Solderless Pre-Wired Guitar wiring harness | 3-way Telecaster kit | Right handed

Please use the tabs below to read through the information about this Solderless Pre-Wired harness kit. From a run down of what the kit does, to important fitting information and full specs.

Order times

I usually make harnesses to order, due to the variety of spec options that could be chosen across the whole range. The current turnaround time for a harness orders is around 5-7 working days depending on quantity of orders in at the time and your order will be updated accordingly when it is dispatched. This turnaround time doesn't include the transit time. Thanks for your patience whilst I get your harness made!

Model Description

The Telecaster is an iconic instrument, one that defined a brand, inspired so many musicians and set the bar for the electric guitar moving forward. I want my Signature Series wiring harness for this legendary guitar to earn the right to be a small part of that through a choice of quality components and respect for it's design. The wiring style is a simple recipe, and the parts aim to bring out the best in your telecaster's pickups, and aim to do so for many years to come. 

This is a further revision of my popular trusty 3-way Telecaster harness with the addition of solderless connections, meaning you can install this harness into your Telecaster without the need to touch a soldering iron. Which has a couple of benefits, perhaps if you're not particularly comfortable with soldering yet or maybe you plan on regularly swapping pickups, which this helps a great deal as it's a few screw connections and it's done.

How the controls and pots work

Master volume control
Master tone control

Switching (3 way)
Position 1 - Bridge pickup
Position 2 - Bridge pickup and neck pickup in parallel
Position 3 - Neck pickup

Please note, website example photo(s) may differ visually from the wiring kit you receive. This could be for a number of reasons but ultimately, don't be alarmed if you do spot differences between the stock photo and your supplied kit.

What does 'Solderless' mean?

It's a fair question to ask/wonder. The kit is of course soldered, my aim with the series was for the specs/components all to match the Signature Series range, and also still be simple to maintain many years to come for any tech out there, not just by me. So you'll find all the same parts, pre-soldered in much the same way as I do with the traditional install Signature Series kits. Definitely do not worry about any loss in quality, any limitations in functionality or tone here, trust me, I am fussy and did a lot of A/B testing and found the Solderless range to sound and work the very same way as a Signature Series kit. So yes, the kits are all pre-soldered, but in terms of the actual installation into a guitar, it is fully solderless for you. 
Your pickup wires and any ground wires simply connect into the easy quick connector blocks which I have mounted to the harness (usually secure ontop of pot casings) via a small screwdriver to secure each wire. Viola! This doesn't just benefit those that perhaps don't own soldering equipment or even those that simply hate soldering, it benefits accomplished DIY guitar modders too, as it is great for quick and mess-free pickup swaps too which can be great for experimenting. 

How do I connect everything?

The Solderless series follows a simple colour code system to help guide you where to put each pickup & ground wires. On the solderless connector blocks you’ll see points where I have soldered coloured wire/heat shrink to certain connectors, and others than simply have soldered silver ground wires to them (IE no colour).

Those are as follows -
Off-White wire connector - For your neck pickup HOT wire
Orange wire connector - For the bridge pickup HOT wire
Bare silver wire connectors (no colour) - For any ground wire

Your guitar/pickup ground wires can be attached to any of the bare silver wire connector (no colour) solderless connector lugs. There is also an additional solderless connector attached on the tone pot on the Tele kit. This is extra in case your Tele has any additional ground wires from the cavity shielding or bridge for example. There is also a 'wiring diagram' so to speak for the kit, linked below or via the dedicated Solderless page HERE which can be great as a handy visual reference too.

What types of pickup wires will fit into the connector blocks?

The RS Pro connector blocks will fit ANY pickup wire type, so if you have traditional single coils with cloth covered push-back style individual hot/ground wires, simply push back the cloth covering to expose around 5/6mm of central core wire and insert it into the connector. Tighten up, and push the cloth covering back down.
If you have thinner, plastic insulated/coated wires, you will need some wire strippers so you can trim back the coating to expose around 5mm of central core wire. Very often these plastic coated wires are stranded wire, so if this is the same for yours, then simply twist the wire so it forms a nice tight portion, then insert that into the relevant connector block and tighten. 
If your pickups are vintage/traditional style 2 conductor 'braided' wire, then these will also fit the connector blocks, you just need to prepare them to do so. First step is to push back some of the outer metal braiding. Then using some needle nose pliers or a small screwdriver, separate some of the braiding so you can twist and form a off-shoot of wire. This will be your ground, so with that twist of wire pop that into the connector block and tighten. Then your central core wire is the 'hot' signal wire and goes into the relevant connector block via the same methods as prior, exposing around 5mm of core to ensure a nice firm seat in the connector. For much more detailed information on all of this, please check out the guide HERE
As always, if you have ANY questions or concerns about whether your pickup wires will be suitable, please just drop me a message or call and I'll be happy to help guide. I have tested these connectors with all varieties of pickup wires and they worked great so happily will advise on how to correctly install with you :)

