chris77
I opened up my Ibanez thinline tele last night. The bridge pup was only soldered to the p.u switch and not grounded to a pot at all. (There however is a retrofitted wire from the bridge itself to the back of the volume pot. No idea why. Doesn't make sense.) I am going to remove the entire harness and keep it safe somewhere. The guitar isn't stock anymore anyway, so no real collectors value hey. Might as well fix her up a bit I reckon. ? So I will redo the wiring with proper components.
Problem is what pots and caps do I get? It's fitted with 500k pots, but although they look old I don't know if they're original, and I can't even make out the cap value. I would think 250k pots and a .047 cap would be better, no? Details on these old guitars are scarce, but it seems to be a mahogony body with a walnut finish, probably veneer. Will 250k pots work with a mahogony body? Or should I stick with 500's. Or maybe a combination of the two? And what caps?
Any ideas or suggestions are welcome hey.
MikeM
Wire from the baseplate of the tele pickup? That's necessary.
I'd personally go for 500k pots on a mahogany guitar, but that's cause I use the tone control if my guitar's too bright. I'd decide on my capacitor value depending on the sound I'm going for ?
Gearhead
The wire to the bridge is to ground the strings and essential. Does the Thinline have single coils or humbuckers? If hummies then follow wiring diagrams for Les Pauls, if single coils then follow Tele. There are plenty diagrams on the net....
chris77
The wire isn't connected to the bridge pup's base plate, but to the bridge itself.
As for the pups, it's sc's. The net is full of info, some say 500k and some say 250k. That's why I'm asking.... I want the tone as warm as possible without getting muddy. So what would you suggest?
AlanRatcliffe
chris77 wrote:
The wire isn't connected to the bridge pup's base plate, but to the bridge itself.
...and the metal screws between the bridge and plate make a circuit.
As for the pups, it's sc's. The net is full of info, some say 500k and some say 250k.
As per Gearhead's excellent advice - single-coils, it's a trad Tele, so 250K pots. If you're in doubt, scare up a Telecaster diagram and work to that.
MikeM
500k might not be warm enough, 250k might be muddy. It really depends on your guitar and pickups.
Use the pots you already have in the meantime so you can work from a baseline.
Alan, I've known tele's to use up to 1meg pots. Surely a mahogany tele could do with 500ks?
Also, what is everyone's issue with a guitar being a little bright? Rather too bright than too dark, that's why tone controls have treble rolloff.
AlanRatcliffe
MikeM wrote:
Alan, I've known tele's to use up to 1meg pots. Surely a mahogany tele could do with 500ks?
Problem with a Tele is the bridge pickup's tendency to spikiness, and that comes far more from the bridge and saddles than the body wood choices.
Also, what is everyone's issue with a guitar being a little bright?
Amen. That's why tone controls were invented. I far prefer the sound of a bright guitar with treble backed off on the amp than a dark guitar with the treble boosted. I don't usually even fit tone controls on the guitar (a Tele is the one exception) - it comes out bright, but I use slightly hotter pickups to compensate and dial back on the amp.
MikeM
To me teles are notoriously bright, but it was only really the low output bridge pickups of the 70s to my knowledge, that were ridiculously so? Wait, nvm, forgot this is a '71 copy! ?
Well point is... Instead of thumb sucking a value, use your ears, either measure the pot or look for markings, as pick the best for YOUR situation.
ryanguit
yes. i agree with getting it to work perfectly with what you have, mess with height of pickups, etc.
then ask:
can i get enough treble for me through my amp with all the controls maxed?
A) if "yes" or "too bright" then roll down your tone control until you hear the slightest of difference in tone. probably down to 9/10 etc. if that is still too bright for your tastes DONT BUY 250k POTS. if you are digging the tone you get by rolling down to less than 7. rather change pickups. as you probably want a darker,fuller sound and not a weaker, muffled sound. these fuller pickups will mix well with your 500k pots.
B) if "no" or "too mushy" then you going to need 1Meg pots/ the pickups closer to the strings or... you guessed my recommendation, a pickup change. you are now screwed, you are hunting a traditional twang billy tele sound... which may or may not be possible with that guitar being mahogany et al.
-Ryan
small Rant bout tone caps:
caps are so cheap, just get a couple 1n,4n7,10n,22n,47n(traditional)
keep in mind: at 10 there is very little difference, at 0 there is a big difference between tone caps... but who rolls their tone down to 0? no-one. thats why 47n is way too big imo. (even tho its trad)
chris77
Update: I got some 250 & 500k pots and .22 and 47f caps to maar mix and match and see what works for me. Also got two bridge pups from Tonerider to replace the duct-taped pu with. Aaaaaaaaand now the tele pups don't fit the bridge. :@ Turns out both the neck and bridge pups are strat single coil sized, which they probably are. Also explains why they weren't popular and not a lot of these were made hey, they must have sounded nothing like the teles on which they were based! So now I will have to order a new bridge as well, and wait a few weeks more before she's healthy again. Aagh well, it will be worth it in the end I suppose, but man, what a schlep.
Gearhead
Nicovlogg has a Tele bridge for sale, saves the wait and is better price/performance...
chris77
Thanks Gearhead. Forgot about Nico's ad!
