Tele with two Strat pups . . . wiring?

[Cooper]

I'd like to put Strat pickups in the neck and middle positions of my Tele. I want to use stock American Series Strat pickups, and I have a stock Tele bridge pickup. I have a few questions:

1. Will I get hum canceling with the bridge, if I choose to wire it that way?
2. Is there a way to get both the neck and bridge (like on a normal Tele) without using a push/pull pot or toggle switch?

The options I must have are:

Bridge
Bridge + Neck
Neck
Neck + Middle (hum canceling)

Could this be done with a four way switch? Or could I use a five way and sacrifice the Middle or Middle + Bridge for the Neck + Bridge?

Thanks!

[PhatTele]

The way I understand it (and somebody correct me if I'm wrong) hum cancelling only works with two PUs selected together. So, to get hum cancelling, one of the PUs has to be reverse wound relative to the other. In a modern normal Strat, the middle PU is usually reverse wound so that when it is paired with the neck or bridge in positions 2 and 4 respectively, you get hum cancelling.

Note: Back in the old days (way back when Strats only had 3-way switches), they weren't worried about all this hum cancelling. However, they still got that "quack" when they set the switch in between because the wiring caused the PUs to be in parallel with one another. In other words, the in parallel "quack" does not equal hum cancelling. Hum cancelling is something more recent...kind of a "nice to have" actually.

In your case, the neck seems to be the common denominator (meaning, you want to pair it with the other two) and you want some hum cancelling. Therefore, it makes sense that the neck PU would be reverse wound. That way, when it's paired with either the middle or bridge PUs, you'd get some hum cancelling.

This means you probably need to swap the neck and middle PUs (they're close enough where you wouldn't notice much of a difference in tone) so that the neck is now reverse wound and the middle is normal. You just need to figure out if the Tele bridge you're working with is "normal" relative to your new neck PU. Then, you need to find a switch and diagram (maybe a MegaSwitch or a SuperSwitch) to give you the right combination of single PU, in parallel, in series, all together sounds you're looking for. Those combinations will be separate from the hum cancelling...that's due to the reverse wiring...not the leads coming off the PU.

[woodman]

i'm on my third 3-pickup homebrew Tele, and i tried various switching systems (mini-toggles, push-pulls etc.) ... what's worked great for me on the last one is hotwiring the middle pickup through a volume pot direct to the output. that way, you could get a Deaf Eddie switch or the like for the standard positions, series, out-of-phase and what-have-you, plus the ability to blend in the amount of middle pickup you want. of course, that means a 3-knob Tele, but i've never been one to let tradition trump functionality. YMMV etc.