Direct-Through Wiring

[chutneyfarmer]

Inspired by the "Beater" thread here, I've been thinking of picking up a cheap Telecaster. To make it a little different I'd like to try and mod it for Direct-Through wiring so that the pickups bypass the Tone and Volume knobs. Reading up on it, it says that doing this can make the guitar sound louder and with more treble. On a Tele, I guess it could run the risk of being TOO trebly.

Just wondering if anyone else here has tried this wiring method, and what were the results? Would love to hear some demos comparing regular wiring to the Direct-Through, or be pointed towards any existing videos as I couldn't find any.

[grygrx]

I took this


and moved it to this



It's got an on-off switch, and a kill/unkill button. Replaced the stock pickup with a Rio Grande - Dirty Harry, no tone, no volume. I have no demos. It's very bright, a touch brittle(damn tone words) and quite mean, it pushes my deluxe reverb into some grind sooner than my other guitars.

Thrilled with it actually. I usually just max my guitars anyway and use amps/pedals for adjustments.

[chutneyfarmer]

Wow, that's nice!

[Moose]

Unfortunately I don't have any audio clips or even pictures, but I "modded" a friends tele for this.

Removed the neck pickup, pickup selector, and volume and tone knobs.


Bridge pickup straight to output. Sounds amazing. Only thing is, he has to have a separate stompbox killswitch haha. Worth doing though for funsies!

[skullservant]

I had my Jazz bass wired that way with an EGC pickup for a while. Best bass tone I ever had

[imJonWain]

my parts tele....I have individual toggles for each pickup on/off and a tone/vol bypass toggle (not in this picture) i put between the tone and volume knobs. I love it, brightens up the other 2 pickups and makes the bridge even sharper. I also can just turn the volume all the way down and use the bypass switch as a sorta stutter/kill if I want.

[theavondon]

That's how I have my grabber wired. I find it to be superior, though a bit impractical for most folks. Try it though.

[ChetMagongalo]

That's how I have my grabber wired. I find it to be superior, though a bit impractical for most folks. Try it though.

Hey you should show me how to do that to my strat. I always bump the volume knob

[imJonWain]

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/Stratocaster_with_Individual_On_Off_Switches


That's the individual pickup switches then add an on/on switch that toggles between that wiring and directly wiring ground and "hot" off the last switch directly to the output.

[PetZounds]

That's how I have my grabber wired. I find it to be superior, though a bit impractical for most folks. Try it though.

Hey you should show me how to do that to my strat. I always bump the volume knob

Yeah, same here.
I never ever touch the knobs except on accident.
I kinda want to get a new pickguard for my tele that has no knob holes.
But I can't seem to find one anywhere.

I also kinda want to do it to my Squire Affinity Jazz bass just 'cause the output on that junk hunker is pretty low.

[grygrx]

I never ever touch the knobs except on accident.
I kinda want to get a new pickguard for my tele that has no knob holes.
But I can't seem to find one anywhere.
.

Tele... you mean control plate?

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Custom-Made ... p_197.html

[PetZounds]

Nope, pick guard.
It's a Squire telecaster custom, which don't have control plates.

[UglyCasanova]

I kinda want to get a new pickguard for my telecaster custom that has no knob holes.
But I can't seem to find one anywhere.

Have you emailed tarrapinisland?

http://www.terrapinisland.com/chitzenit ... ucts_id=11

or

http://www.terrapinisland.com/chitzenit ... ucts_id=10

They give you the option of not drilling control/switch holes. It says that it's only for Am Fenders, but are they really different from Squire in size...? If so, there are plenty of places to buy blanks that you can cut out yourself. Or you could order a laser cut mock up for $5 just to see if it will fit.

[WORMDIRT]

I do this on my live guitars, makes them a little meaner. Shitty pickups (in my experience) sound better when doing this than good pickups.