Need help/advise with TELE Mod Project

[My Guitar Weeps]

I’ve got a Nashville Tele that I’m wanting to turn into a fullsize hb neck / tele bridge guitar. Like a 52’ hotrod except with a fullsize hb. I’ve got a few questions on what I’ll need to complete the job, but first let me tell ya what’s under the hood currently…..

I’ve replaced the pots with a RS superpot 280k on the volume (cts) and a CTS 250k audio taper for tone. The cap is a RS/Jensen P&O .047mfd. Neck pu is SD APII, mid SDAPII for strat, and bridge is Zhang Paul Bunyon (Killer pu!). All the wiring is cloth covered. 5-way switch replaced with a new oak grigsby 5-way that gives me neck +bridge in the 3spot (middle position). All other switch positions are like a regular strat. All cloth covered wiring.

Here’s the replacement guard I’m looking at:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&it em=350083850536

I’m trying to use what parts I have around the house now if I can. I’ve got a pair of Gibson BBPro hb’s.

My questions…

• Will the Gibson or any other standard sized hb string spacing match up with the Fender spacing for what I’m trying to accomplish?
• What pot/cap changes will I need to make? Change both too 500k? What effect will that have on the single coil in the bridge?
• Other than getting a new 3-way switch, is there anything else I need to do that I haven’t considered?

I’ve got a couple of weeks before our next show so this is the best time I’m going to have to get this project completed. I’ve been wanting to do this for a few months now but I haven’t really had the time. Any help or advise you guys can offer me will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much!

[Gris]

I've built/modded a couple of these. The string spacing will be fine. The biggest issue is the pots. The 250K pots will translate into mud (or a jazz tone if you prefer, LOL) with even the brightest of buckers, mini-buckers included. What I've found works best is getting as overwound and/or fat a bridge pickup as you can stand (I assume you want to retain twang), then using 500k pots. E.g., the Fralin Steel Pole Tele bridge PUs match up well with buckers. The other way you can do it to have a no-load pot and take the tone control out of the circuit when using the neck bucker, if you can live with that. The switch can be anything, but I like 4-way and 5-way switches because you can get creative with them (series SC=bucker, in/out phase, etc.).

[My Guitar Weeps]

Well that's good news on the spacing.....

good news on needing a bright humbucker too. I've got the bridge BBPro which I ran with a 300k pot while in my Lester because it was too bright with a 500k. That's only 20k diff between the 280k vol pot that's in the tele now and that's if both pots metered out dead nuts. Only 30k diff in the tone pots. The lester was solid mahogany so I know the tele is brighter. Maybe that particular hb will work well in this guitar with the 250k pot and maybe drop the cap back down to a .022mfd? Honestly the bridge pickup sounded better to me with an .022 and I've been meaning to switch the .047 out.

Think that will still be muddy?

I wonder what SONIC results would be yielded in the tele if I "Peter Green'd" the humbucker. I guess that combination is possible. Flip the magnet in the hb and turn the pu around. Can it be wired to run out of phase with the tele single in the bridge in the middle position of a 3 way? I'm getting side tracked, but I bet it would be bad_ss! I'm sure it's been done.

Back to my situation, my bridge pu is mean.. it has a p90 quality to it but retains the tele twang. I definitley don't want to replace it. It's a staple.

[My Guitar Weeps]

Theoretically, it shouldn't be any different than the wiring/pot/cap config. on a 72' tele custom correct?

I know folks have asked about doing this before....too many tinkers' for it to not have come up. I'm going to go look at the Fender schems again and see if they have one on the custom.

[My Guitar Weeps]

Theoretically, it shouldn't be any different than the wiring/pot/cap config. on a 72' tele custom correct?

I know folks have asked about doing this before....too many tinkers' for it to not have come up. I'm going to go look at the Fender schems again and see if they have one on the custom.

Never mind, I didn't realize the tele custom was a 2 tone 2 volume guitar.....

[My Guitar Weeps]

They do use 250k pots and .022 caps all the way around...

[Gris]

The original Fender humbucker guitars used 1 meg pots. I've had a few guitars with Fender Wide Range Humbuckers in em and liked the 500k better, but that's not what PU you're using so moot point. I prefer to use larger value pots and then EQ the amp if necessary. I don't like holding the PUs back, YMMV.

[My Guitar Weeps]

Thanks Gris

I did find a diagram from Fender but the hb in their diagram is a 4 conductor hb.....

Traffic slow around here these days????
I almost posted this in the tele section......maybe I should have

[My Guitar Weeps]

Gris, if I were to try a blade or other single coil sized humbucker what would both pots still need to be changed to 500k?

[Gris]

Obviously not if you are doing separate 4-pot wiring, but if you are doing trad Tele 2-pot wiring then my comments reflect my views.

[My Guitar Weeps]

I'm keeping the traditional vol & tone controls