John 5 in 2019 with another of his flashy Teles.
Hello and welcome back to Mod Garage. This month, we will explore the Fender John 5 Ghost Telecaster wiring and how you can adopt it for your own Telecaster. Fender recently released this signature Telecaster in a limited edition of 600 pieces, and they quickly sold out. Before many serious musicians could grab one, collectors with big purses bought them all. So, your only chance to get one now is to look for a used one, or hope that Fender will have mercy and build some more. Or, you can read on to learn what’s inside and how to build your own version of this guitar.
I have to confess that this is a matter of heart for me because I’m a John 5 fan. I’m really fascinated with his playing style. This guy can play it all. No matter if he’s picking country swing or shredding death metal, his playing is very close to the traditional tones and techniques, but is always in his own style. Besides this, he’s a very humble guy with a great sense of humor, so I’m really happy to write a piece about his new signature Telecaster.
Fender worked very closely with John 5 on this model. At its core, this guitar is a standard HH Telecaster in arctic white—including the neck and fretboard—with red accents that include the binding, nut, knobs, pickups, and more. It’s a matter of taste, if you like this flashy aesthetic or not.
Let’s have a look at the basic features, so you have a shopping list if you want to build your own:
- alder body with HH pickup routings and binding
- maple neck with a medium C shape, 9.5" radius, and 22 narrow tall frets
- 42 mm synthetic bone nut
- string-through Tele bridge with humbucker pickup cutout and six block steel saddles
- sealed locking tuners
- 1-piece pickguard/control plate combination in mirrored chrome
- .009–.042 nickel-plated steel strings
What makes this guitar really stand out besides its appearance is the wiring, which I think is very special but also minimal. You can put this wiring inside any Telecaster, as long as it accepts two humbuckers. It consists of:
- two DiMarzio D Activator humbucker pickups
- master volume control (most likely 500k audio) without treble-bleed network
- Gibson-style 3-way pickup-selector toggle switch
- momentary kill switch
That’s all John 5 needs to sound like no one else, so let’s go through the pieces step by step and see what is under the hood.
Pickups
The DiMarzio D Activator humbuckers are passive mid-output pickups with ceramic magnets that have been available since 2006. In the John 5 Ghost Telecaster, both pickups are permanently wired to run as full humbuckers with both coils in series. For the wiring diagram, I used the DiMarzio color code: Green and bare wire are going to ground, black and white are connected and taped off, red is the hot output. If you want to use different humbuckers, you will have to transfer the colors of the wires using one of the numerous color code charts on the internet.
On the Ghost Tele, the pickups are red, but they are available in many different colors, too.
Pots
There is only a single master volume control, without a treble-bleed network. I haven’t had an opportunity to look at one of these guitars in person, and Fender has not released a wiring diagram, but I’m pretty sure they choose a 500k audio pot together with these pickups, so that’s what I also recommend using.
John 5 chose a Gibson-style “speed knob” in red, but any knob will work.
Selector Switch
The John 5 model uses a standard Gibson 3-way pickup-selector toggle switch (with a red tip, of course) mounted to the upper bout for swift pickup switching. It should be wired like this:
- bridge pickup as full humbucker alone
- both pickups as full humbuckers in parallel
- neck pickup as full humbucker alone
Kill Switch
Instead of a tone control, there is a kill switch beside the master volume pot (in red ... what else?) that Fender calls “arcade style.” And yes, it reminds me a lot of the hardware of the ’80s game consoles .... Space Invaders or Donkey Kong, anyone?
A kill switch is a momentary switch that is usually used for machine gun sounds or stuttering effects. (A momentary switch only cuts off your guitar’s signal against ground while being pressed and resumes normal sound when released.) For a kill switch, you only need a basic on/off 2-position switch. An SPST (single pole-single throw) switch is ideal. SPST switches have only two contacts on the bottom and the switch simply connects (or disconnects) these two terminals to each other when the switch is pressed.
“What makes this guitar really stand out besides its appearance is the wiring, which I think is very special but also minimal.”
Be sure to buy a good quality switch, and make sure it’s a momentary and not a latching type. The type you need is a “normally open” (off) switch. When you are pressing the switch, you make a connection between the two contacts. The switch returns to the off position when you release the button.
There are special high-quality, all-metal kill switches for guitars available. There are also models with an LED inside if you are looking for a cool look. But keep in mind that you will need a battery for the LED, plus space inside the guitar to install it.
Here we go for the wiring. As usual, I substituted all ground connections with the international symbol for ground to keep the diagram as clean as possible. The wiring itself is very easy to do and is also a good beginner’s project.
Fig. 1
Illustration courtesy of singlecoil.com
That’s it! Next month, we will take a deep dive into something I received many email requests for, because it’s always confusing and not easy to understand: phase and polarity, and the difference between these two pickup parameters. So, stay tuned!
Until then ... keep on modding!
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Gibson originally launched the EB-6 model with the intention of serving consumers looking for a “tic-tac” bass sound.
