I was so inspired by this video, when it was over I literally grabbed my Tele off the wall - threw it in the case - and drove to my local guitar tech and asked him to rewire it like this. Seriously. Can't wait to get it back.
thanks for the great idea for the wiring man! I did this with my tele just a short while ago, although I ran into some troubles, I eventually worked them all out and I'm loving the new way it sounds and works!! Also, I just wanted to say that I LOVE your improv/music, whether its been written before or you're making it up on the spot its amazing! its nice to see a musician who still loves getting into his music and just flowing :) God bless!
I just did this to my Squier Telecaster and I love it. I also went with 1 meg pots, which Fender actually did on teles from '67 to '81. Might seem like overkill, but it works well. Put some extra spank on the bridge, yes, but it also opened up the neck pickup in a way that the 250k and standard wiring never did. I actually use it now.
Bravo cher collègue! Nice layering on your butterscotch chinese.. Beautiful use of e-bow. I often wach your vid's I rarely comment. This time I do. Hope to meet you someday
I've thought about doing this very mod to my knockaround Squier Tele for a while now... Thanks for beating me to the punch! Joe, I've admired your playing and writing since your days with Guitar Player magazine in the 90s; I'm happy to see you're doing such great work as the Tonefiend :)
Hey Joe. Brilliant video. I'm going to give this a whirl. Can I ask, is the blend pot 250k log or lin? Linear would offer a more smooth blend action, right? Love your videos!
"So having seen the video would you like to buy one of these cheap Chinese telecasters?" Me: I'll take one in black thanks and chuck in one of those ebow things.
I’m routinely impressed by the quality of “cheap” Asia-made guitars. The pickups tend to be the weak link. But with a couple of hundred bucks, you can turn almost any inexpensive import guitar into a cool and usable instrument.
Man I had a s##t day then found this..I feel MUCH better now ;-) I just subscribed !! This video has got me thinking of trying the Broadcaster mod and also new pups. Nice guitar's on the wall..is the P bass a Squire Classic vibe too ?
Joe - Have you ever experiment with the Broadcaster wiring but with a humbucker in the neck? I just had a Tele built and decided to use this wiring setup despite having it also built with a PAF-ish humbucker in the neck.
I like your small improv-spiel. I saw you with oranj symphonette at the amoeba record store in S.F. back in '98 or '99. That was great. But I'm back in Denmark - missing S.F. Do you have any new projects coming up? What loop pedal do you use? Love your work!
I love the demo and the sound is there any to get same thing but without the tone as a blend. I like to use my tone knob as a faux wah and I like the sound of both pickups in parallel. Can I do this with a 4 way switch? Like a mixture of a tele and broadcaster.
I like how you think. I have a pine tele project (Big knot from Texas) with a fat Chinese neck with a fathead on the headstock. I screwed a gold foil in the neck position and have an old Electromuse Eye Beam at the bridge. I'll certainly consider this sort of wiring idea. Right now I just have a couple wires twisted together one volume pot.
Hello, Is it possible to wire a telecaster with an installed 4 way CRL switch to have these options: 1 neck pickup (tone control working) 2 both neck and bridge pickup (tone control working) 3 bridge pickup (tone control working) 4 th position: blend option -> bridge pickup where you can blend as much of the neck pickup you like (tone control not working) Any ideas if this possible? I want to install a 4 way CRL switch into my telecaster, but don't know which mod to install (definitely not the neck and bridge in series)... this blend mod looks very cool... thanks!
The reason is proposed that combination, was I had a spare 4 way CRL switch lying around...and on my standard telecaster is the modern wiring, so I was thinking how to wire everything up to keep the normal modern wiring + adding one new possibility namely the bridge + neck blend combination without tone control. I'm also not eager to change the metal control plate for an extra pot, or drilling holes for SPDT or DPDT switches in my telecaster. Can you perhaps write down in code how to wire this? I would be so grateful. Regards,
You studied with Ted...have you any idea what the wiring was like in the butterscotch Tele from the 1993 seminar video here on TH-cam? I'm prepping to do some serious Ted mods to my road worn Tele but I'm not ready to go dual humbucker yet and that Tele from that video had an amazing sound with just the single coils!
