Wiring Tele: Antiquity bridge w/ Twisted Tele neck

[warmachine]

I have a Fender Twisted Tele neck position and a bridge position Telecaster Seymour Duncan Antiquity. Possibly putting them into a MIM Telecaster.

Anybody know if the pickups are compatible? I hear that possibly the Seymour Duncan, which has a White for hot and Black for ground, should be flip flopped for Black for hot and White for ground when combining with a Fender pickup.

 

[cooljuk]

When combining two traditionally built Telecaster pickups, where each pickup has only two leads, you can't just swap the leads to reverse polarity, like you could with a Stratocaster pickup. The reason is that Tele neck pickups have a grounded metal cover and Tele bridge pickups (mostly) have a grounded steel baseplate. You can't connect the neck cover to hot and you can't connect the bridge baseplate to hot. Those two have to each be on the ground side, or you're in for a world of noise and trouble.

Doesn't the Twisted Tele neck have an independent ground lead for the cover? ....so, it's got a total of THREE leads coming off the pickup? If yes, then you make your phase reverse on that pickup, if needed. That's exactly why it's got an independent ground. If no, you're going to have to modify one of the pickups, if they are not factory in-phase with each other in the middle position. If you've got tools and skills, it's no big deal and I can explain how. If you've never soldered, this isn't a good first project.

 

[CB91710]

I wired my Tele using the Baja style wiring, and using Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups.
The VN Tele set only has a 2-wire neck pickup, so I had to break the ground wire to the cover and add a 3rd wire.
That allows the coil wires to run through the series/parallel/phase switching options without getting noise from the cover (and I'm honestly surprised they even grounded the cover on the noiseless design.

In this case... yes, the Twisted Tele has a 3-wire.

Looks like Duncan uses black for the ground wire.
Fender uses black and yellow for ground, with yellow being the cover:

https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10002/pickup_set_099-2215A_SISD.pdf

 

[jonesy]

I have a Fender Twisted Tele neck position and a bridge position Seymour Duncan Antiquity. Possibly putting them into a MIM Telecaster.

Anybody know if the pickups are compatible? I hear that possibly the Seymour Duncan, which has a White for hot and Black for ground, should be flip flopped for Black for hot and White for ground when combining with a Fender pickup.

They will be out of phase when used together in the middle position.

You can always flip the bar magnet in the humbucker and that will give both pickups the same polarity.

 

[warmachine]

They will be out of phase when used together in the middle position.

You can always flip the bar magnet in the humbucker and that will give both pickups the same polarity.

i should have said it is a bridge position Tele Antiquity

 

[sonar1]

Fender and SD will be out of phase unless corrected

 

[CB91710]

Fender and SD will be out of phase unless corrected

So reverse the leads on the neck pickup... Yellow and white to ground, black to the switch.

Is it also magnetically OOP? Easy enough to check.

 

[jonesy]

i should have said it is a bridge position Tele Antiquity

Yes, and it probably has a cover so easier to reverse leads on the neck pickup if it has three wires and dedicate ground wire to cover to back of pots.

 

[CB91710]

Yes, and it probably has a cover so easier to reverse leads on the neck pickup if it has three wires and dedicate ground wire to cover to back of pots.

Antiquity Tele bridge has no cover or bar magnet, but it has a base plate that is grounded, and it's a 2-lead pickup.
Phase correction must be done with the Fender neck pickup, which has a separate ground lead for the cover.

 

[warmachine]

Yes, and it probably has a cover so easier to reverse leads on the neck pickup if it has three wires and dedicate ground wire to cover to back of pots.

I pulled out the Twisted Tele (I believe it is a Custom Shop version) last night and it has a Green to cover and Yellow and Black.

I expect the Antiquity to arrive in the mail tonight.

 

[warmachine]

Maybe I should have asked this before.... I have never tried the Twisted Tele in any of my guitars before and my goal is something to complement 1970's and early 1980's country vibe. Should I pursue another neck pickup to obtain this tone?

 

[cooljuk]

I pulled out the Twisted Tele (I believe it is a Custom Shop version) last night and it has a Green to cover and Yellow and Black.