The Gibson EB-6 was announced in 1959 and came into the world in 1960, not with a dual-horn body but with that of an elegant ES-335. They looked stately, with a thin, semi-hollow body, f-holes, and a sunburst finish. Our pick for this Vintage Vault column is one such first-year model, in about as original condition as you’re able to find today. “Why?” you may be asking. Well, read on....
When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye. The real competition were the Danelectro 6-string basses that seemed to have popped up out of nowhere and were suddenly being used on lots of hit records by the likes of Elvis, Patsy Cline, and other household names. Danos like the UB-2 (introduced in ’56), the Longhorn 4623 (’58), and the Shorthorn 3612 (’58) were the earliest attempts any company made at a 6-string bass in this style: not quite a standard electric bass, not quite a guitar, nor, for that matter, quite like a baritone guitar.
The only change this vintage EB-6 features is a replacement set of Kluson tuners.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
Gibson, Fender, and others during this era would in fact call these basses “baritone guitars,” to add to our confusion today. But these vintage “baritones” were all tuned one octave below a standard guitar, with scale lengths around 30", while most modern baritones are tuned B-to-B or A-to-A and have scale lengths between 26" and 30".)
At the time, those Danelectros were instrumental to what was called the “tic-tac” bass sound of Nashville records produced by Chet Atkins, or the “click-bass” tones made out west by producer Lee Hazlewood. Gibson wanted something for this market, and the EB-6 was born.
“When the EB-6 was introduced, the Bass VI was still a glimmer in Leo Fender’s eye.”
The 30.5" scale 1960 EB-6 has a single humbucking pickup, a volume knob, a tone knob, and a small, push-button “Tone Selector Switch” that engages a treble circuit for an instant tic-tac sound. (Without engaging that switch, you get a bass-heavy tone so deep that cowboy chords will sound like a muddy mess.)
The EB-6, for better or for worse, did not unseat the Danelectros, and a November 1959 price list from Gibson hints at why: The EB-6 retailed for $340, compared to Dano price tags that ranged from $85 to $150. Only a few dozen EB-6 basses were shipped in 1960, and only 67 total are known to have been built before Gibson changed the shape to the SG style in 1962.
Most players who come across an EB-6 today think it was a response to the Fender Bass VI, but the former actually beat the latter to the market by a full year.
Photo by Ken Lapworth
It’s sad that so few were built. Sure, it was a high-end model made to achieve the novelty tic-tac sound of cheaper instruments, but in its full-voiced glory, the EB-6 has a huge potential of tones. It would sound great in our contemporary guitar era where more players are exploring baritone ranges, and where so many people got back into the Bass VI after seeing the Beatles play one in the 2021 documentary, Get Back.
It’s sadder, still, how many original-era EB-6s have been parted out in the decades since. Remember earlier when I wrote that our Vintage Vaultpick was about as original as you could find? That’s because the model’s single humbucker is a PAF, its Kluson tuners are double-line, and its knobs are identical to those on Les Paul ’Bursts. So as people repaired broken ’Bursts, converted other LPs to ’Bursts, or otherwise sought to give other Gibsons a “Golden Era” sound and look ... they often stripped these forgotten EB-6 basses for parts.
This original EB-6 is up for sale now from Reverb seller Emerald City Guitars for a $16,950 asking price at the time of writing. The only thing that isn’t original about it is a replacement set of Kluson tuners, not because its originals were stolen but just to help preserve them. (They will be included in the case.)
With so few surviving 335-style EB-6 basses, Reverb doesn’t have a ton of sales data to compare prices to. Ten years ago, a lucky buyer found a nearly original 1960 EB-6 for about $7,000. But Emerald City’s $16,950 asking price is closer to more recent examples and asking prices.
Sources: Prices on Gibson Instruments, November 1, 1959, Tony Bacon’s “Danelectro’s UB-2 and the Early Days of 6-String Basses” Reverb News article, Gruhn’s Guide to Vintage Guitars, Tom Wheeler’s American Guitars: An Illustrated History, Reverb listings and Price Guide sales data.
Billy Gibbons is an undisputable guitar force whose feel, tone, and all-around vibe make him the highest level of hero. But that’s not to say he hasn’t made some odd choices in his career, like when ZZ Top re-recorded parts of their classic albums for CD release. And fans will argue which era of the band’s career is best. Some of us love drum machines and synths and others don’t, but we all love Billy.
This episode is sponsored by Magnatone
Originally released in the 1980s, the Victory has long been a cult favorite among guitarists for its distinctive double cutaway design and excellent upper-fret access. These new models feature flexible electronics, enhanced body contours, improved weight and balance, and an Explorer headstock shape.
A Cult Classic Made Modern
The new Victory features refined body contours, improved weight and balance, and an updated headstock shape based on the popular Gibson Explorer.
Effortless Playing
With a fast-playing SlimTaper neck profile and ebony fretboard with a compound radius, the Victory delivers low action without fret buzz everywhere on the fretboard.
Flexible Electronics
The two 80s Tribute humbucker pickups are wired to push/pull master volume and tone controls for coil splitting and inner/outer coil selection when the coils are split.
For more information, please visit gibson.com.
Gibson Victory Figured Top Electric Guitar - Iguana Burst