Yeah, but perhaps using some alternate choices for the front "bassy" setting? I'm with you, though- the other two positions are kinda similar. I just got an Esquire, so far the best use of the selector is bassy-less bassy-full treble. It's fairly useful, but I find myself reaching for the tone knob in the back position, where it's out of the circuit entirely. Anyway...
i just wanna make sure these are the str-1 and stl-1 by duncan?...btw the i have this exact tele and i love it..are these noisy?...btw great playing...
That was just totally ... out there. I am blown away! My wife said: Can you play like that? I said "No ... and other than this guy, I'm not sure who can." But I'm going to explore that Broadcaster wiring scheme (played a Nocaster with it once ... liked it, but NOT liked it like this). I'll read on, but what's a 'Looper' and how do I get one? Finestkind, Joe, finestkind. :-)
A soldering iron and a basic knowledge of electronics can help out alot, then you can come up with your own ideas and tone possibilities. For instance, my favorite idea would implement a switch mechanism that removes your volume pot from the circuit, which lets me use the volume control to roll off to a light crunch, then just flip the switch and it goes right back to searing leads, no tap dancing on pedals or footswitches. And only for about 5 bucks!
in the middle position the neck pickup alone must sound brighter than it would on a modern wiring scheme cos there is no resistance loading from a tone pot, correct?
I wonder whether the change from the original wiring of a Tele explains why many don't like the typical Tele neck pickup? Leo Fender's original wiring, with no tone pot, avoided darkening of the sound of the neck pickup due to a lower load in the circuit. Then, in 1952/53, Leo changed the wiring to include a tone pot which affected both pickups. Could the same factor explain why often people prefer the Broadcaster bridge pickup to the Tele one, saying it has more punch; it's not the pickup or the flat pole pieces but (more so) the lack of a tone pot in the pre-1952/53 wiring! Thanks for the article link!
Hello Joe, I'm interested in replacing a tone control on my Fender Jazz Bass with a blend or balance control. Do you have any advice on which brand will work best 250K 500K ?? I have enjoyed your video and style of playing. No, your guitar does not sound like a typical Telecaster. I also like Seymour Duncan especially their quarter pound pickups and enjoyed your dark cool bass sound. Thank you for your consideration, Sal Z.
***** Hello Joe, I will pick up both 250K & 500K pot's. I love the sustain you achieve @ 0:60. Tons of great tone. Thank you for your help and advice, Sal Z.
Wow!! awesome job, man Where can I find the wiring diagram for that mod? I want to try it I went to tonefiend and downloaded a word .doc but that't not it. I sold too, I want to try this wiring. where do I find the diagram?
Great playing as usual. I must have missed this one along the way. I have one of the Squire Teles. I did up grade the pickups with SD humbuckers. The pots with CTS and swapped in a Fender 4way. It sounds great. Neck is nice, wider than the typical 1 5/8's I find on most Fenders...which is good for my chubby fingers. But Im not a big fan of the Poly finish on the maple fingerboard. I can play my ebony and RW necks for hours...not this one tho. 1 hour and my fingertips are burning =p
Oh, very well played, sir. I'm going to do the same mod on my Chinese tele - it's a Century brand (a couple of very good vids by a Thai guy on you tube). Cost me 100 bucks so what is there to loose?
I will. Guitar tech lined up. A quick question - given that my tele is a very cheap Chinese version is it really worth swopping out the electrics for a decent quality and if so what brand would you go for, Joe?
Thanks Joe. They are licenced Wilkinson pick ups which I know are the cheap versions for the real thing. However, they do have a rep for being in the middle of the road. I am looking for a jazz sound from the neck pick up so this mod screams out to me. Also, I am trying for the vintage sounds from rockabilly/Mr. Burton era. So, I will try the mod hopefully with the upgrades on the electrics that you talk of on your webpage. I will let you know how it sounds. The link below gives you an idea of how it sounds at the moment. Would be very interested in your thoughts if you can get past our Thai language and just listen to the playing :) th-cam.com/video/8ymlZJdTONc/w-d-xo.html
Awsome playing. I just picked up a Squier Tele on the cheap a few weeks ago. Well built for very short money. The neck is a little thin for my tastes, but not unplayable. Pups are weak though. First thing I did was replace the "Duncan Designed" pickups with real Seymour Duncans, CTS pots and a 4way...WOW what an improvement.
