Tele 4 way switch

Hootsmon

Thoughts please on the switch application for rock and also for jazz(y)

pros and cons

Ta much 

springhead

Like mine.  I've wired it as

1/ Bridge

2/ Bridge and Neck parallel (normal Tele mid position)

3/ Bridge and Neck series (more oomph)

4/ Neck

I think most people have 3 and 4 the other way round but I find this way allows for a quicker change from bridge only to neck only.

My Tele has a mini-humbucker in the neck, so not your normal arrangement.  The pots on mine do humbucker split and and a phase reverse which gives a convinvcing Peter Green tone, especially in Series position.  Very versatile guitar.

ICBM

Pros - gives you an extra sound without any extra switches.

Cons - the two middle settings never seem in the right place when you've been used to a standard 3-way or 5-way switch for thirty years, the series setting is actually a bit muddy and not that useful, there is a click or drop-out between a couple of the positions, and I find there's no 'logical' order to the settings - I prefer having series at the bridge end because it's 'back for lead', but even that isn't ideal since it's duller than the bridge alone. Springhead's order but with 2 and 3 reversed might be better, I haven't tried that.

guitars4you

springhead said:

Like mine.  I've wired it as

1/ Bridge

2/ Bridge and Neck parallel (normal Tele mid position)

3/ Bridge and Neck series (more oomph)

4/ Neck

I think most people have 3 and 4 the other way round but I find this way allows for a quicker change from bridge only to neck only.

My Tele has a mini-humbucker in the neck, so not your normal arrangement.  The pots on mine do humbucker split and and a phase reverse which gives a convinvcing Peter Green tone, especially in Series position.  Very versatile guitar.

agree - I've seen options 3 and 4 the other way round as well - So a case of which you prefer

The series mode is an additional voice, as required - fat and humbucker flavoured, so less sparkly highs - Easy to say great for chilled out jazz, but many jazz players have used a Tele on neck position for many years

I like the 4 way option but many don't

crunchman

Wouldn't bother.  Had it on two Teles.  Basically never used it.  Just sounds dull and muddy.  Don't know if it's the distance between the pickups leading to more phase cancellation of higher frequencies, but it doesn't sound like a regular humbucker - whatever the reason.

paulphoenix

I will be putting a 4 way switch on my recently purchased telecaster when I upgrade pickups next month. 

I think it'll be great to have the 4th switching option there even if I don't end up liking/using it. 

I've seen two possible wiring permutations for the switch (which i could make work for me) but is it possible to wire it like this? 

1/bridge
2/ b&n series 
3/b&n parallel (normal)
4/neck

ICBM

paulphoenix said:

I've seen two possible wiring permutations for the switch (which i could make work for me) but is it possible to wire it like this? 

1/bridge
2/ b&n series 
3/b&n parallel (normal)
4/neck

Yes - any order of the combinations is possible, you just need to re-arrange the wiring. Each position of the switch is a discrete set of connections, unlike a Strat 5-way.

MrBump

I'm a fan of the N | B series setting - I have it on position 4, but it's the first Tele I've owned, being used more to Strats, and so it's not htat complicated for me.

My Tele has BKP Blackguard Flat 50's in it, and the series setting sounds awesome - really thick and heavy when driven, very smooth and jazzy when clean.

Roland

hootsmon said:

pros and cons

Pros: more sound options
Cons: can you handle the additional pickup option

Actually having 4 options is not a problem for most people. Research I read many years ago says that the human brain can cope with up to five alternatives without having to stop and think about it.

My Teles have a tapped bridge pickup so I use a 5 way:
1. Bridge
2. Tapped bridge
3. Both in parallel
4. Neck
5. Both in series

I tried other sequences, particularly putting the series option at the other end of the sequence, but this one seemed the most logical to me. 

robgilmo

I have it on my Baja, S1 too, I just want a normal 3 way.

thegummy

Roland said:

hootsmon said:

pros and cons

Pros: more sound options
Cons: can you handle the additional pickup option

Actually having 4 options is not a problem for most people. Research I read many years ago says that the human brain can cope with up to five alternatives without having to stop and think about it.

My Teles have a tapped bridge pickup so I use a 5 way:
1. Bridge
2. Tapped bridge
3. Both in parallel
4. Neck
5. Both in series

I tried other sequences, particularly putting the series option at the other end of the sequence, but this one seemed the most logical to me. 

It's not that it's a cognitive problem with too many choices, it's just more fiddly to quickly flip to position 2 or 3 of 4 than position 2 of 3 in that split second between notes.

I'd personally hate having the neck only option not at the end of the switch.

Jota

I have it on mine cause I'm lazy!

Tried it a few years ago. almost never use the 4 option but I'm lazy to remove it and I just used the old 3 way switch to fix a friend of mine's guitar...

springhead

thegummy said:

I'd personally hate having the neck only option not at the end of the switch.

That was my thinking.  And with the neck pup in mine being a humbucker it's quite nice to pull back one notch to position 3 for a boost from humbucker only to humbucker/bridge series.  Louder and a bit brighter for a lead tone.

chris_john

The Schecter PT Special comes with a push/pull on the tone knob that does the same thing as the 4-way switch.  I personally never use it because I'm happy with the traditional 3 tele positions. 

exocet

I have a 4 way on my Kotzen Tele - as standard this guitar uses a rotary switch for Series / Parallel so I replaced that with a tone knob and a 4 way.

Going to fit a 4 way to my Nashville style Tele partsacaster.

1. Bridge
2. Neck / Bridge
3. Neck / Middle
4. Neck

Funkfingers

I have the four-way switch on a Fender AVRI '52 Telecaster. The bridge/Treble position pickup is tapped, offering approximately 6k and 9k output levels. The switch selects between high level bridge, low level bridge, low level bridge + neck, neck. 

I did try the Seymour Duncan/Jeff Beck five-way switch idea but found it annoying in use - probably due to being habituated to the bridge/both/neck selection layout. Neck PU Only in the middle switch position probably only makes sense to users of the original "Blend" circuit.