Product options

Tone capacitor value
I offer this pre-wired kit with a choice of tone capacitor. For many years (bulk of the 8+ years I've been making these for that matter) as standard I have installed 0.022uF value tone caps to this kit. I opted for this as standard as I consider this a really versatile, 'modern' so to speak cap value choice and has served very well as a standard option over the years. In our trusty guitar player terms, I personally find the 0.022uF equipped wiring by comparison to be clearer, and has served well. But I thought it might be useful to also offer the slightly more 'period correct' so to speak 0.047uF cap value as an option too.
Since Fender introduced this particular way of wiring their Telecasters in the late 60s, they've used 0.047uF caps, and do still continued to do so on a number of models to this day. But must say a great deal of 'modern' production models have been featuring a 0.022uF, with both Fender and many aftermarket pickup makers recommending it for optimal use too.
Which is right for you, may simply down to personal preference, but if you're not sure or not familiar with these specs understandbly, I would firstly recommend double checking the recommended specs by the pickup maker/model you have in your Tele or plan to fit to your Tele. 
To briefly summarise, the 0.047uF by comparison to the 0.022uF will have a subtly 'darker'/warmer tone from full throughout the tone pot sweep, and if you A/B'd the same guitar with the tone pot set at 0 between the 0.047uF to the 0.022uF it would be noticable darker. 

With or without Treble Bleed?
First up, what does it do? A Treble Bleed kit takes the 'high' treble tone frequencies out of the circuit at the volume pot, and puts them back in the circuit as the signal leaves the volume pot. This means the treble frequencies are prevented from naturally bleeding out of the circuit as your turn your volume pot down. The result is a smoothed out treble and a more uniform tone from 1 to 10. Reducing the treble drop out as the volume pot rolls off. Some guitar players wouldn't be without a treble bleed, and many have never used one on their guitars. Truth is, it is very much personal preference. If you like the idea of retaining treble as you roll your volume pot down, then a treble bleed is for you! As standard I use the .001uF & 120kOhm parallel wired treble bleed mod. 

Fitting information

The Solderless system makes life an awful lot easier if you're perhaps not comfortable using a soldering iron or worried about damaging components etc. So the install in terms of attaching wires is certainly more straight forward and negates the need to solder any connections, but care is still needed to to ensure it all works as it should and stands the test of time. As well of course the physical mounting of the components is the same/similar process as a regular kit install. I have written some handy install guides for the solderless harness kits, and that can be found HERE as well as the 'wiring' diagram' so to speak which can be found HERE. In this section you'll find some important fitting notes that will hopefully help you assess whether the kit is suitable for your exact Tele or what is required to allow it to fit correctly.

Will the pots/jack fit my control plate and jack plate?
The components I use in my Signature Series wiring kits are for the most part, USA imperial specification. If you're fitting this harness to a far east built guitar such as a Squier or similar brand, then you may have to widen the holes in the control plate to accommodate for these imperial measurement pots. Or alternatively, purchase a new control plate that is already suited to the US spec components. The CTS pots and Pure Tone multi contact jack have a mounting thread shaft diameter of 0.369" / 9.38mm so I recommend for ease of install a control plate and/or jackplate with 0.394" / 10mm pot/jack mounting holes. You can easily widen the holes in the control plate too if you would prefer, I recommend doing this safely with a step cutter drill bit. I also offer this as a service so if you would like me to widen your plate for you, do please get in touch and we can organise this additionally.

If you’re buying this kit for a USA or Mexican made Tele, then chances are it will be a direct, no modifications install process for you. 

Centre to centre measurements between components are - 
Centre of Switch to volume pot - 40mm
Centre of volume pot to centre of tone pot - 64mm
These measurements for my templates were taken from a USA Fender telecaster control plate. There is a small amount of 'give' in the wire lengths between the components, but if for any reason the measurements on your Telecaster are drastically different to those stated above, please do get in touch prior to ordering.

