthwhile effort and if there’s a noticeable difference

 

[schmee]

What is in it now? Take the control plate off and show us the guts.
I'm thinking likely no... waste of $.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

Unless it’s broke, I don’t fix it myself. Are you having an issue?

 

[Telekarster]

Hmmm.... I would think you pretty much have those electronics in there now, correct? I doubt you'd hear any real difference

 

[100LL]

What is in it now? Take the control plate off and show us the guts.

good idea.

here we go:

 

[schmee]

good idea.

here we go: View attachment 1001194 View attachment 1001193

That's all good stuff. Leave it. Proper switch and CTS pots.

 

[john_cribbin]

The only difference you'll notice is less money in your bank account!!

 

[100LL]

I was thinking the capacitor might be a bit lacking. I know there are some capacitor snobs out there. Is that a real performance/tone thing?

 

[john_cribbin]

I was thinking the capacitor might be a bit lacking. I know there are some capacitor snobs out there. Is that a real performance/tone thing?

Nope, there is no power going into the capacitor, it is just a bleed to earth so a 'quality' cap will make no difference.

Saying that, I am guilty of fitting Orange Drops on more than one occasion. I know they have no benefit over a ceramic capacitor, but they do look pretty ....

 

[Swirling Snow]

That's very nice wiring, but even allowing for premium parts, it still seems over-priced.

Based on selling caps to hundreds of customers, you won't like the cap value they're selling unless you have a seriously vintage sound in your head (early '50s).

TBH, I prefer Orange Drops for a Tele. Leave the oil in paper to the humbucking guys. I like .015s, myself. That's cocked wah territory. .047s are for that "comp along with the orchestra" sound.

 

[Si G X]

I was thinking the capacitor might be a bit lacking. I know there are some capacitor snobs out there. Is that a real performance/tone thing?

lacking in what... capacitance?

by all means change the cap if you want to (try some different values if you use your tone knob a lot) but there's no need to change anything in there.

 

[Fenderbaum]

I quit buying finished harnesses. I always end up changing the caps or removing the Treble bleed.
Bought a 7-way Hoagland harness once with Auricaps and treble bleeds. Also had linear pots on tone that i did not like.. Prefer audio taper. The only thing left on it is the Volume pot and the switch.

More fun to solder up the wiring from ground up.

 

[JustABluesGuy]

I was thinking the capacitor might be a bit lacking. I know there are some capacitor snobs out there. Is that a real performance/tone thing?

I have never changed one myself, but I’m not much of a tweaker. Some people enjoy doing such to make a guitar brighter or darker. I use the tone knob myself.

 

[Swirling Snow]

I was thinking the capacitor might be a bit lacking. I know there are some capacitor snobs out there. Is that a real performance/tone thing?

Is it real.... ...? Uh....

Some people can hear a difference. BUT, if you change capacitors the biggest difference you hear will likely be because they are of different values. Capacitors aren't, you know, that accurate. And, they have trouble with other developmental diseases like hysteresis. I wouldn't want to be the mother of a cap.

So, if you can hear a difference feel free to experiment, but don't tell your friends. They might look at you funny. If you know what I mean.

 

[burntfrijoles]

Don’t bother. It’s not worth it and there’s no tangible improvement

 

[bgmacaw]

I agree that you'll be doing this, although it could be the set you're considering has better confirmation biasing.

 

[dsutton24]

The Mojotone thing isn't an upgrade. They cater to those who like to brag about spending a lot of money for no gain.

Now, I do like a sexy capacitor. I buy axial lead film caps from various eBay dealers. They typically cost a buck or less. They don't do anything better than your disc ceramic does, I just like the way they look. Axial lead caps can be tucked down out of the way.

Hey, I'm a low-rent snob.

 

[jrblue]

This forum is full of people who love to fiddle with stuff and for whom tweaking is a fun hobby. If you're that type, then go ahead and fiddle. From a musical standpoint, if you are not experiencing a problem or have some specific objective in mind, just fiddling with parts is, IMO, well, bad. I can wire stuff well and quickly, but even so, any little experimental tech tweak I could do would have less musical impact than if I used that time to learn something new.

 

[Hodgo88]

For what it's worth, you can literally get a soldering iron, solder, and all the caps you might want to try for the price of that harness. The other components are not worth replacing unless you find the taper of the pots unacceptable.

 

[Dukex]

I wouldn't change anything except if I wanted to try different pickups.