Need help with a Teisco EP-8T

TeiscoEP8T · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

I've been at work trying to pot the pickups for this particular guitar. I've de-soldered the pickups from the switches, and now I'm finished with potting them. The issue is, I've lost my diagram showing which wires go where on the switch Crying or Very sad

. The pickup has three wires, a black, a white and a red one. The guitar looks like this:

And the switch looks like this from behind:

If someone could just pull the pickguard of their Teisco and tell me where the wires go I'd be more than thankful.

glw · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:15 am Post subject:

Check the Teisco Twangers website.

Yes, I know the site ceased to exist recently, but it looks like someone has copied all the info and resurrected it:

http://www.mark-cole.co.uk/teisco/index.htm

Specifically, go to the "tech" pages - there are some wiring diagrams that may help you.

1bassleft · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2008 11:53 pm Post subject:

v nice guitar. Let us know how your rewire goes and also, if glw's excellent suggestion doesn't pan out, I'll have a go at suggns for you. Much better to get the knowledge from the Teisco-owner's mouth, though.

TeiscoEP8T · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

I've been there, and while the switch looks to be identical, the wiring is different, which doesn't really help me Crying or Very sad

.

I know where the wires were soldered to, just not which color goes where. I know the black wires are grounds that were soldered from the pickup casing to the top area of the switch. The neck pickups black wire was soldered to the first point from the top left, the bridge to the 3rd point from the top left. The white and red wires were soldered towards the bottom of the switch, in what I believe to have been an alternating pattern. Such as white-red-white-red or red-white-red-white. The red and white cords are attached to different ends of each coil. The way the wires look, it seems that the order was red-white-red-white, but I can't be sure without my diagram.

Btw, would it matter if the white and red wires were switched? I mean, they both are just connected to the coil, what happens if they get reversed?

1bassleft · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:03 am Post subject:

The pickups are single coils. I'm guessing here, because I'm not familiar with Teiscos, but I reckon you're right about the black being grounds (practically universal) and the red and whites being soldered in an alternating pattern. This, I think would have the neck pup in reverse polarity to the bridge pup. Hence, the single-coil hum would be cancelled rather than reinforced when both pups are selected.

That's my guesswork, but I know our contributor (SB) runs vintaxe.com and, apart from having catalog info, one like yours was sold via his site. He may be able to put you in touch with the owner. If he doesn't look in here swiftly, perhaps you could try a PM.

1bassleft · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 1:06 am Post subject:

Oh, and I get what you mean. Unless the switch arrangement is very weird, R-W-R-W shouldn't be any different to W-R-W-R. As long as the pups are opposing polarities, it doesn't matter which is which way.

TeiscoEP8T · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

Edit: whoops! Ignore the earlier message I had up here.

Anyway, I soldered it back together in an alternating pattern (R-W-R-W), pickups seem to work just fine. Only thing is, no hum canceling. However, I don't think they were meant to be. It is a guitar from the sixties after all, strats didn't have hum canceling till like the 80's, and didn't even have 2 and 4 positions on their switches till like, the 70's (if my memory serves me right, because I distinctly remember Jimi Hendrix being the one who popularized the entire use of matchsticks and the like to wedge a strat switch in a makeshift "2" or "4" position). I think all in all it is supposed to just be two pickups of the same polarity at once, which sounds good because it makes the sound fatter/hotter, I like it. Also, since potting the pickups, the guitar has been strangely silent even at really loud volumes. Then you hit a string and you blow the windows out of the room, it's actually kinda creepy that it can remain so silent, but I like it Laughing

.

Anyway, maybe I made a wiring error, but it sounds good to me!

Edit2: And yes, they are single coils.

1bassleft · Posted: Thu Oct 16, 2008 1:39 am Post subject:

The Jazz bass was wired hum cancelling from the word go, and humbuckers go back a long way, so it wouldn't have been unknown to Teisco. Still, I read the Harmony Central reviews and a lot is mentioned of the hum noise so maybe they didn't bother. Seeing as the potting's done the trick and you like the sound, not something to worry about anyway.

Glad to hear it's running sweetly Very Happy

TeiscoEP8T · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 4

Well, yesterday I went searching through my digital camera and guess what I found (aside from pictures of a new pet snake which was the reason I had the camera in the first place)? Pictures of the underside of the teisco's pickguard from back in September, with a close up of the switch! Apparently I got it right when I soldered it back together according to the pictures. And also apparently, they don't seem to hum cancel intentionally.

If I get the chance, I'll upload the pictures for future reference to these forums, just in case someone else searches the internet for hours like I did trying to find out the same info.

1bassleft · Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject:

Yep, if you could put the pic(s) right here in this thread that would be a great benefit out there to other owners. Thanks for the contribution Smile

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