Two Teles, Part 7
Here’s the wiring harness. If you’re wondering why a guitar with one pickup needs a selector switch, it’s because of some very cool tone options. The right-hand position (from the player’s perspective), is the pickup with the volume control straight to the output. Max twang! The middle position re-connects the tone control, which means I can pre-set it. I used a .039mfd paper-in-oil cap for this. The left-hand position kicks in the Mike Eldred “cocked wah” circuit. I don’t know if he actually figured this circuit out or not, but his name is often associated with it. It works great! With a little (or maybe a whole lot) of crunch dialed in, it does a convincing job of getting that snotty squawk we know and love, without having to try to position the wah pedal just so. Sure, a wah pedal gets a more complex tone than this circuit can, and can be set up for many more variations, but for an on-the-fly option, I like it. Sounds nasty!
I bought this pickup many years ago. It was broken when I got it but I was able to revive it without much trouble. It’s crusty and sounds GOOD.
And now…the reveal! Sorry, I was in close proximity to way too much reality TV this summer. Anyway, I am loving this guitar: it sounds and plays great, weighs next to nothing, and looks pretty cool, too. A very successful project, and it’s making my other guitars jealous. Now to start in on the swamp ash guitar…