Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey all. I was commissioned to make a Telecaster for a great guitar player from Vermont. Since I really hate the idea of straight knockoffs, I'm doing a bunch of add-ons, upgrades, stylistic improvements, etc. Fortunately, the client gave me the go ahead to basically do whatever I want, so I'm really excited (and a little drunk with power and possibility).

As for electronics, he wants some extra beefiness out of the pickups but without losing all the classic Tele twang. Not just a one-trick pony, but a guitar he can play a whole show with, from chicken-pickin' to funk to classic rock style. So we settled on a humbucker in the neck and regular single coil bridge, with the humbucker wired for series/parallel. This will all be controlled through a 4-way (or 5-way) switch. No mini toggles or push-pulls.

So here's where I need the advice of one of you wiring mavens. I went through all the diagrams on the Seymour Duncan site, but they don't have the exact combo I'm looking for. Pickups will be a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the neck and a Vintage Stack in the bridge. Both are 4-conductor. And a side question: for the pots, should both be 500k? I've never used a Stack pickup. Is it considered a humbucker, thus needing a 500k pot?

Lots of info and questions. Thanks for hanging in there with me. You guys are the best! I'll post some pictures soon as bait.

Not sure about the answers to your questions. Regarding pots, with regular single coils and humbuckers, there are no hard and fast rules. 250k is generally used with single coils, and 500k is generally used with humbuckers, but they aren't required. In fact, I hate 500k pots, and almost never use them. I prefer 250k, even with humbuckers. To my ear, they give a warmer tone, since they bleed(attenuate) more treble to ground that 500k pots do. But to someone else's ears, this may sound like mud. It's all to individual taste.
However, I'm sure there are folk here who can help. But if you don't get the answers you're looking for here, you might consider posting in the Tele Technical forum of the Telecaster guitar forum(TDPRI). Those guys know teles front to back, and could probably give you great advice on how to achieve what you're looking for.

PS; Congratulations on the commission. Good luck with the build!

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks Mike! Excellent suggestion. I'm a member over there, but never posted. Definitely the right forum for this kind of question. I got a response 12 minutes after posting with an offer to draw up the diagram for me.

LOL! Good deal! They're a great bunch over there. A lot of good folk just itchin' to help someone. This forum and that one are the two ones I'm most active in. Glad you got it sorted out.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.