Rewiring a tele

Komakino · #1 07-01-2006, 08:23 AM

(Sorry if this belongs elsewhere, with it being a guitar thread, but I know some of the guys here know their guitars)

My brother has a telecaster, almost certainly not a fender, and it needs rewiring. We could take it into a guitar shop, but I thought it might be rather more fun to do it ourselves.

Trouble is, I know little about wiring a guitar. It's a modern fender wiring scheme with two pots, a pickup selector and a single capacitor between the pots.

There are NO wires on this thing, not even from the pickups, so if anyone could help me, practically step by step, with what I need to use and what I need to do, I'd be really grateful.

If this thread would be better in Off Topic, then feel free to move it.

BurningSkies · #2 07-01-2006, 09:43 AM

Here's the 'classic' Telecaster wiring set up.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/support...cs/66tele.html

There's an earlier one, but it pretty much sucks tone, so this one became the standard.

Komakino · #3 07-01-2006, 09:49 AM

Cool, thanks...does it matter which wire from the pickup goes where? As I say, there are no wires on the pickup, so can I treat either wire as yellow or black?

Also, on the neck pickup, I can't even see where one of the wires attaches. Should there be one wire next to each magnet?

BurningSkies · #4 07-01-2006, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Komakino

Cool, thanks...does it matter which wire from the pickup goes where? As I say, there are no wires on the pickup, so can I treat either wire as yellow or black?

Also, on the neck pickup, I can't even see where one of the wires attaches. Should there be one wire next to each magnet?

Now, y'see...that's a problem. You don't just want to do that...but I don't have any good advice for you on getting the leads in the right place. Keep in mind as well, that the wiring points for the pickups are also where the extremely thing pickup winding wire connects. Be very careful when wiring, it's easy to mess up that connection.

Komakino · #5 07-02-2006, 02:35 PM

Hmmm, thanks. I still wanna do this though...does anyone else have any good advice?

Kutmasta · #6 07-03-2006, 12:28 PM

NEVER ever accidentally touch your hand with the soldering iron, the tip or not, it will make a sizzling noise, however cool it may sound. it hurts...a lot.

Komakino · #7 07-04-2006, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kutmasta

NEVER ever accidentally touch your hand with the soldering iron, the tip or not, it will make a sizzling noise, however cool it may sound. it hurts...a lot.

If only you'd posted this a few days ago...

tplyons · #8 07-04-2006, 01:15 PM

If your pickups don't have leads, you might have a serious problem.

Komakino · #9 07-05-2006, 04:59 AM

OK, new idea then...only one pickup has any wires...how can I wire that one pickup up to a pot and to the output jack and miss out the other pickup?

vindy500 · #10 07-05-2006, 05:02 AM

you could buy new pickups

Komakino · #11 07-05-2006, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vindy500

you could buy new pickups

Yes, that's not a bad idea...but then I'd rather do that when I was sure I could properly rewire it!

BurningSkies · #12 07-05-2006, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Komakino

Yes, that's not a bad idea...but then I'd rather do that when I was sure I could properly rewire it!

I'd also suggest new pickups. Its not that hard a job to do the wiring, (its not like you have 3 switches, a preamp, and 6 knobs to work with.

You're also not going to mess up the pickups if you mis-wire them...all of the soldering is at the other end of the leads. DON'T de-solder the leads from the pickups for ANY reason (you've probably figured that one out by now).

For a Tele bridge pickup, I'd suggest the Seymour Duncan Broadcaster Bridge pickup. I have a personal preference for the DiMarzio Twang King for the neck pickup.

vindy500 · #13 07-05-2006, 07:25 AM

have you bought a new pickup yet?

Komakino · #14 07-05-2006, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vindy500

have you bought a new pickup yet?

No..I'm, umm, between jobs at the moment

spudmaster34 · #15 07-07-2006, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kutmasta

NEVER ever accidentally touch your hand with the soldering iron, the tip or not, it will make a sizzling noise, however cool it may sound. it hurts...a lot.

I have a nasty little scar on my finger from that, I have a habbit of spinning pencills around my fingers, the soldering iron felt like a pencil...

The Golden Boy · #16 07-08-2006, 12:59 AM

do you have a camera you can take pics with?