Wiring a Tele

DiamondJQuimby

Hey.

I am in the process of assembling a Telecaster at the moment and was wondering what is the best way to wire the Pickups,Switch and Jack outputs.

I am not going for a Standard Tele with two single coils I am putting a Humbucker in the Bridge position and a Single coil at the Neck.

I will be using the standard Tele Volume and Tone Cover plate and was wondering if I will have to use conductive shielding on this to ground the guitar. Also Using a Standard Strat Bridge (Without Tremelo) So I will have to Ground this also,

I have had a look on the Fender Site and although they have loads of wiring Diagrams up there for pretty much all of their guitars I cannot seem to find one for what I am doing. I am using the Standard Three way Switch also.

I am not looking for anything special in terms of Coil Taps Active set-up etc.

I will probably just go for Switch position 1 Bridge, Switch Position two Bridge and Neck, Switch position 3 Neck.

Any links to wiring Diagrams for this and any advice on Conductive shielding appreciated.

I See Maplin do a Conductive Paint which I was thinking of getting.

Cheers

D

Doctor J

Standard wiring should cover you then. Depending on the humbucker you get, it will either have two wires or four wires. Since you're not going for a coil tap, you'll be wiring the two coils of the humbucker together anyway, leaving you with a hot and shield, just like if you were wiring a single coil.

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-3191.html

DiamondJQuimby

Grand So..

I was getting a bit confused about the Humbucker.
I got the Thinline Tele from Stew Mac and I have a Strat neck from Mighty Mite attached.

So I will Solder a Ground Wire from the Baseplate of the Humbucker to the Base of the bridge providing I have access. May have to Drill a Channel under the bridge.

Should I use the Conductive Paint at all or leave as is and just use hight quality Shielded Cable.

I am nearly finished finishing the body, I will post some pics when I have it done.

Thanks.

D

Eoin Madsen

Have you bought the components yet? http://www.guitarelectronics.com is a good site.

You can get adhesive copper foil to shield the inside - but cover the insides fully or not at all. Wire any loose earth wires (separate pickup shields, bridge earth) to the earth on the jack. Some pickups have signal earth wires as well as a wire for pickup shield. As the Doc said, if you're not splitting the humbucker coils then two of the four humbucker pickup wires will be soldered together (and insulated - I find a little heatshrink is good and easy to use). After that, the main wiring really should be exactly the same as normal unless you're modding for something special.

DiamondJQuimby

Thanks Eoin.

It's going to be difficult to shield under the tone and volume so I may have to leave it alone. and See what sort of Signal I am getting when I string it up.
If it is bad I will look into shielding inside.

When you say two of the four wires are soldered together.
They are soldered together Insulated and then not connected to anything correct.?? I have done this before but it has been about eight years and I cannot remember.

Looks like a good site thanks for that.
I have all of the parts anyway. Maybe short a Capacitor but I can get that in Maplin.

D

Eoin Madsen

DiamondJQuimby wrote:

It's going to be difficult to shield under the tone and volume so I may have to leave it alone.

Hmm. How so?

When you say two of the four wires are soldered together.
They are soldered together Insulated and then not connected to anything correct.??
D

Yes. Just connected to each other. You just need to insulate them to stop the loose wires touching anything else, basically. If they go to ground or get disconnected the pickup won't work. Make sure you know which ones are which before you solder though!

DiamondJQuimby

Eoin Madsen wrote:

Hmm. How so?


I mean the cavity in the guitar is fairly small to get at..
So it would be difficult to get at the whole thing with copper foil.

The last guitar I made was easy enough because the rout was standard Gibon style from the back which could be easily lined with foil.

I'll give it a shot anyway.

Eoin Madsen

DiamondJQuimby wrote:

I mean the cavity in the guitar is fairly small to get at..So it would be difficult to get at the whole thing with copper foil.

Still not following tbh. I had no problem lining my brothers Jazz Bass - the foil is pretty easy to use, you just have to break it up into lengths for bending around curves etc. It folds quite easily - you have to push it in to the corners with something thin and flat but not sharp, and be careful to stick it down as you lay it, rather than all at once.

The only real risk is slicing yourself open with the edge of it. Urgh.

feylya

Eoin Madsen wrote:

The only real risk is slicing yourself open with the edge of it. Urgh.

Jesus, I did that before. Wasn't pleasant.

You can use the arse end of a ball point pen for getting the foil in I've found.

DiamondJQuimby

Grand..

Just had a look at the Jazz Basses there similar sort of rout.

Will give it a go.

Now wheres that bic