Push push on tone pot on a telecaster

MikeDearing

i have a telecaster I love .. But.... The neck humbucker is louder than the bridge... And I want to have a volume on a push push on the tone circuit so that in mid position I have a volume on neck and a volume on bridge to mix the blend... Any ideas ? I only ever use the tone on the bridge pick up on a tele anyway  - I'm the bloke when I'm playing gibsons I'm always on both pickups blending the volume...

Sesh

Have you thought about swapping the volume for a concentric pot so you'd have two volumes? I've got two concentric pots on a tele control plate to give two volume and two tone controls. They do stick out a fair bit more and may ruin the look for you.

I think you can also add resistors into the signal path of the humbucker to balance its output with the other pickup, but that's a question for someone who knows the electrics better than I do.

MikeDearing

Yep I thought about both of those options - concentrics are tricky live (especially in the environments I play which are really sweaty - weddings or functions or a really busy blues jam)  and the resistor is tricky because I want the full fat sound of the humbucker when it's by itself...  I think I'll ditch the pickup and go with a gentler one -i I'm happy with the bridge pickup it has a great sound and as we know it's a lottery with tele bridge pickups.. As they get more potent the strangled cat announces his arrival... To misquote Campilongo there is already plenty of treble on a telecaster, without any more.. This one is very jazzy...

Roland

Before changing anything it might be worth lowering the neck pickup to reduce the signal strength.

steamabacus

I'm not sure if you can achieve what you want without concentric pots but...

You say you only use the tone control on the bridge pickup - could you get away with a preset amount of treble roll-off? You could have volume controls for neck and bridge pickups with a preset tone roll off on the bridge via a push-push pot. It would just involve a capacitor and a resistor (you could probably even fit in a mini trim pot so you could adjust it just right).

Would that be a workable compromise?

Sesh

Another option: Add a third pot between the other two. I've seen this done and it looks tight but not offensive.

Or, get a new, undrilled control plate. If you swap the tele switch for a Les Paul type you could save some space and space three pots out better. Never seen this done but might look ok.

MikeDearing

The steam abacus solution is a potential . Though I may just find a suitable lower output humbucker amongst my extraneous bits box :-) but having decoupled an early 1980s nickel cover off a very early JB to make the pickup less honky seems to be an injustice if it is to be discarded  :-( also apart from a set of patent number 1970s HBs all the other ones are gold plated...  And that predominantly why they are in the parts box...  Ho hum ....   

koneguitarist

Two volumes, one a 500 switched for HB and one a 250 for Tele, switch on HB pot could bring in a very low value cap to change tone of bridge pickup, everything looks the same but more versatile.

MikeDearing

That's what I had in my fevered imagination... However I've gone for a 3 knob solution called a jazz telecaster set up - volume Volume tone and I'll put a 250 on the bridge vol maybe... I'll use an old Gibson humbucker or a BK mule I have spare and see what occurs - the current humbucker required careful  amping which is a pity - it's a very honky SDJB.... the instrument is fab so it's getting the sound just right I'll post a pic when it's stopped evolving haha  it's got a top loading 6 piece bridge on that I'm really pleased with 1961 style ... Far more open than through the body...