The Nashville Tele Problem
Nashville Telecasters are an interesting hybrid of two of the most popular guitar styles out there. Nashville Teles offer a Telecaster body and feel, and Stratocaster pickup layout. By adding a middle pickup in between the Neck and Bridge pickups of a Telecaster, you can get more of that traditional Strat ‘Quack’ out of your Telecaster.
Adding a Middle Pickup might seem like an easy modification to do, but be forewarned: it’s not that simple. There’s a problem with pickup polarity that I’m calling the “Nashville Tele Problem’. Single Coil pickups have two critical aspects to their pickup polarity: Coil Direction and Magnetic Orientation. For more information on this subject, check out our article on pickup polarity here.
The pickups in a Telecaster feature a standard wound Bridge, and a Reverse-Wound, Reverse-Polarity (RW/RP) Neck. See below for an illustration:
One can argue that these two pickups are in the best possible situation: they are In-Phase and Hum-Cancelling. For more information on how Humbuckers work, check out our article on that here.
The Nashville Tele Problem:
Now, let’s add a pickup in the middle of them. For a thought experiment, I’m just going to add a random polarity Strat pickup. Adding this pickup creates a new issue: We are out of phase in Position 4 (Middle & Neck). If we reverse the Strats’ pickup coil direction and magnetic orientation, we will be out of phase in Position 2 (Middle & Bridge). The idea here is that just putting a pickup in between can cause a few issues.
As a reminder, reversing the coil direction of one pickup will make the pickup out of phase with another of the same magnetic orientation. To put it back in phase, you need to reverse the magnetic orientation as well. See below for an illustration:
Simply reversing the leads in the control cavity does not solve this issue. Doing so creates a few other issues: Single Coil pickups will have ‘Hot’ magnets and covers, and will hum and buzz when touched.
Best Case Scenario:
The best-case scenario is to have the same polarity as your Bridge or Neck. You will at least be in phase, but not hum canceling. Take a look at the illustration below – here we are putting in a standard polarity Reverse Middle Strat Pickup in between:
Keep in mind, there are players that actually like this setup. If you use one of our Blender Pots, you can still achieve Hum Cancelling in the Bridge and Neck. So, dealer’s choice!
The Real Solution:
The real solution to the Nashville Tele Problem involves reversing the phase of one of the Telecaster’s original pickups. If you made the Neck the same polarity as the Bridge, you could put a RW / RP pickup in between. You’ll then have Hum-Canceling and correct phase in the entire guitar.
To reverse the phase of one of your pickups, it will need to be wound and magnetized opposite of what it is currently. This operation is time-consuming and expensive, so it’s worth looking at purchasing a calibrated set of pickups instead.
At Fralin Pickups, we make customized sets for our customers all the time. It’s a lot easier to do it when we make the pickups, not reverse them after they are wound and magnetized. If you are looking at converting your Telecaster into a Nashville Tele, take a look at our Telecaster Pickups and Stratocaster Pickups. You can select a Set of Telecaster Pickups and a Single Strat pickup and use the ’Order Notes’ field on the checkout screen to request a Nashville Polarity. We will make them customized for you – free of charge.
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Hi, you don’t have to get the neck pickup rewound! Unsolder the metal cover from the existing pickup connections and add a third wire to the metal cover. You can then earth the metal cover separately and then reverse the connection to the pickup coil – so changing the phase of the neck pickup to match the strat pickup. You actually have to do the metal cover mod if you want to fit a four way tele selector.
I think the most satisfactory solution to this problem is to leave the “Tele Set” alone and add a moddle pickup wound the same as the bridge. I then use a proper 5-way switch (not a Strat switch) to give 1. Bridge, 2. Bridge and Neck, 3. Middle, 4. Middle and neck, 5. Neck. This keeps the Tele middle position and gives the Strat position 4. You just sacrifice the Strat position 2 – no problem really in exchange for the proper Tele middle position. Just my preference.
Hi I have a Players series Fender Telecaster. I want to add a center pickup and 5 selector switch to make it a Nashville Telecaster.
What is involved to deal with getting the correct wounding and polarity sovthey all work together without hum? I am in Albert Canada and want to do this mod. Please advise what I need and the costs.
Hey Dion, you’ll probably need to purchase two new pickups: a Strat Middle that’s the same polarity as your current Neck pickup, and a Neck pickup that’s the same polarity as your Bridge pickup. That way, you’ll get Hum Cancelling in Positions 2 & 4. Or, you can simply purchase a Middle pickup but note that it will only hum cancel with one of your pickups.
Thanks, this is a great explanation! I assume that reversing the phase of either the neck or bridge pickup will make it so that neck+bridge are not hum canceling anymore?
I know that this isn’t a forum but I’ll give it a try. What is involved in wiring the neck pickup in series with the bridge pickup for use with the push/pull knob?
This article details how to do it: 4-Way Switching With A Push-Pull Pot
OK I hate to ask questions about another brand of pickups, but I need help. I’m going to buy a Fender Player Plus Nashville Telecaster and I have some different pickups in mind for it. I’m looking at the Fender Cobalt Chrome tele pups, one of the reasons is I really like the look of them. Trivial I know but that’s not the only reason. Anywas I’m looking for a pickup to put in the middle position, of course I would like for it to look the same or at least be the same color and be noiseless. The windings and polarity are throwing me off. What would you recomend? Do you have a pickup in the off white color that would work and sound good with the Cobalt pups? What’s the best way to do this? The cobalt are 10.4k dc resistance in the neck and 12.5k dc in the neck.
Hi guys! I got an idea to use in the middle position a single coil shaped humbucker. Haven’t tried myself yet, but in theory it should work. You just need to wire one side of the humbucker with the neck pickup in pos 4 and the other side with the bridge pickup in pos2. In this case both positions are in phase and hum canceling.
I want to do a nashville tele with blues special tele neck and bridge and blues special strat middle. I also want to use the Brent Mason 3 switch and add an extra volume control for middle pickup. Does this change the hum you would get and would it affect the polarity?