Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Custom w/SD Mini-Humbucker & 5-way Switch

Описание: I was recently watching a video on YouTube of Briston Maroney playing a song called Body on the Jimmy Kimmel show. I find myself liking the song and think it is well written.

After doing some research on the artist I had not realized he had gotten his start on American Idol which surprised me. Like you, I always look at the guitars that artists are playing and especially if they are a telecaster. A link to the video is in this video description.

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He was playing a Telecaster with a Seymour Duncan Mini Humbucker in the neck position. I had wanted to try this specific pickup in the neck position of a telecaster for some time now. I decided to resurrect the idea.

The pickup is a smaller version of a standard humbucker pickup with a chrome cover embossed with a large Seymour Duncan S on it. There are no visible pole pieces. The pickup was originally designed and produced by Epiphone in the 1950s. When Gibson purchased Epiphone in 1957, they started to use the pickup in guitars. One of the most famous artists that used the pickup was Johnny Winter who used them in his Gibson Firebird.

The pickup is described by Gibson as being Firebird like with the higher end clangy sounds. That it sounds more like a single coil than a humbucker and that it is like a less dark p90.

For my project I selected the SM-3n Seymourized Mini Humbucker Neck Pickup with four conductor wire for $119. Link to the pickup is in the video description. This is the hotter version of the pickup and perfect for a Telecaster.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000T012OE?...


I also ordered a three-tone telecaster body and all the remaining needed parts to do the project and planned on filming a video for the channel.

Project Ideas Are Fluid

While waiting for the parts to arrive I was cleaning out my guitar collection storage area and found a partial telecaster in a gig bag. I love it when I find stuff I do not remember having. My daughter once told me this is when you might realize you may have a problem. I told her I was not a guitar hoarder.

About a year ago I picked up a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Custom in a trade. It was missing the electronics and only had a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound bridge pickup. Although not complete the guitar is still pretty cool and was worth the purchase. It is an early version of the Classic Vibe 60s Telecaster Custom made in China and with a rosewood fretboard. This is why I wanted it.

The prior owner had upgraded the bridge to a Fender made bridge and had installed platinum compensated saddles, so it has the color of the original steel saddles. Also, the guitar is in mint condition.

I decided this was the time to pull this baby out and bring her back into playable status. I would use the body being shipped to me for another project.

I decided that since the mini-humbucker pickup came with four conductor wire I would install a 5-way switch and take advantage and set the guitar up to produce more tones.

In the wiring circuit I went with two 500k pots and a 5-way switch. So, the bridge single coil pickup would see a 250k pot I installed a 470k ohm on the 5-way switch.

The 5-way and the wiring would provide me with:

• Position 1 neck pickup split (single coil).
• Position 2 is the bridge pickup with the neck split (Single Coil).
• Position 3 bridge pickup.
• Position 4 bridge pickup and neck pickup humbucker.
• Position 5 neck pickup humbucker.

I found this circuit in a wiring diagram in a telecaster forum posting after a lot of research.

Link in this video description.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/hs-wiri...

Sometimes I will find a new wiring diagram that I have no idea how it is going to sound from an obscure source. I kind of feel like an explorer retracing the steps of someone who took this path before me and left a map of how to get to the end goal. It is cool at the end once everything is together to hear the circuit for the first time.

I love how this pickup with the black pickguard makes the guitar look. Now to see what it does for the sound.

The first time I plugged it into my recording amp. Any position that included the Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound bridge pickup had a large amount of noise/hum. No matter what I did I could not make it go away

I opened the wiring and looked to see if there was anything obvious.

I troubleshot it and ended up replacing the pickup with a Seymour Duncan APTL-3JD Jerry Donahue Tele Lead Pickup. The Quarter Pound is just too hot for this circuit and pickup combination. I have used this pickup several times before but usually with another Quarter Pound pickup.

As soon as I had the new pickup in place the hum and static went away.

The guitar has great clean tones in each of the five pickup selector switch positions. I think she would make for a great j