ASK-HBS: Albert Collins Telecaster – best volume/tonal balance

Question

Hi Ed, I’m just in the process of building my take on an Albert Collins Telecaster using a Fender Twin Head humbucker at the neck and a Warman Alnico 2/5 medium output bridge pickup.

I intend sticking to a 3 way blade switch, 500k volume pot and a 250k tone pot with 0.33uf cap.

I was wondering if you have any suggestions as to achieving the best volume/tonal balance, please.

It’s actually the guitar wiring I’m seeking ideas on. The Fender neck humbucker is quite a high output so I’m looking to retain as much high end bite from it as possible. The bridge pickup has alnico 2 magnets on the top 3 strings and alnico 5 magnets on the bottom 3 so it’s a great sounding pickup.

I guess I’d follow a Fender schematic for the Albert Collins Tele if I could find one!

Any suggestions would be more than welcome, please.

Best regards,

David.

Answer

Hello David, thanks for the great question, but I do have a few more questions to ask before I can create a diagram.

I’m with you on not being able to find an official wiring diagram for the Albert Collins Telecaster, but I also couldn’t find any evidence that he used strange wiring, and it’s quite possible he went with the standard Fender Telecaster wiring scheme, and I would be happy to send you that with the neck humbucker instead of the single-coil lipstick.

If Albert did leave the wiring the same and only switched out the neck pickup, the humbucker would be very warm sounding, which would have been great for melodic blues solos and high-pitched notes on the neck while leaving the bright-sounding bridge pickups for the rhythm and chord playing. My question is that since you are building the guitar and looking for a bright neck pickup, did you consider going with a single-coil instead or a specifically bright-sounding humbucker (Lollar pickups have several options) as the Fender Twin Head can have a warm attack? Mini-humbuckers are a good middle-of-the-road pickup that often has a brighter sound than humbuckers.

Standard Telecasters use 250K pots, so it’s a good idea to change one to a 500K pot, which we usually use with humbuckers. You might try switching to two 500k pots or try switching the pots for the volume and tone, looking for the best sound. You can also try using higher values, like a 1Meg pot for a brighter sound and the best option is likely a no-load pot, especially for the tone,  which removes it from the circuit when you have it all the way up and will result in the brightest sound. However, looking for the brightest humbucking sound might also make your single-coil bridge pickup too treble-y, resulting in a harsh sound.

The .033Uf capacitor is fine but will result in a fairly warm sound as you roll off the tone. Originally we used .047 uf capacitors, but guitarists thought it was too warm. Today, the standard is .022, which results in a much brighter tone when you use the control, so your value is in the middle. Recently players started using even smaller values, like .015uf or even .01 for an even brighter sound, so you might consider that too.

The last thing I’m wondering about is the switch. The Fender Stratocaster uses a design where one tone works the neck, and the other tone works the middle pickup, while the bridge doesn’t get tone control. So we could design it, so that either the bridge or the neck has an active tone while the other does not, which could help you get a balanced tone, especially when using both pickups simultaneously.

Anyways, all things being said, you likely want the standard Tele wiring diagram with a humbucker in the neck position instead of the single lipstick coil. If this sounds right to you, let me know, and I’ll send it over. If you want to set up the switch so the tone only works on one pickup, I can do that too.

Thanks!