Quick and dirty "Tele-tone" mod

Switch the pickup leads on the switch so it goes bridge-neck-middle.
Now the "in between" setting gives you neck and bridge.
Yum!
I'd rather live without the bridge/middle than the bridge /neck.
Still have the neck/middle if I get the urge to go nasal.

That sounds like a cool mod, but I'm not sure I could ever get used to it; having the switch set up that way would be too confusing for my poor old brain! :smile:

I did build a Nashville Tele for my son recently, though, and he really wanted the Tele middle position on it, since he never uses the Strat middle pickup by itself; I used a Fender superswitch, and it worked out very well. His switch setup is like this: neck > neck/middle > neck/bridge > middle/bridge > bridge.

It sounds like a decent mod. One posible problem though is that a lot of middle pickups are RW/RP in order to give you some humbucker type noise reduction in switch positions 2&4.

So it'd mess that up.

Pete

I did build a Nashville Tele for my son recently, though, and he really wanted the Tele middle position on it, since he never uses the Strat middle pickup by itself; I used a Fender superswitch, and it worked out very well. His switch setup is like this: neck > neck/middle > neck/bridge > middle/bridge > bridge.

What wiring did you use for that?

What wiring did you use for that?

Ditto for that. I'd like to know too.

I used the wiring diagram for the Fender Nashville B-Bender Tele (newer version). It's on Fender's site; here's the link to the diagram:

http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/pdf_temp1/telecaster/0118342C/SD0118342CPg2.pdf

I used a Rio Grande Vintage Tallboy set in my son's Tele, so I used an .047 cap instead of the .022 that's shown. The only thing I would do differently next time is use a single-wafer superswitch. The Fender superswitch is a dual-wafer, and it gets pretty tight soldering all the wires, and then getting it to fit in the control cavity. I didn't find out about the single-wafer switches until I was already done (it figures!); it'll work on Teles, but you'll need the dual-wafer for Strats:

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/SWITCHES-C10.aspx

I simply swapped my neck & middle pickups in the pickguard without touching the wiring once...the Am Std strat I did it on barely had enough lead length for the middle to go into the neck slot.

Cool tones, but it was confusing...

Cb

I simply swapped my neck & middle pickups in the pickguard without touching the wiring once...the Am Std strat I did it on barely had enough lead length for the middle to go into the neck slot.

Cool tones, but it was confusing...

Cb

I was kind of wondering if you did something like that, if the leads would be long enough. It probably depends on the particular guitar.

I've been known to splice wires, so I doubt that I'd let short leads stop me.

Pete

I'd get confused onstage changing the switch positions around. I'm used to the tonal 'progression' you get going from positions 1 thru 5. I prefer being able to add the neck pickup to any position independently, either by a p/p switch or by making the second tone control a volume for the neck pickup. The latter is nice because you can blend it in a bit as well. But it's better to have a no load sort of pot so that it's right out of the circuit when 'off'.

I did build a Nashville Tele for my son recently, though, and he really wanted the Tele middle position on it, since he never uses the Strat middle pickup by itself; I used a Fender superswitch, and it worked out very well. His switch setup is like this: neck > neck/middle > neck/bridge > middle/bridge > bridge.

That's how my USACG T-Style was wired when I had a middle pickup. It was perfect. I do use my Strat's middle pickup alone and love it, but you can't have a Tele without the bridge/neck pickup combined.

you can't have a Tele without the bridge/neck pickup combined.

Nor a Strat, if you ask me.
Mine sounds so fine with that option.
I can finally play the Strat for a few songs...even a set. It's no longer just a backup.

Nor a Strat, if you ask me.
Mine sounds so fine with that option.
I can finally play the Strat for a few songs...even a set. It's no longer just a backup.

I use a blender pot for that.

Funny thing is, that even though I often use the neck and bridge pickups combined on my Tele and Les Paul, I don't use them together on my Strat often.
In fact I put a blender pot in mine mostly so the third pot would have a function when I changed the guitar over to a master tone control.