Third wire unwanted-what to do

[68Bassman]

I went to change out pickups on a friends tele and was provided pickups with a third wire coming out of the middle between the (+) and (-) wires, I'm assuming a coil tap for alternate wiring. Anyway He wants a traditional wire job. Question is , doI just bend back and tape off the bare braided third wire, and procede as normal, never ran into this before.Thanks, sorry for most likely a dumb question.

BW

[cdw2000]

The fact that it is bare braided would seem to indicate that it is a shield wire.

Just to be sure, you can check it's continuity to the other wires with an ohm meter. Set your ohm meter to the 20K setting and you should see no connection between this wire and the others. If it is a tap, you should see some resistance less than 10K between this wire and either of the others.

Assuming its a shield you can either connect it or leave it unconnected. I would connect it to the common ground on the back of the volume control as is done with the Fender noiseless pickups. in any case, since it is bare, make sure it does not contact any other connections. Maybe put some heat-shrink tubing over it...

[68Bassman]

Thanks cdw2000, I'll test it for continuity and respond accordingly.

BW

[Toneseeker]

I swapped the Pups on my Tele for Seymour Duncan Vintage 52's. They had that same 3rd wire. As I recall I just connected it to the black wire..no problems.

Pete

[68Bassman]

Thanks TONESEEKER , Tomorrow I will check all options. One good thing about wiring a guitar, you can always re-do it 'til satisfied.

BW

[68Bassman]

Thanks again guys, finally found a wiring diagram that shows the bare wire going to the back of the volume pot. Wired it up---works perfect.

BW