more Tele pickup problems

[Geraint Jones]

I`ve just started stripping my well loved Tele down for a new finish etc . The pickups that were fitted supposedly by a top tech don`t seem to conform to circuit diags I`ve seen over the net . The bridge pick up is an SD stacked humbucker ident 2BX,wired up with the BL wire to selector and GR to vol . The neck pick up which I thought was a Dimarzio Vintage Tele single coil neck has an ident on it 1NR which does`nt seem to follow with their numbering system and I can`t find record of. Also with the 4 wire output would apprear to be a humbucker as well . Have a look at the photo the soldering is pretty shocking but both pickups have the red and white outputs twisted together .Also the tone has a twin pot is this common ? the cap is soldered between these and not between the Vol pot as well .Any thoughts on a rewiring configuration ?

http://i577.photobucket.com/albums/ss218/purlnekless/DSCF1150.jpg

 

[marnold]

The leads on both pickups are consistent with Seymour Duncans. They are both humbuckers of some form. The green lead on the bridge is grounded to the volume pot, or at least what appears to be a hunk of solder on the pot.. It appears to me that the neck is grounded to the control plate which would seem to be a recipe for ground loops. Although I can't tell for sure, it seems that he's only using that top part of a concentric pot for the tone. Why that would be, I'm not sure. He seems to be jumpering (is that a word?) the hot leads from one side of the switch to the other which would seem to me to be unnecessary, but I'll let the real experts chime in here.

The red and white leads are usually soldered together and taped off. They are only used for coil cutting or series/parallel switching.

The only thing I was able to find about 2BX is that a pickup by that name has been replaced by the STK-1 Hot Stack for Strat. My guess is that the neck is also a vintage stack or something similar.

 

[markb]

I think your tone pot is a Fender TBX control. It have a notch at the halfway point but they're sometimes quite subtle on these controls. From you picture it doesn't look like it's wired up correctly for a TBX.

 

[Geraint Jones]

Yes Mark there does feel to be a notch half way thru the range its also got an 82k ohm resistor between the tone pot case and the lower pot . I think Marnold that Dimarzio have the same colour wiring as SD but a different wiring setup which will make it all the more interesting . I`d be keen to try and get the full range of selections from both pups . Here`s a close up photo Mark of the tone control.

 

[markb]

Yes, that's a TBX! It looks like it is wired up right from the other side

Personally I'd pull it and replace with a 250K CTS pot and a .047 cap in a normal tele. But then maybe you should use 500K pots with that stacked 'bucker. TBXs don't really work very well in passive circuits

 

[marnold]

I think Marnold that Dimarzio have the same colour wiring as SD but a different wiring setup which will make it all the more interesting .

SD: black is hot, green is ground, wire white and red together
Dimarzio: red is hot, green is ground, wire black and white together

I'm not sure what would happen if you wired a Dimarzio like an SD, but I'm guessing you wouldn't like it. I'd be willing to bet a good chunk of cash that the neck pickup is a Duncan.

 

[Geraint Jones]

I think you may be on the right track Marnold , having thru google trawled thru a 40 page SD catalogue it could be an Alnico 2 neck pup in red . I don`t know whats supposed to be red but have a look at the photo . I got the pups changed in about `93 , I seem to remember having a bigger and louder is better kind of ethos at the time , but I`m farly certain I got a Dimarzio for the neck maybe I`ve been fitted up again !

 

[markb]

If it's 4 conductor it's got to be a stacked humbucker. And, look, there are four solder points for the coil ends. SD do a couple of different stacked tele neck pickups . Can you get the cover off without destroying it? If you could get a meter across it it might give a few clues too. Or you might try emailing their support dept. with the sticker code.

If it's any consolation I still don't know what pickups are in my strat (except the bridge which I put in a few weeks back).

 

[WackyT]

Is this the mystery pickup?

Seymour Duncan STK-T1n Tele Vintage Stack Neck Pup

 

[Geraint Jones]

Thanks Wacky very similar looking pup , identical wiring routing as well . I`ve left my multimeter in work so I won`t be able to do any con checks for a bit so its back out the garden for now, still sanding down the body .

 

[Geraint Jones]

Nice bit of detective work everyone , the neck pup does measure 15.8 k across the coils which is the spec for the SD Vintage stack , the hot rail on the bridge coming in at 20.4 k ohm . On their own they sound great but together pretty terrible.

 

[markb]

That middle tone on a tele is very sensitive to pickup height. I usually go for a little more bridge than neck for that twang. Of course, your humbuckers are different animals than my Alnico 3 singles.