Joe You are Shred...F' em if they can't handle not listening to 64th and 128th notes -- instead of contrapuntal enmeshed tunes of sonic exploration and tasty licks!
Seriously- I could likely bore you to death just asking about Eels, Waits and PJH parts you played. It would be a good bit of awesome if you did lessons!
Not only is the wiring scheme cool, the improvs are sublime. Ever give lessons? If not, you should, like Campilongo's lessons by mail. I'd be all over those like rust on a Trussart!
It's been a few years since I first watched this video, and I realized I should thank you for inspiring me. I tried a modification of the blend knob (with either pickup blendable) on my jaguar (among other things) and it sounds amazing, especially phased. Video here if you're interested: th-cam.com/video/EPQcgRI1ChI/w-d-xo.html I've since done a similar mod to my tele (including the dark position and a jag/jazzmaster trem... what can I say, I like a bit of consistency) but I haven't yet done a video on it. Seriously though, shameless self-promotion aside, keep up the amazing work!
These looper jams definitely gave coming to youtube some profound purpose today. I'm blown away.
This is absolutely great. The wiring in itself is interesting, but the way you use these sounds to make beautiful music is very impressive.
All I can say is WOW! I could listen for hours. Very cool.
Superb Joe. In construction, there are builders and there are master craftsmen. You, Sir, are the latter. A credit to your trade. (y)
Great vid and playing! I like the blender pot. I think I’ll be trying this 👍
I was so inspired by this video, when it was over I literally grabbed my Tele off the wall - threw it in the case - and drove to my local guitar tech and asked him to rewire it like this. Seriously. Can't wait to get it back.
thanks for the great idea for the wiring man! I did this with my tele just a short while ago, although I ran into some troubles, I eventually worked them all out and I'm loving the new way it sounds and works!!
Also, I just wanted to say that I LOVE your improv/music, whether its been written before or you're making it up on the spot its amazing! its nice to see a musician who still loves getting into his music and just flowing :) God bless!
Another fantastic video, Joe!
Very helpful demonstration of this circuit.
I just did this to my Squier Telecaster and I love it. I also went with 1 meg pots, which Fender actually did on teles from '67 to '81. Might seem like overkill, but it works well. Put some extra spank on the bridge, yes, but it also opened up the neck pickup in a way that the 250k and standard wiring never did. I actually use it now.
Bravo cher collègue!
Nice layering on your butterscotch chinese.. Beautiful use of e-bow. I often wach your vid's I rarely comment. This time I do. Hope to meet you someday
beautiful music Joe, so relaxing and I would say spiritual.
That's some beautiful playing :)
I've thought about doing this very mod to my knockaround Squier Tele for a while now... Thanks for beating me to the punch!
Joe, I've admired your playing and writing since your days with Guitar Player magazine in the 90s; I'm happy to see you're doing such great work as the Tonefiend :)
Brilliant as always.
Mr. Joe ,,very cool n interesting stuff, u da man. Thk u !
great show
Hey Joe. Brilliant video. I'm going to give this a whirl. Can I ask, is the blend pot 250k log or lin? Linear would offer a more smooth blend action, right? Love your videos!
Thanks Joe! Appreciate you getting back to me. I've got a nice cheapish Tele sitting around that would be ideal for this wiring.
Man that was nice... :)
Aww, thanks for listening! :)
Fantastic!
Aww, thanks!
"So having seen the video would you like to buy one of these cheap Chinese telecasters?"
Me: I'll take one in black thanks and chuck in one of those ebow things.
I’m routinely impressed by the quality of “cheap” Asia-made guitars. The pickups tend to be the weak link. But with a couple of hundred bucks, you can turn almost any inexpensive import guitar into a cool and usable instrument.
Man I had a s##t day then found this..I feel MUCH better now ;-)
I just subscribed !!
This video has got me thinking of trying the Broadcaster mod and also new pups.
Nice guitar's on the wall..is the P bass a Squire Classic vibe too ?
Nice work interesting sounds very cool. I wish I had your technical expertise.
Joe -
Have you ever experiment with the Broadcaster wiring but with a humbucker in the neck? I just had a Tele built and decided to use this wiring setup despite having it also built with a PAF-ish humbucker in the neck.
