Need any and all wiring and parts suggestions for my new Tele build.

[Freakoftheweek75]

Hello all,

I've just shipped my neck and body off to be painted and in about a month they'll be back at home safe, sound, and ready to come alive. The problem being I know ZERO about wiring, parts, pots, wires, gauges, etc.

I have narrowed it down to a few choice guys here in town that will be able to get this beast put together and wired up for me, and sure they could let me know what i need as well, but i kind of need to start buying parts NOW slowly and steadily as opposed to dropping a ton of coin at once.

Please let me know what all info I can provide that can help you pros better answer my questions here. I can make a few bullets below that may or may not help in answering.

• Soundwise - the bridge will be a bit dirtier and louder - fixed humbucker. Probably a lollar hi-wind or lollar el rayo.
• neck will be a more traditional "classic neck" sound. chimey cleans basically
• i would prefer high output and powerful with as little noise / hum as possible (i know ....i know ....can't have one without the other, right?)

So now that that list couldn't possibly come off sounding any more NEWB - please let me know what other info or specs you may need from me to make recommendations. I'm sure I've left out plenty.  :icon_scratch:

Here's a link to give an idea of what we're working with -

http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=19542.0

 

[line6man]

Keep it simple.
One volume, one tone, and a pickup selector switch.

 

[Freakoftheweek75]

Thanks line6man.

In fact, I kept it even simpler. No tone control.  :toothy10:

This should all probably help as well.  Keep in mind I have not purchased any of the hardware yet - those are just what is going to go in. I'm more curious about getting a laundry list of what other guts I'll need to breathe life into it. I.E. - pots, wiring, shielding, etc.

Configured Items
Category Option
Model Thinline
Hollow,Chambered Hollow
Orientation Right handed
Laminate Top Flame Maple
Core Wood Basswood
Top/Rear Rout Rear Rout
Neck Pickup Tele® (Neck)
Middle Pickup None (Middle)
Bridge Pickup Humbucker (Brdg)
Thinline Controls 3 Way Switch-Thinline
Thinline Controls Volume (Thinline)
Bridge,Trem Wilkinson Tremolo
Output Jack 7/8" (22.23mm) Side Jack Hole
Mounting Holes Standard 4 Bolt
Countoured Heel Contoured Heel
Stud Install No Stud Install
Scale 25-1/2 inch
Neck Pocket Tele® with 720 Mod

 

[line6man]

Thanks line6man.

In fact, I kept it even simpler. No tone control.  :toothy10:

This should all probably help as well.  Keep in mind I have not purchased any of the hardware yet - those are just what is going to go in. I'm more curious about getting a laundry list of what other guts I'll need to breathe life into it. I.E. - pots, wiring, shielding, etc.

Configured Items
Category Option
Model Thinline
Hollow,Chambered Hollow
Orientation Right handed
Laminate Top Flame Maple
Core Wood Basswood
Top/Rear Rout Rear Rout
Neck Pickup Tele® (Neck)
Middle Pickup None (Middle)
Bridge Pickup Humbucker (Brdg)
Thinline Controls 3 Way Switch-Thinline
Thinline Controls Volume (Thinline)
Bridge,Trem Wilkinson Tremolo
Output Jack 7/8" (22.23mm) Side Jack Hole
Mounting Holes Standard 4 Bolt
Countoured Heel Contoured Heel
Stud Install No Stud Install
Scale 25-1/2 inch
Neck Pocket Tele® with 720 Mod

You will need a A250k or A500k pot, a pickup selector switch, an output jack, some wire and some copper tape.

 

[Cagey]

What's the copper tape for? Y'know, you can hold the neck on with screws and they're cheaper...

 

[fdesalvo]

This is a solid reference..

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/

 

[bagman67]

What's the copper tape for? Y'know, you can hold the neck on with screws and they're cheaper...

TO answer seriously - some folks like to solder the ground to a piece of copper tape that is stuck to the lip of the bridge pickup rout, rather than running a bare wire under the bridge.  The tele bridge makes contact with the tape, and bridge grounding is achieved.

 

[Cagey]

Yeah, I could see that working.

 

[Freakoftheweek75]

Thanks for the info all. So if I'm understanding properly, 500K pots are a safe bet for this setup?

 

[AutoBat]

You can run 500k pots in just about anything but actives, and that's what I'd use with your setup.

 

[line6man]

You can run 500k pots in just about anything but actives, and that's what I'd use with your setup.

Not necessarily. It depends on the impedance of the signal you are controlling. If the pickups are active, the output impedance is almost always lowered by an internal buffer, and thus, lower value pots are often used. When passive pickups are ran into preamps, often times, the volume and tone controls run before the preamp input. In such cases, the impedance of the signal remains high in both active and passive modes.

