Pickup wiring problem

[tjcurtin1]

Vood - hope that you see this :)

I just replaced my CV 50's Squier Tele neck pickup with a Fender '64 neck pickup. I had previously added a 4-way switch for the 'both pups in series' mod, which always worked fine, with that position being louder than the others. Now I have the following situation:

position 4 - both pups in series is thin (no bass) and lower volume, with 60 cycle hum
position 3 - neck pickup sounds great, no hum, normal volume
position 2 - both pickups, thin (no bass) and lower volume, with 60 cycle hum
position 1 - bridge pickup, sounds great, no hum, normal volume

I am suspecting that maybe the 64 pickup is rwrp? Can I just reverse the wiring on that pup to get back to a working configuration?

Thanks!

[duhvoodooman]

Can I just reverse the wiring on that pup to get back to a working configuration?
'Xactly!

[tjcurtin1]

OK - I went ahead ans switched the wires and that did the trick - however - there is now one other issue. I have a grounding hum which gets aggravated if I brush my fingers on the pickguard or touch the neck pickup cover. The squier pup had three wires with a separate wire soldered to a pup cover lug that went separately to ground, while the 64 pup has two wires with a jumper wire going from the pup cover to the negative (black) wire where it is soldered to the pup eyelet. Having reversed the wiring, do I need to switch that jumper to the white wire - or should I just run the separate (third) wire from the cover to ground as it was originally?

[tjcurtin1]

Finally sorted out - in case anyone runs into anything similar...

Tried connecting the separate ground to the opposite (white) wire than it was originally jumpered to, but that caused the pickup selector to be bypassed somehow. So I ran a third wire from the pup cover lug to the volume pot and all was right as rain - no hum, and the selector switch works correctly. BTW, I really like this 64 pickup. I had listened to some good youtube demos and liked it the best, and it sounds great in the CV - clearer and punchier than the original pup, with nice neck position warmth.

[duhvoodooman]

Yup, you figured it out--you have to run a separate ground wire from the neck pickup cover to ground. Sorry I didn't respond quicker--doin' the family Thanksgiving thing yesterday!

[tjcurtin1]

Thanks, Vood - no problem! I wasn't expecting a holiday response, but since I had time and figured that I couldn't blow anything up, I figured I'd go ahead and tinker... Hope you had a great Turkey Day!

[Robert]

Fender '64 neck pickup sounds interesting. How did you end up with such a piece of history?

[tjcurtin1]

Oh - I should have been clearer - it is from the reissue series that includes the '52, '58 and '64 tele - not an original. There is a good video demoing the three guitars, which is also quite amusing as it's from Guitarist in the UK - so the players are all wearing suits while playing rock riffs!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4LByyv2Oik

[Robert]

Suits and teles look good together.

[tjcurtin1]

I have to agree - brings out the classy aspect of the tele!

[kidsmoke]

The colonel agrees....

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/misc%20guitar%20stuff/Cropper%20Floyd_zpsardhg5jh.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/tiokimo/media/misc%20guitar%20stuff/Cropper%20Floyd_zpsardhg5jh.jpg.html)