I like your small improv-spiel. I saw you with oranj symphonette at the amoeba record store in S.F. back in '98 or '99. That was great. But I'm back in Denmark - missing S.F.
Do you have any new projects coming up?
What loop pedal do you use?
Love your work!
I love the demo and the sound is there any to get same thing but without the tone as a blend. I like to use my tone knob as a faux wah and I like the sound of both pickups in parallel. Can I do this with a 4 way switch? Like a mixture of a tele and broadcaster.
I like how you think. I have a pine tele project (Big knot from Texas) with a fat Chinese neck with a fathead on the headstock. I screwed a gold foil in the neck position and have an old Electromuse Eye Beam at the bridge. I'll certainly consider this sort of wiring idea. Right now I just have a couple wires twisted together one volume pot.
Hello, Is it possible to wire a telecaster with an installed 4 way CRL switch to have these options:
1 neck pickup (tone control working)
2 both neck and bridge pickup (tone control working)
3 bridge pickup (tone control working)
4 th position: blend option -> bridge pickup where you can blend as much of the neck pickup you like (tone control not working)
Any ideas if this possible? I want to install a 4 way CRL switch into my telecaster, but don't know which mod to install (definitely not the neck and bridge in series)... this blend mod looks very cool...
thanks!
The reason is proposed that combination, was I had a spare 4 way CRL switch lying around...and on my standard telecaster is the modern wiring, so I was thinking how to wire everything up to keep the normal modern wiring + adding one new possibility namely the bridge + neck blend combination without tone control. I'm also not eager to change the metal control plate for an extra pot, or drilling holes for SPDT or DPDT switches in my telecaster. Can you perhaps write down in code how to wire this? I would be so grateful. Regards,
You studied with Ted...have you any idea what the wiring was like in the butterscotch Tele from the 1993 seminar video here on TH-cam? I'm prepping to do some serious Ted mods to my road worn Tele but I'm not ready to go dual humbucker yet and that Tele from that video had an amazing sound with just the single coils!
re: the blend setting - that's rather like what the Strat 'blender mod' enables one to do: bridge with varying amounts of the neck added.
Yeah, but perhaps using some alternate choices for the front "bassy" setting? I'm with you, though- the other two positions are kinda similar. I just got an Esquire, so far the best use of the selector is bassy-less bassy-full treble. It's fairly useful, but I find myself reaching for the tone knob in the back position, where it's out of the circuit entirely. Anyway...
i just wanna make sure these are the str-1 and stl-1 by duncan?...btw the i have this exact tele and i love it..are these noisy?...btw great playing...
That was just totally ... out there. I am blown away! My wife said: Can you play like that? I said "No ... and other than this guy, I'm not sure who can." But I'm going to explore that Broadcaster wiring scheme (played a Nocaster with it once ... liked it, but NOT liked it like this). I'll read on, but what's a 'Looper' and how do I get one? Finestkind, Joe, finestkind. :-)
A soldering iron and a basic knowledge of electronics can help out alot, then you can come up with your own ideas and tone possibilities. For instance, my favorite idea would implement a switch mechanism that removes your volume pot from the circuit, which lets me use the volume control to roll off to a light crunch, then just flip the switch and it goes right back to searing leads, no tap dancing on pedals or footswitches. And only for about 5 bucks!
in the middle position the neck pickup alone must sound brighter than it would on a modern wiring scheme cos there is no resistance loading from a tone pot, correct?
I wonder whether the change from the original wiring of a Tele explains why many don't like the typical Tele neck pickup? Leo Fender's original wiring, with no tone pot, avoided darkening of the sound of the neck pickup due to a lower load in the circuit. Then, in 1952/53, Leo changed the wiring to include a tone pot which affected both pickups. Could the same factor explain why often people prefer the Broadcaster bridge pickup to the Tele one, saying it has more punch; it's not the pickup or the flat pole pieces but (more so) the lack of a tone pot in the pre-1952/53 wiring! Thanks for the article link!
Hello Joe, I'm interested in replacing a tone control on my Fender Jazz Bass with a blend or balance control. Do you have any advice on which brand will work best 250K 500K ??
I have enjoyed your video and style of playing. No, your guitar does not sound like a typical Telecaster. I also like Seymour Duncan especially their quarter pound pickups and enjoyed your dark cool bass sound.
