ToneShaper Wiring Kit, Telecaster, Nashville (SSS2)

Nashville Wiring
Stick a Strat middle pickup in a Tele and you have a Nashville Tele. This wiring was made popular by Nashville session players in the 1990s. Nashville ace Joe Glaser told us that the typical configuration would be to install a Duncan Hot Stack in the middle, and to wire its top coil to a dedicated volume control that was tucked in between the Teles's normal volume and tone controls. Brent Mason's Tele has a similar configuration, but with a Gibson mini-humbucker in the neck. The idea behind all of this, of course, is to add tonal flexibility by adding some Strat coolness to a Tele's coolness.

Fender came out with the idea of tying the three pickups to a 5-way switch, rather than using the standard Tele 3-way switch. While this reduced the tonal flexibility somewhat, it cleaned up the guitar by getting rid of the third knob, which is a tight fit on a Tele's control plate. This setup produced most of the commonly-asked-for switching combinations, and is the most popular 3-pickup Tele wiring.

This kit
includes everything you need to wire a 3-pickup Telecaster using Fender's Nashville wiring (refer to the images above for a switching diagram). It includes the finest components, from the same suppliers that the large U.S. guitar companies have used for decades:

• (1) Capacitor, .022µF Orange Drop
• (1) Jack, Switchcraft 1/4" Mono, Long Bushing
• (2) Pot, CTS 250k Audio (1/4" Bushing Length)
• (1) Screw for Shielding Ground Lug
• (1) Shielding Ground Lug
• (1) Switch, 5-Way, Oak-Grigsby, 2-Pole Superswitch
• (1) Treble Bleed Kit for Single-Coils
• 2' Wire, 22AWG Stranded Silver-Plated Copper, Black PTFE
• 2' Wire, 22AWG Stranded Silver-Plated Copper, White PTFE
• 2' Wire, 22AWG Cotton Push Back w/ Tinned Overcoat, Black
• 2' Wire, 22AWG Cotton Push Back w/ Tinned Overcoat, White
• Professional, Fully-Illustrated Wiring Diagram