Tele Electrical Problem

grappagreen

Hi all,

Appreciate if anyone can help with an issue I have with a new Tele. Basically position 2/3 sound exactly the same when I switch between them. I popped the cover off and can’t find any wiring diagram that looks like what’s on this thing..

When I took a look I could see that the cap connected to the switch looked disconnected at one end (yellow sleeve) so I soldered this into the switch lug that appeared to be the one it had disconnected from - still no difference.

I’m handy with a soldering iron but sadly have no idea how this is supposed to be hooked up.

https://i.imgur.com/6ps89sV.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/9xuaAHE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/ZquDLtu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BSA4Fva.jpg

Si

GSPBASSES

Might be the neck pick needs to be lower and the bridge pickup higher.

ICBM

That's the 'vintage' Tele wiring with the bass cap disconnected - it will do exactly that. You need to rewire it to the 'modern' Tele schematic.

Henrytwang

That doesn’t look like original Telecaster wiring. I don’t know how handy you are with a soldering iron but I’d be inclined to find one of the excellent Tele wiring diagrams available on line and rewire the whole thing. It should only take about half an hour, a Telecaster isn’t exactly cutting-edge electronics, just a great example of Leo Fenders practical genius.

grappagreen

Thanks for the responses all..

As @ICBM stated it is vintage wiring.. I connected the cap to the wrong place and can now see the original solder on the pot where it would have been.

I'll want to change it to modern wiring but have one question based on a schematic I've just looked at - the vintage appears to have a 250k vol pot specified and modern 1meg?

Thanks,

Si

ICBM

250K is correct. 1M is for stacked noiseless pickups - although Fender did use that value in the 1970s with standard single coils, and it's come to define the term 'ice pick treble' .

While you're at it, move the jack ground wire from the tone to the volume pot and twist it tightly with the hot wire - this reduces noise.

grappagreen

@ICBM - legend as always..appreciate the advice..

Si

Johnnyseven

I think one of my Teles is wired the same as the OP's as I have the same issue. Can anyone tell me what I am getting in the middle position with the 'vintage' wiring?

For modern wiring should the cap be soldered to the back of the tone pot and the middle tone pot lug?

grappagreen

You are getting just the neck pup. In pos 3 you are getting just the neck pup in 'dark' mode i.e. no tone ctrl and top end pre-rolled off.

Take a look at this for modern layout;



Also note @ICBM comment about twisting the hot/ground on the output jack..

Regards,

Si

ICBM

Found some pics now - this is how *not* to do it, although the switch wiring is what you want...



... and this is how to do it.



That's a Fender CS Tele before and after rewiring to reduce noise, by the way - which it did, drastically, even though it actually already had the jack grounded to the volume pot (correct) instead of the tone pot (traditional Fender wiring, but wrong).