Wiring the Tone Pot only to the Telecaster Bridge Pickup - Ask Zac 157

I started doing this about 3 months ago and it’s a game changer. Had the same conversation with myself: “I never use the tone control for the neck.” Thanks Zac for the great content. 👍

Bill Carson in the '90's ,when he found out how popular SRV's pick-ups had become he said 'if they want pick-ups that are weaker & losing their power like that we can sell 'em all day long'.

stop me if you have heard this before, but this "no neck tone cap" is a lovely approach to wiring up a telecaster. I recently got a well used "DEVILCASTER", a Blackguard inspired Telecaster made by a small and now defunct maker from Asbury Park, NJ called "PINECASTER". It needed some serious clean-up and I believe the pickups were not original so I had no guilt about replacing them with a set of Seymour Duncan LaBrea. It has a great tone on the neck PU but what really makes it special is how sweet and responsive it is with both pickups selected. In never would have thought to wire a guitar like this were it not for Zac's video and I'm very Grateful ... and thankfully not Dead.

Hey Zac. Watched your video this morning. That wiring made so much sense to me. I immediately changed one of my Tele’s and it was perfect. Exactly the sound I’ve been trying to find. So happy in fact, I’ve now changed two of my Tele’s. Thanks for the great tip ! Keep ‘em coming. Cheers ! Gord from Toronto.

Thanks so much for this Zach! My tech had done this to one of my Teles back in the late 80s and I’m in the process of doing it to all of them!

I really appreciate this video. After watching it a few months back I decided to get a cheap 2nd telecaster to try some different mods on. First mod was a set of Wilkinson Alnico 5 pickups and a wiring job. I went for the no-tone neck configuration using the schematic from your website. I never had much love for the neck pickup or the middle setting before, but now with the tone fully down, the middle position has this full, bright, sound that it never made before. I love it. Thanks, Zak.

Definite improvement in clarity with this mod, which I did a few months ago based on an earlier vid of yours. This week, after a long wait for the proper screws to arrive, I mounted the neck pup directly to the guitar body on my American Ash Tele. Wow! Combination of the two makes all 3 positions work together better and the clarity is a complete surprise. Suddenly this Tele is my favourite guitar. Thank you, Zac.

I've always loved the neck sound on any guitar, and I've ended up using the neck pickup on my Original 50's Tele almost all the time to play rhythm in a band. I like the prospect of more output too, it never quite matches the volume & cut-through of the bridge pickup. Thank you for the idea

Zac, this is a very useful mod. It might be worth noting that the reason it changes the pickup tone is because you're removing the 250k pot from the neck pickup circuit and now the path to ground is created by the 250k volume pot alone. Depending on the pickup design and other factors it is possible to affect the resonant frequency of the pickup too much, making it overly bright or maybe just peaky in a bad place. In that case you can experiment with splitting the difference by adding a resistor between the hot wire of the pickup and ground. At 250k you're theoretically right back where you started with the original stock wiring. More resistance (say 500k or more) allows less bleed to ground and will move the tone in the brighter and louder direction, but less so than your original mod. Use alligator clips, play, and swap out resistor values to taste. I actually fine tuned the tone of my bridge pickup this way, it can make a surprising difference.

I did this mod today and love it. The neck through my OD3 sounds like SRV now, then back to country twang on the bridge with tone at 8.

Zac, My son and I followed your video today and did this to my American professional telecaster with v-mod pickups. I could not believe the difference! There is a chime to the neck pick up that I don't think I've ever heard before. It still has the woody tone, but with no muddiness! I am now readjusting my pickup height to find the sweet spot. Thank you so much!

Just wired a relic black guard this way and it solved all of my pickup balancing issues, thanks Zac!

Zac, this quick tone mod worked great! My 2012 Fender "Select" Tele never quite felt right. Changed out the pickups, pots & capacitor ... twice. Replaced the nut a while back; some improvement. Per the suggestion in your Tele setup video, I compared the capo feel to the open nut and lowered individual slots until they felt right. So, a decade later and it finally plays like a dream. Thanks for the tips!

Holy cow! Just done the tone mod to my Tele and I'm instantly in love with the neck pickup! No longer is it dull, it has spank and amazing rhythm tone.

Just discovered this page while researching how to turn my MIM PS Tele into a period correct guitar. Glad I did

I went a bit overboard with one of my old Teles. A 4-way switch and a 3 pot control plate with modified Jerry Donohue wiring. I ran a master tone and two volumes. Here's where it got tricky, the pickups were a Fender 52 Tele reissue bridge with a Fender 57 reissue Strat neck. The switching was position 1 was the bridge and 2 was both like a normal Tele. Position 3 was Jerry's strat quack wiring and position 4 was the neck. The volumes were wired 50s style and the tone was push-pull. With the tone pulled up, both pickups had Jerry's faux humbucker wiring. The two volume pots made it so the pickups were blendable like a Gibson. We used the wiring diagram from Premier Guitar and bastardized it. It took a few tries and some gentle routing but it worked pretty good.

Just made the jump. Thanks for the diagram and the walkthrough. I had been thinking about doing this for a long time and you gave me the confidence. Sounds great.

Thanks for the insights! I'm currently building a tele, thanks to your inspiration, and I might wire it up like your teles!

OMG! Huge difference! Thanks Zak... You fixed my tele!! I NEVER could get anything going with the neck pickup... even replaced it with an expensive Rio Grande "Vintage Tallboy" thinking the pickup was the problem and it still wasn't happening: way too bassy when switching from bridge. Did this wiring mod, plus raised the pickup up like you recommended in your setup video, and WOW, it is nite & day difference... now the neck sounds fantastic and is usable (full and woody!). Unlocks all three switch positions on this guitar whereas before I only could use the bridge. Great stuff!! Didn't think it would open it up that much but it sure did.

I just tried this mod and now I think I'll be using my Tele a lot more. The tone change in the neck alone made it worth it, but now I can get a more balanced tone in the middle position as well. Great idea. Thanks!