Tele mid position wired for series

Johnnyseven

I'm not a fan of the tele mid position (parallel) so I was wondering if it is possible to wire my 3 way switch so that one of the positions has both pickups in series? If so how can this be done?

crunchman

Johnnyseven said:

I'm not a fan of the tele mid position (parallel) so I was wondering if it is possible to wire my 3 way switch so that one of the positions has both pickups in series? If so how can this be done?

I'm not a fan of the series sound.  It doesn't sound like a proper humbucker.  If you haven't played a Tele with that sound on a 4 way, or some other switching option, then I'd try and get to a shop and try one with it to check if it's worth the bother.

I put a 4 way switch in the first Tele I owned, and after the initial novelty I never used that sound.  I had it stock on a 4 way in a Custom Shop Tele as well.  I couldn't be bothered to take it out, but I never used it.

I did try a series wiring option on a Strat as well at one point.  DIdn't like it there either.  Wiring two Fender single coils just doesn't seem to work for me.

You may be different, but given the number of Teles that come with that as a switching option, I'd try it out before going to the trouble of messing with your wiring.

flying_pie

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

robinbowes

This might help:

http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/2svari_e.htm#60

R.

ICBM

Yes, it can be done quite simply. There are some diagrams for it online, but all the ones I've seen so far are unnecessarily complicated.

First, does your bridge pickup have a baseplate, and/or is there a separate ground wire to the bridgeplate? This will decide whether it's easier to make the bridge or neck pickup the 'upper' coil.

thegummy

I too dislike the sound of 2 far away pickups in series but then again I absolutely love the tele middle, it's one of my favourite guitar sounds so we obviously have different tastes  

An option could be installing a muddle pickup like the guy from mogwai has done (among others)

Johnnyseven

ICBM said:

Yes, it can be done quite simply. There are some diagrams for it online, but all the ones I've seen so far are unnecessarily complicated.

First, does your bridge pickup have a baseplate, and/or is there a separate ground wire to the bridgeplate? This will decide whether it's easier to make the bridge or neck pickup the 'upper' coil.

My tele bridge pickup does have a base plate and there is a ground wire from back of the volume pot that goes to under the bridge.

ICBM

Johnnyseven said:

My tele bridge pickup does have a base plate and there is a ground wire from back of the volume pot that goes to under the bridge.

In that case it's easier to make the bridge pickup the 'upper' coil. You need to cut the small link wire between the pickup eyelet and the baseplate. The bridge will stay grounded via the separate wire.

The way it's wired is quite simple - the neck pickup hot wire needs to be connected to the bridge pickup 'ground' wire (which is now not grounded) on one of the rotor terminals on the switch. The bridge pickup hot wire goes to the volume pot.

You can then connect the 1 and 3 position terminals on the switch to ground or the volume pot to shut off one of the pickups.

Does that make sense?

Johnnyseven

It does make sense but as i'm not so good with a soldering iron i'll probably take it to a tech to do it - at least I know it is possible! Thanks.

bbill335

flying_pie said:

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

We started doing Cissy Strut and it never sounds right with my strat (normal 5 way, no blend), it has to be bridge+neck. A lot of Steve Cropper sounds are the tele middle position and it really suits soul/funk rhythm. 

robinbowes

bbill335 said:

flying_pie said:

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

We started doing Cissy Strut and it never sounds right with my strat (normal 5 way, no blend), it has to be bridge+neck. A lot of Steve Cropper sounds are the tele middle position and it really suits soul/funk rhythm. 

A blend knob is a great addition to a Strat. I have a Kinman K9 harness in mine, and use the neck blend quite a lot. Bridge and middle in series is also surprisingly good - a bit like a bridge humbucker, ie. a louder and less bright than bridge on its own.

R.

crunchman

robinbowes said:

bbill335 said:

flying_pie said:

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

We started doing Cissy Strut and it never sounds right with my strat (normal 5 way, no blend), it has to be bridge+neck. A lot of Steve Cropper sounds are the tele middle position and it really suits soul/funk rhythm. 

A blend knob is a great addition to a Strat. I have a Kinman K9 harness in mine, and use the neck blend quite a lot. Bridge and middle in series is also surprisingly good - a bit like a bridge humbucker, ie. a louder and less bright than bridge on its own.

R.

I put a push push pot on mine that adds the neck to whatever pickup selection I have on the 5 way when it's up.

If I'm in the bridge position that gives me bridge and neck together in parallel.  I did try the blend thing at one point but didn't like it.  I've tried most things with that Strat at some point.  Ended up with a baseplate on the bridge pickup, which is connected to the middle pickup tone control, and the push push on the neck tone control to allow me to add the neck to any combination.

bbill335

robinbowes said:

bbill335 said:

flying_pie said:

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

We started doing Cissy Strut and it never sounds right with my strat (normal 5 way, no blend), it has to be bridge+neck. A lot of Steve Cropper sounds are the tele middle position and it really suits soul/funk rhythm. 

A blend knob is a great addition to a Strat. 

Yeah I plan to try it out at some point, although I am a bit superstitious about losing any "strattishness"... and as it sounds really nice at the minute, I'm loath to change anything about the wiring. Can't keep the fuckin vibrato in tune though!!

thegummy

bbill335 said:

robinbowes said:

bbill335 said:

flying_pie said:

Really? Middle position can be a great sound - should give you the Crazy Little Thing Called Love lead tone

We started doing Cissy Strut and it never sounds right with my strat (normal 5 way, no blend), it has to be bridge+neck. A lot of Steve Cropper sounds are the tele middle position and it really suits soul/funk rhythm. 

A blend knob is a great addition to a Strat. 

Yeah I plan to try it out at some point, although I am a bit superstitious about losing any "strattishness"... and as it sounds really nice at the minute, I'm loath to change anything about the wiring. Can't keep the fuckin vibrato in tune though!!

If you use a no load pot, it's completely out of the circuit when off

RandallFlagg

Don[t like any fancy wiring on a Tele, just regular modern. If you want a fatter sound on the middle position use an overdrive