Thank you for your consideration,
Sal Z.
***** Hello Joe, I will pick up both 250K & 500K pot's. I love the sustain you achieve @ 0:60. Tons of great tone.
Thank you for your help and advice,
Sal Z.
Lovely!
Hey Joe, you should do a similar vídeo, but with alternate Esquire wiring. Could be really cool...
Wow!! awesome job, man
Where can I find the wiring diagram for that mod? I want to try it
I went to tonefiend and downloaded a word .doc but that't not it. I sold too, I want to try this wiring. where do I find the diagram?
What the hey is that thingy that he holds and makes the guitar sound so creepy cool?
Great playing as usual. I must have missed this one along the way. I have one of the Squire Teles. I did up grade the pickups with SD humbuckers. The pots with CTS and swapped in a Fender 4way. It sounds great. Neck is nice, wider than the typical 1 5/8's I find on most Fenders...which is good for my chubby fingers. But Im not a big fan of the Poly finish on the maple fingerboard. I can play my ebony and RW necks for hours...not this one tho. 1 hour and my fingertips are burning =p
What the hell was that thing he grabbed with his right hand and made all those slide noises with? An ebow?
Oh, very well played, sir. I'm going to do the same mod on my Chinese tele - it's a Century brand (a couple of very good vids by a Thai guy on you tube).
Cost me 100 bucks so what is there to loose?
I will. Guitar tech lined up. A quick question - given that my tele is a very cheap Chinese version is it really worth swopping out the electrics for a decent quality and if so what brand would you go for, Joe?
Thanks Joe. They are licenced Wilkinson pick ups which I know are the cheap versions for the real thing. However, they do have a rep for being in the middle of the road.
I am looking for a jazz sound from the neck pick up so this mod screams out to me. Also, I am trying for the vintage sounds from rockabilly/Mr. Burton era. So, I will try the mod hopefully with the upgrades on the electrics that you talk of on your webpage.
I will let you know how it sounds. The link below gives you an idea of how it sounds at the moment. Would be very interested in your thoughts if you can get past our Thai language and just listen to the playing :)
th-cam.com/video/8ymlZJdTONc/w-d-xo.html
Tight!
Awsome playing.
I just picked up a Squier Tele on the cheap a few weeks ago. Well built for very short money. The neck is a little thin for my tastes, but not unplayable. Pups are weak though. First thing I did was replace the "Duncan Designed" pickups with real Seymour Duncans, CTS pots and a 4way...WOW what an improvement.
nice
Are u still using that configuration?
what kind of mic do you use to reccord those BASSY licks
ty for the response sir Joe :D
Joe You are Shred...F' em if they can't handle not listening to 64th and 128th notes -- instead of contrapuntal enmeshed tunes of sonic exploration and tasty licks!
What is that sustain-thing? How does it work not being plugged into anything?
We play quite alike
Do you use a Boomerang for looping?
Hello. i couldn't find the wiring diagram and you cap value mods on the site!!! can you give me the link? thank you!!
Thanks! But what values did you modify?
super cool amp the Bassman, the blackface ones are the best IMO, I like them better than the blonde heads
Seriously- I could likely bore you to death just asking about Eels, Waits and PJH parts you played. It would be a good bit of awesome if you did lessons!
Not only is the wiring scheme cool, the improvs are sublime. Ever give lessons? If not, you should, like Campilongo's lessons by mail. I'd be all over those like rust on a Trussart!
coooooooooool
It's been a few years since I first watched this video, and I realized I should thank you for inspiring me. I tried a modification of the blend knob (with either pickup blendable) on my jaguar (among other things) and it sounds amazing, especially phased. Video here if you're interested: th-cam.com/video/EPQcgRI1ChI/w-d-xo.html
I've since done a similar mod to my tele (including the dark position and a jag/jazzmaster trem... what can I say, I like a bit of consistency) but I haven't yet done a video on it.
Seriously though, shameless self-promotion aside, keep up the amazing work!
@@joe_gore I'm glad you think so, I love cheap guitars since I don't feel bad ripping them apart.
Musical noodling >> Shredding in my book. Playing fast is fine when musical.
Debussy!
Pete Townsend?!
Ted Greene!
this makes me really sleepy
I was so creeped out I had to stop watching.
what is this English?????
Excellent!