That being the case, put the green to ground. Then, put whichever of the other two leads to hot and ground that make the two pickups in phase in the middle. I don't know which colors will do it, but you've got a 50/50 change and only have to swap them once, at worst. Just test it before you solder and screw the control cover back on.

 

[cooljuk]

Maybe I should have asked this before.... I have never tried the Twisted Tele in any of my guitars before and my goal is something to complement 1970's and early 1980's country vibe. Should I pursue another neck pickup to obtain this tone?

Fender says that neck pickup is brighter because they use non-traditional style wire but I don't agree with Fender on that. I think their 60's Tele neck pickups are much much brighter and clearer. It is an A5 magnet pickup, though, and I think it could do a fine job, even if a little warmer and thicker than vintage.

It's actually the Antiquity I wouldn't have recommended for country. It's darker, soft feeling, and lacking clarity and detail. I'd lean towards a CBS-era design of chamfered and staggered A5s. Degaussed A2 magnets don't make sense (to me) for country but no rules in music and maybe you can make it sing!

fwiw - late 60's / early 70's Tele pickups are still pretty affordable, especially if you're willing to take one that needs repair and get it fixed up by someone who will do an authentic job.

 

[jonesy]

Maybe I should have asked this before.... I have never tried the Twisted Tele in any of my guitars before and my goal is something to complement 1970's and early 1980's country vibe. Should I pursue another neck pickup to obtain this tone?

The Fender twisted Tele sounds more like a Strat neck pickup. I have used them before and that's what it reminds me of.

 

[jonesy]

I pulled out the Twisted Tele (I believe it is a Custom Shop version) last night and it has a Green to cover and Yellow and Black.

I expect the Antiquity to arrive in the mail tonight.

Green to ground, yellow is + and black is - but you are going to reverse those since you are using the Duncan in the bridge.

Black would go to switch and yellow solders to the back of the pot along with the green wire.

That should put pickups in phase when switch is in the middle position.

Here is a super easy polarity tests that takes all the guess work out of it and allows you to check pickups be3fore installing them to make sure you wire them up correctly. I recommend you do this test to be sure before you install your pickups, it will save you time. Just make sure you have the red + and black - meter leads to the + and - pickup leads when you do the test.

 

[warmachine]

Green to ground, yellow is + and black is - but you are going to reverse those since you are using the Duncan in the bridge.

Black would go to switch and yellow solders to the back of the pot along with the green wire.

That should put pickups in phase when switch is in the middle position.

I did a compass test and found the Antiquity is North and the Twisted Tele is South.

 

[jonesy]

I did a compass test and found the Antiquity is North and the Twisted Tele is South.

You are comparing a humbucker to a single coil so that compass reading is not a reliable test.

A humbucker will actually have a North and South polarity, one for each coil.

Plus you have to take in consideration the direction of wind CCW or CW.

The most reliable test is the one that I showed you in the video, that is 100% accurate and takes out all the guess work.

 

[warmachine]

I got a hold of a meter and I got the following with the ruler test. The Twisted Tele reading dropped, the Antiquity Tele bridge jumped.

Fyi when I tested the Twisted Tele I treated the yellow as the hot lead and black as the ground. I know you said to flip flop that if I do end up using it in conjunction with the Duncan.

These are my pickups.

 

[jonesy]

I got a hold of a meter and I got the following with the ruler test. The Twisted Tele reading dropped, the Antiquity Tele bridge jumped.

Fyi when I tested the Twisted Tele I treated the yellow as the hot lead and black as the ground. I know you said to flip flop that if I do end up using it in conjunction with the Duncan.

These are my pickups.

Ok very good, know you know that they are opposite polarity for sure and what you need to do if they are used together.

The more you do, the more you learn and this knowledge can be put to use on future projects.

 

[warmachine]

Ok very good, know you know that they are opposite polarity for sure and what you need to do if they are used together.

The more you do, the more you learn and this knowledge can be put to use on future projects.

Thanks. Your youtube tutorials are great! I've been so stuck tinkering with 2 humbucker guitars for some time that modding Fenders are a whole new ballgame.