What's Best? Two or Three Pots on a Three Pickup Tele.

[TheMicster]

Hi I recently purchased a Telecaster as a modding platform which i would like to convert to a Nashville type set up with possibly a 5 way super switch or a Freeway switch. Now i don't own a Strat and this would be my First Three Pickup guitar.
I've been going through various wiring diagrams and trying to work out what may be an optimal solution.
Just Master volume and Tone for speed and ease of use, a 1x vol. 2x tone, a 2x vol. 1x tone or maybe a blender, there's alot of possibilities with different pro's and con's to each.
Anyway i just wanted to get an opinion from people who play 3 pick up guitars a lot and why they prefer their paticular set up. It would be interesting to see if there is a general consensus.
Thanks again Mic.

 

[Ricky D.]

I rewired my Strat to have master volume, master tone, and a blender pot to let me combine the neck and bridge pickups along with the combinations you get with a standard 5- way switch.

With a Tele, I would probably do a push-pull on one pot to add the bridge to whatever was selected on the 5-way. No extra holes or knobs that way.

Extra knobs and switches are a pain in the butt on a gig for me. I end up with the wrong settings and have to stop playing to sort it out, or just continue playing with the wrong setting. Of course at home that doesn’t matter at all.

 

[tfarny]

There are a million possibilities once you have three pickups. I personally do not like more three positions on a switch. Too fiddly.
I would just go with a little 3 way DPDT mini switch between your V & T controlling the middle pickup - middle only, middle off, middle with whatever else you have going.

 

[KC]

main gig guitar lately is a Music Man Cutlass, basically a Strat but with a single vol, since tone, 5-way selector switch. I love this setup. So easy & intuitive onstage. The only thing missing is the neck+bridge middle tele setting, and it might be worth adding a blender pot to get it.

 

[schmee]

I say 3. Because you want a tone pot for the bridge alone to warm it up a bit.

Of course you could rotate a single tone pot, for whatever pickup, but if switching from neck or mid to bridge in a solo, better not to have to.

The other option is to have one tone for the bridge and mid, and leave the neck pup with no tone control.

 

[BrokenTele]

I have 1v/2t setups on my Nashvilles.

It’s fine. I like it. Works like a Strat. Not too much to it all, tbh.

 

[horseman308]

What will the guitar be used for? My view is that a guitar used mainly for gigging would be used very differently than one used mainly for recording. In a gig - which is all I do - I want simplicity and reliability to make quick changes or adjustments easy between chords or whatever. By comparison, in a recording session, you can kinda dial in one specific tone for a part, and then change between takes of needed. So, in that situation more complexity in the circuit is not a detriment, and it may be a virtue.

 

[HomeOffisRockstar]

Hi I recently purchased a Telecaster as a modding platform which i would like to convert to a Nashville type set up with possibly a 5 way super switch or a Freeway switch. Now i don't own a Strat and this would be my First Three Pickup guitar.
I've been going through various wiring diagrams and trying to work out what may be an optimal solution.
Just Master volume and Tone for speed and ease of use, a 1x vol. 2x tone, a 2x vol. 1x tone or maybe a blender, there's alot of possibilities with different pro's and con's to each.
Anyway i just wanted to get an opinion from people who play 3 pick up guitars a lot and why they prefer their paticular set up. It would be interesting to see if there is a general consensus.
Thanks again Mic.

I prefer the G&L PTB wiring.

Volume, Passive Treble, Passive Bass.

Otherwise, just give me a single volume and tone control.

 

[BCblues55]

There are a million possibilities once you have three pickups. I personally do not like more three positions on a switch. Too fiddly.
I would just go with a little 3 way DPDT mini switch between your V & T controlling the middle pickup - middle only, middle off, middle with whatever else you have going.

I’ve got this switch and it works really well. Master Tone, Master Volume, Switch. Easy and functional.

 

[nojazzhere]

Hi I recently purchased a Telecaster as a modding platform which i would like to convert to a Nashville type set up with possibly a 5 way super switch or a Freeway switch. Now i don't own a Strat and this would be my First Three Pickup guitar.
I've been going through various wiring diagrams and trying to work out what may be an optimal solution.
Just Master volume and Tone for speed and ease of use, a 1x vol. 2x tone, a 2x vol. 1x tone or maybe a blender, there's alot of possibilities with different pro's and con's to each.
Anyway i just wanted to get an opinion from people who play 3 pick up guitars a lot and why they prefer their paticular set up. It would be interesting to see if there is a general consensus.
Thanks again Mic.

When I added a middle pickup to a Tele, I didn't want to lose the traditional Tele "bridge, bridge+neck, and neck" tones. Since I prefer a two knob only set-up (Vol+Tone) and standard three position switch. I used a mini-toggle switch to bring in the middle pickup, with any combination of the other pickups. The only sound I CAN'T get is middle by itself......but that doesn't matter to me.

BTW....this guitar is currently back to "standard" two pickups, with a three saddle, left handed bridge, (so reverse slant on bridge pickup)

 

[unixfish]

6 - a volume and a tone for each pickup! Think of the possibilities! Then you could have an on-off switch for each pickup and skip the five way switch!

Uh, on second thought, never mind.

 

[arlum]

My favorite Strat wiring is a five way switch with a master volume, one tone control for the neck, one tone control for the bridge, no tone control on the middle pickup. On a 3 single coil Strat I don't use any push pull pots or mini switches. Simple and sweet.

 

[Grandy]

I have a 5 way switch, master vol, master tone on my strat. I would have it the same way on a three pickup tele.

 

[Boreas]

Don't forget push-pull pot options! Personally, I can barely make sense of two pickups, let alone 3.

 

[Carcinogen]

Hi I recently purchased a Telecaster as a modding platform which i would like to convert to a Nashville type set up with possibly a 5 way super switch or a Freeway switch. Now i don't own a Strat and this would be my First Three Pickup guitar.
I've been going through various wiring diagrams and trying to work out what may be an optimal solution.
Just Master volume and Tone for speed and ease of use, a 1x vol. 2x tone, a 2x vol. 1x tone or maybe a blender, there's alot of possibilities with different pro's and con's to each.
Anyway i just wanted to get an opinion from people who play 3 pick up guitars a lot and why they prefer their paticular set up. It would be interesting to see if there is a general consensus.
Thanks again Mic.

The Freeway switch is awesome! I like 1 vol/1 tone because having a 10 way switch is complicated enough as it is, I don’t want to worry about anything besides playing.