Hi,
Time for another pickup review.
I had a local luthier rout one of my teles (ash body, one piece maple neck) for humbuckers because I wanted to create a "Tele-Gib". I used a Rutters Half Bridge and the Abraxas set which was lying unused (not because they are bad pickups but they were replaced with other pickups I liked better in particular guitars). I used one 500k volume pot, a 250k tone pot and an Eyb type E Megaswitch which gives the following positions:
#1: bridge full humbucker. No tone cap is wired in that position. Initially I used a 0.0022uf but in connection with the 250k tone pot that added a nasal quality in that guitar which I disliked. Without a tone control and the 500k volume pot the Abraxas bridge is open, growly and singing. You can still hear it is a tele at play but at the same time the tone is so full, rich and thick. It's like the fat and juicy tone of a good Les Paul combined with the fast attack and response of a good tele. I don't really miss the tone control on the full bridge humbucker - there is simply nothing to add to this tone and no icepick to take away either.
#2: bridge humbucker split. In this position, an additional 0.0047uf cap goes to the tone control. There is also a 470k resistor to ground to approximate a 250k load which most single coils want to see. Still - this setting is extremely bright, and a tone control is definitely needed here. This is probably due to the fact that I have not yet reversed the magnet and the wires so that in split mode the bridge side coil is on. Once I reverse the magnet and wire it normally (i.e. red to hot and black to ground) the neckside coil will be on and the tone will hopefully return to "normal" brightness.
#3: both humbuckers split. in this position, a 0.0022uf tone cap (connected to the neck pickup's hot connection) is engaged. This is the typical tele middle position tone. I prefer this over the two full humbuckers together.
#4: neck humbucker split. See #2 for the wiring. Nice alternative to the full neck humbucker tone. Both caps are now engaged for a total value of 0.0069uf which works well with the brighter split mode. EDIT: forgot to mention that in this mode the neckside coil is engaged.
#5: neck full humbucker. 0.0022uf tone cap is engaged. Super sweet and singing lead tone. Can do anything from blues to shred (that is if I only could shred ...), and even a Dickey Betts like tone.
I know that the pickups in Jeff Beck's Tele-Gib were what later became the JB and Jazz so specs wise I would have been closer with the Holydiver set but I feel the Abraxas set is close enough - so close that I am not tempted to try anything else in this guitar. I am convinced if I gave this guitar to JB to play "Cause we've ended ..." he would get that tone instantly.
To arrive at the specific wiring in #2 and #4 I took advantage of the fact that for the dual humbucker wiring on the E type megaswitch pin 1 remains clear (this is normally used for the middle pickup in SSS, HSS and HSH set-ups). Hence pin 1 is hot in the switch positions #2 and 4.
Cheers Stephan