 

[AutoBat]

You can run 500k pots in just about anything but actives, and that's what I'd use with your setup.

Not necessarily. It depends on the impedance of the signal you are controlling. If the pickups are active, the output impedance is almost always lowered by an internal buffer, and thus, lower value pots are often used. When passive pickups are ran into preamps, often times, the volume and tone controls run before the preamp input. In such cases, the impedance of the signal remains high in both active and passive modes.

I think that's what I was saying.

 

[line6man]

You can run 500k pots in just about anything but actives, and that's what I'd use with your setup.

Not necessarily. It depends on the impedance of the signal you are controlling. If the pickups are active, the output impedance is almost always lowered by an internal buffer, and thus, lower value pots are often used. When passive pickups are ran into preamps, often times, the volume and tone controls run before the preamp input. In such cases, the impedance of the signal remains high in both active and passive modes.

I think that's what I was saying.

You were saying that 500k pots were not used with active setups, when they often are.

 

[AutoBat]

Only actives that I'm familiar with are Seymour Duncan Livewires & EMGs, which use 100k & 25k pots respectively.  I know nothing about other manufacturers or the bass world though.

 

[line6man]

Only actives that I'm familiar with are Seymour Duncan Livewires & EMGs, which use 100k & 25k pots respectively.  I know nothing about other manufacturers or the bass world though.

In any case, indeed, a 500k pot with a good audio taper would be the preference here, with the higher output impedance of passive humbuckers. As a side note, if things get a bit too bright without a tone pot, a low value capacitor across the input of the volume pot might be useful to take the edge off.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Without wishing to hijack the thread, could you go into a little more detail on the stuff about using a hardwired cap to roll off the top end? I'm putting a humbucker into a bright Strat soon, with no tone control and a 500K pot, and it's possible I might need to smooth out the highs a little.

 

[Cagey]

It's a rare humbucker that needs highs rolled off. Usually, it's the other way around - there aren't enough of them. In any event, that's what the tone controls on the amp are for. But, if you like, putting a small cap across the volume pot will allow highs to go through when you roll off the volume. The same thing from the hot (input) side of the pot to ground will take some highs away, but it's a fixed effect. You'll have muddied up your pickup for good, unless you put the cap in series with a switch.

 

[line6man]

Without wishing to hijack the thread, could you go into a little more detail on the stuff about using a hardwired cap to roll off the top end? I'm putting a humbucker into a bright Strat soon, with no tone control and a 500K pot, and it's possible I might need to smooth out the highs a little.

Capacitors vary their impedance with frequency. If the frequency is very low, a charge builds on one plate that will never equal on the other in time to pass through, and thus, capacitors blocks low frequencies. As frequency increases, capacitors starts to pass signals. (The capacitance rating will determine that frequency cutoff point.) If you place a capacitor parallel to a pickup coil, the flow of electrons at the higher frequencies passed by the capacitor will follow a lower impedance path to ground, and thus, the treble content will be reduced. By contrast, since lower frequency signals are blocked, they will remain largely unaffected. Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the precise frequency cutoff of a capacitor in a guitar, as the complex parts of the pickup coils' impedances are not as easy to determine as the real parts. Fortunately, in most cases, you can simply use your ears to find what value works best. Perhaps you can start with a 0.001uF cap, and play around from there.

At the end of the day, you're adding a fixed tone pot to the circuit. If you'd like, another way to go about would be to add a tone pot with a trimmer pot mounted inside of the control cavity or under the pickguard. This would allow a degree of fine-tuning not possible with a capacitor alone.

 

[line6man]

It's a rare humbucker that needs highs rolled off. Usually, it's the other way around - there aren't enough of them. In any event, that's what the tone controls on the amp are for. But, if you like, putting a small cap across the volume pot will allow highs to go through when you roll off the volume. The same thing from the hot (input) side of the pot to ground will take some highs away, but it's a fixed effect. You'll have muddied up your pickup for good, unless you put the cap in series with a switch.

I'd be inclined to agree with this, but he mentioned putting a humbucker in a bright Strat, so there might also be a couple of ice-picky singles to deal with.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The singles won't be ice-picky, they're getting 250K of load.

Interesting about the capacitor stuff. So you'd put it across the hot input to the pot (from the 5-way) and the output lug (wire to jack)?

Cagey's right though, I probably won't need it. It's a JB going into the bridge position of an ash/maple/maple Strat. The whole point of the guitar is to sound bright, not like a Gibson.

Nice to know, though. Thanks!