Tele Highway One problem

Do you have another guitar?

 

Anything along the electrical chain could be the culprit - input jack, wire came loose, switch, pickup(s). First thing to do is to make sure it's not something outside the guitar - your amp, your cable, your electrical outlet. If all that's functional then you have to decide whether to open it up and troubleshoot it yourself or take it to a tech.

Don't worry that much about money at this point if you want to take it to a tech. A decent tech will troubleshoot it for free and, believe it or not, most electrical issues are still relatively cheap to have fixed unless you need new pickups. If it isn't a pickup it shouldn't cost more than $30 or so to have a tech fix it.

Personally I'd open it up and take a look to see if there's anything obvious. Soldering loose wires and replacing jacks and switches is pretty easy, and the replacement parts are cheap. I only started repairing and modding my guitars a few years ago, and I wish I'd learned many years ago. Plus, you might enjoy it like I do. Now my friends come to me when they have issues and it's kinda cool to troubleshoot and fix things for them free of charge.

 

First check your cable. (use another cable that you are 100% certain that it works). Then check your amp by pluging in another guitar and cable that you know work. If the amp and cable check out ok, take the guitar to a tech. As Dismalhead said, it won't cost too much to sort it out. Probably a loose wire somewhere.

 

Make sure your cable is inserted all the way. When I first bought my 2003 Hwy 1 Texas Tele the input jack was really stiff and it took a lot of effort to get the cable to fully seat. I thought there was something wrong with the guitar. Sorry not sure if this is a new purchase or a guitar you already have that was working prior...

 

I'd pop out the input jack and make sure no broken ground or lead wires first.

 

Desolder the pickup. Attach its wires to the tip/sleeve of a guitar cable and plug it in your amp. Turn on the amp, tap the pickup withba screwdriver.

 

Once you have tried with a different cable, if the problem persists and taking into account that it's very improbable that both pickups have died at the same time, what rests is cheap and easy to fix. A broken wire/solder, a dead volume potentiometer or a bad jack, or a bad switch.
First of all, open the control plate and visually inspect for some loose wire.
To test the volume pot, just use a piece of wire to connect, temporarily, the central and lateral terminal (the "max" side, not the one that's soldered to the pot case).

 

I doubt that. You probably just have a loose/intermittent connection somewhere.

EDIT: What's that red wire?

 

Ah, OK. That bare connection could be the reason the pickup stopped working. Cover it with electrical tape or shrink wrap, so it doesn't touch anything else.

That bare shield might cause problems, too, if it comes into contact with a lug on the switch

 

Try resoldering the black wire on the switch, and try bending that tab a touch upwards, like the others.