What control knobs will fit?
The CTS Solid shaft pots have a solid shaft diameter of 0.248" / 6.30mm. You will need control knobs that suit these measurements and secure to the pot via a grub screw on the control knob.
Do not attempt to force fit smaller, metric/import spec control knobs onto the imperial USA spec pots, doing this can damage the pot.

If you do require a US spec control knobs, I do carry a selection of popular options in stock and they can be viewed in the Control Knob category on the store.

Which switch tip will fit?
Much like with the control knobs, the CRL switch used in this kit is USA spec, with imperial sizes. Therefore you need a switch tip which will fit a CRL switch, which measures 0.185" / 4.72mm

If you do require a US spec switch tip, I do carry a selection of popular options in stock and they can be viewed in the Switch Tips category on the store.

Will the jack socket fit my mount cup/plate?
Much like with the control knob and plate fitting notes, this will ultimately come down to where your guitar was made and/or what hardware it has already. The jack socket I use in this kit again is imperial specification, the outer thread diameter measures 0.367" / 9.32mm and ideally requires a 0.394" / 10mm hole to comfortably mount. If you have a threaded electrosocket style jack cup, you will need the imperial thread pitch version. The jack comes provided with washers and mounting nut 

Specs/Parts included

- 2x CTS '450' Series +/-10% Tolerance audio taper short shaft pots - 250k
- 1x 'Yellow Mustard' type tone capacitor
- 1x Pure Tone multi contact jack socket (nickel finish)
- 1x CRL spring loaded 3 way lever switch
- Gavitt USA made cloth covered 22AWG wire
- 20AWG Tinned copper ground
- Soldered using R-Tech Premium Lead-Free (Sn95.5Ag3.9Cu0.6) 22swg Solder wire 
RoHS Compliant
- RS Pro solderless connection blocks
- For optional treble bleed - It will be a ceramic .001uF cap with a carbon film 120kOhm resistor parallel wired.

Please note - wiring kit does not include new control knobs/switch tip/control plate etc but does include the pot/jack mounting nuts and washers and switch mounting screws. 

Why these spec parts over others available?
Simply put, component choice has been one of the most important parts of my product development. I have worked on guitars for many years, and built these kits professionally since 2015, and as a result have been able to see and experience working on the majority of components available on the market. In my findings, A/B testing and more, I have found the components I decided on for my Signature Series to be the most reliable, best tolerance and great functioning parts to use to help customers get the most out of their instruments. I use CTS '450' series premium spec pots as they have a tight tolerance, and will consistently provide me with accurate value, as well as very solid build quality. I use trusty 'Mustard' style polyester film 'tone' capacitors as in my opinion they simply can't be beat for great value, solid construction, solid lead-outs, super tight tolerances and reliable tone/function. I would personally much rather use a trusty Mustard for example over something like a paper in oil, as from experience that are so much more reliable to use. This is from carrying out a lot of A/B testing, both tonally, as well as armed with the multi-meter for testing values and actual tolerances, as well as handling them to test construction quality for long lasting reliability in use. I use the brilliant 'Pure Tone' Multi Contact Jack sockets as they are incredibly reliable, due to their additional contact points for both tip and sleeve. I use CRL, Oak and Switchcraft brand switches across the range as these are built very well, with care will last for many years to come and have long since provided me with reliable use professionally. All kits are wired up with quality USA made Gavitt wire, it's great to work with, super consistent gauge and provides me with a very reliable quality item for my kits. I totally understand that with anything guitar, it is subjective, but I have, with an open mind, thoroughly tested a broad variety of components over the years and these have all become the items I trust to use every day. 

Harness FAQ's

I've been proudly making, developing and installing my pre-wired guitar harnesses since the beginning of the Home of Tone back in 2015 (time flies when you're having fun right!). Although I feel I do my best in covering as much information as possible across the various product listings, fitting guides, wiring diagrams and more, I thought it might be helpful to put together an FAQ's page that covers some of the general additional questions I get asked. You can view these Harness FAQ's HERE

Do you make custom harnesses?

I'm afraid I do not offer a custom harness service. Only kits developed, tested and listed on my website are the available kits. So no custom schematics etc. If you happen to be local to my office, then I do carry out custom work in house, but in regards to shipped out pre-wired harnesses I do not offer custom kits. I am however happy to use different pot values or cap values within reason if you have a specific requirement that differs to the specs listed above. If this is relevant to yourself then please get in touch to discuss further to ensure the request is possible.