Four way switch for Tele?

[Blue Strat]

Has anyone used the four way switch from Fender's Custom Shop on their Tele? It allows you to get either parallel or series combinations in the two middle positions.

 

I'm thinking about ordering one from Musician's Friend and wiring up my Tele with it. Then I'll take the Tele switch and put it in the Rogue strat, wiring the neck and bridge pickups like a Tele, and using one of the tone knobs for a volume on the middle pickup. All 7 possible configurations for a three pickup guitar.

[michael saulnier]

That sounds like a cool idea.

 

I have two tele's, one with two pickups and conventional three way switch, the other is a Nashville Tele, with three pickups and a 5 way switch.

 

I must admit I miss the "neck-bridge" combination not available with the Nashville setup...

 

Let us know how it goes, how easy, how much...

 

I may follow your lead if it works out for you!

 

guitplayer

[Caevan O’Shite]

I'd go with that "four-way", and one of their new "push" knobs/pots to switch a middle pickup in and out, in parallel with any of the other combinations. Now that would be sweet.

[Dylan]

Pardon my igornance, but what use would a 4-way switch serve on a Tele equipped with single coils?

[Gabriel E.]

Pardon my igornance, but what use would a 4-way switch serve on a Tele equipped with single coils?

Allows for a position with both single coil pickups run in series for a big, loud sound (essentially a humbucker with wide-spaced coils).

 

Another mod I recommend is to wire up a DPDT push/pull on one of the controls as a "blower" switch. It runs the bridge PU straight to the output jack with no loading from the volume or tone controls. This is similar to one of the switch positions on the old Fender Esquire. Sounds monster.

[Blue Strat]

Originally posted by guitplayer:

That sounds like a cool idea.

 

I have two tele's, one with two pickups and conventional three way switch, the other is a Nashville Tele, with three pickups and a 5 way switch.

 

I must admit I miss the "neck-bridge" combination not available with the Nashville setup...

 

Let us know how it goes, how easy, how much...

 

I may follow your lead if it works out for you!

 

guitplayer

The 4 way switch is $15 from Musician's friend, and should be as simple as soldering a few wires. The Strat idea is going to take changing out the switch to the Tele switch (which I'll have when I replace it with the 4 way) and re-wiring the controls. You could even re-wire each control pot as a volume and eliminate the switch, but then you'd have a few empty holes in your pickguard.

 

I like the 3 way switch idea better. The switch is connected to the bridge and neck pickups, then to the volume. The middle pickup goes straight to one of the tone pots (wired as a volume control) and then straight out. I'm not sure what I'd do with the tone pot; I don't use it much.

 

If you wanted to get really ambitious, you could use the 4 way switch for the series/parallel and the neck and bridge positions, and also use a middle pickup with a volume control. That's 9 pickup configurations!

 

1) bridge

2) neck

3) bridge/neck parallel

4) bridge/neck series

5) middle

6) middle/bridge

7) middle/neck

8) bridge/middle/neck parallel

9) bridge/neck series w/ middle parallel

 

That's a lot of options!

[Teahead]

I had a four way switch fitted to my Tele about six months ago. For the price of the modification it's a real bargain. The front, usually the neck, position is now both p'ups in series. It gives a very thick powerful sound, with lots of sustain, I use it instead of using my bridge pick-up, which can sound too thin to my ears.

Don't hesitate, get one today! Of course mine will make way for a five way switch as soon as I get that middle p'up fitted.