Replacing pickups on my Tele - how would you go about this?

Fuengi

prowla said:

That wiring ain't a pro job, that's for sure!

I'm slightly surprised, it's a Burns prototype. Must have been thrown together for them from the factory. Either that or somebody has rewired it later. 

It's a cracking guitar, absolutely gorgeous neck and percussive tone.

ICBM

prowla said:

That wiring ain't a pro job, that's for sure!

Sadly, I would say that it is. It’s not even as bad as quite a lot I’ve seen...

p90fool

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I would also replace the lot, but I would be tempted to keep a push/pull in there as a phase switch. 
A single coil Tele bridge out of phase with a neck humbucker is a great combination, it cuts through but is generally warmer than two identical pickups. 

Rocker

@sixstringsupplies will get you up and running in next to no time.

andy_k

p90fool said:

Just to throw a spanner in the works, I would also replace the lot, but I would be tempted to keep a push/pull in there as a phase switch. 
A single coil Tele bridge out of phase with a neck humbucker is a great combination, it cuts through but is generally warmer than two identical pickups. 

My train of thought on this was that a bridge single coil, will always be OOP with one of the coils in a neck humbucker, my interest in this was kicked off when I witnessed Bonamassa doing his BBE set at Newark castle, the led Zep stuff was incredible with his Nocaster, theres proof on YT.

andy_k

This,
forgot how good it was.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuocThsJa0g

Having 2 high power twins and 2 Bassmans full blast no doubt exaggerates the effect though.

Fuengi

Rocker said:

@sixstringsupplies will get you up and running in next to no time.

He absolutely has. Great to deal with, he's just putting a kit together for me. 

ICBM

andy_k said:

My train of thought on this was that a bridge single coil, will always be OOP with one of the coils in a neck humbucker

Not if it's wired right. The two coils in a humbucker are in phase with each other.

(Apart from stacked 'single coil' humbuckers.)

andy_k

ICBM said:

andy_k said:

My train of thought on this was that a bridge single coil, will always be OOP with one of the coils in a neck humbucker

Not if it's wired right. The two coils in a humbucker are in phase with each other.

(Apart from stacked 'single coil' humbuckers.)

I always understood, coils in a humbucker were wound opposite-to each other, to cancel hum?
therefore when a single coil is added to the mix-in middle position, it would be in phase with one humbucker coil, and out of phase with the other, which is what gives the slightly thinner tone-depending on which coil of the humbucker is OOP with the bridge single coil.
It kind of makes sense to me, and also explains the series / parallel switches we all used to add to our guitars in the 80's.
I had only ever tried stacked, or single coil sized humbuckers before this, and the Bonamassa gig got me thinking.

ICBM

andy_k said:

I always understood, coils in a humbucker were wound opposite-to each other, to cancel hum?

therefore when a single coil is added to the mix-in middle position, it would be in phase with one humbucker coil, and out of phase with the other, which is what gives the slightly thinner tone-depending on which coil of the humbucker is OOP with the bridge single coil.
It kind of makes sense to me, and also explains the series / parallel switches we all used to add to our guitars in the 80's.
I had only ever tried stacked, or single coil sized humbuckers before this, and the Bonamassa gig got me thinking.

Yes, the coils are wound oppositely, to cancel hum - but they are also opposite magnetic polarity, so the resulting string signals are in phase.

Series/parallel makes no difference to phase, again if they are wired correctly.

Stacked humbuckers are an odd compromise where the coils *are* out of phase because they are reverse-wound but share a common magnetic polarity, but work because they try to minimise string pick-up by the lower coil so there isn't that much cancellation.

Fuengi

Fuengi said:

Paging @ICBM @Roland @Funkfingers for advice on this birds nest! The cable from the humbucker appears to be a 5 core for some reason. 

What is that thing attached to the tone pot and why has it got two green things stuck to it? 

Can I wire this back up temporarily without the coil split? My new pickups are not going to arrive for a couple of weeks. 

Funkfingers

Yes.

Leave the red and white conductor wires from the humbucker soldered to each other. Insulate the solder joint.