Tele Selector selects Neck, Neck and Bridge - no middle

simonhpieman

As per the title, the selector swith won't select the middle position unless I wedge it like you used to have to do on 3 position strats. Otherwise, it goes neck-neck-bridge in the 3 positions, no both pickups.

Is this a replacement job or am I likely to be able to fix it?

Funkfingers

NNB is the vintage Fifties wiring.

It should have a cap and resistor network to make the selection towards the neck to produce a preset "bass tone". For this selection, the treble roll off pot should not be operational. 

If the stock selector switch is a generic Asian eight-contacts-in-a-line type, I recommend that you upgrade to something American. If the switch is a sprung CRL type, it will be worth desoldering the existing connections and reconfiguring for modern T wiring.

simonhpieman

It's a stock Japanese 72 Thinline (as far as I'm aware) so shouldn't have anything 50s at all going on...

Sorry, this is my first Tele and I'm useless at soldering!

ICBM

If it's a stock MIJ Fender the switch will be junk and is most likely just not making proper contact. Replace it (or have it replaced if you're not good at soldering) with a CRL and all should be good.

Funkfingers

simonhpieman said:

It's a stock Japanese 72 Thinline (as far as I'm aware) so shouldn't have anything 50s at all going on.

In that case, the problem is one of these;

• on the stock selector switch, the jumper/collector wire that should deliver the bridge PU signal to the middle position is not doing its job.
• The pickups are adjusted such that the neck pickup dominates the bridge. The bridge PU signal could be reaching the switch for the middle position but the neck PU overpowers it. (Real WRHBs are actually would the same for both positions. Oriental re-issue versions may be calibrated for their respective positions.)

As always, photographs would assist with remote diagnosis.

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

• The pickups are adjusted such that the neck pickup dominates the bridge. The bridge PU signal could be reaching the switch for the middle position but the neck PU overpowers it.

It's also possible that the bridge pickup has a break at the ground end of the coil - that makes it inaudible in the middle position, although it can seem to work on its own. It will also sound nasty and shrill if that is the case - Roy Buchanan's Tele famously had a broken pickup like that.

If you select the bridge pickup on its own and turn the tone control right down, does it kill the volume too?

Funkfingers

Fender MIJ '72 re-issue Tele Thinline should be type II with replica Wide Range humbuckers. (Photographs would have made this immediately apparent.)

ICBM

Funkfingers said:

Fender MIJ '72 re-issue Tele Thinline should be type II with replica Wide Range humbuckers. (Photographs would have made this immediately apparent.)

Humbuckers can also have breaks at the ground end of the coil, although it is more common on single coils.

simonhpieman

Right oh folks, thanks for your input as ever thus far. I'll get it apart and take some pics. I was hoping it might be something simple and common...

I definitely can get a middle sound with the selector "inbetween" the middle and bridge position so it's not an issue of the pickups overpowering. Have also made sure to balance them nicely. No issue with the tone control and as Mr Fingers correctly states, the 72 is the one with pseudo WRHBs in it.

ICBM

simonhpieman said:

I definitely can get a middle sound with the selector "inbetween" the middle and bridge position so it's not an issue of the pickups overpowering.

Must just be a faulty switch then.

Funkfingers

I will not be surprised if the guitar has the eight-in-line selector switch. On a Telecaster, these can be wired one of two ways around. 

1) Pickups to the outermost contacts and output collectors on the inner six.

2) Pickups to the innermost contacts and output collectors on the outermost six.

Some recent examples of the eight-in-line selector switch now come with a permanent bridge made between pairs of adjacent contacts. In this instance, used correctly, jumper wires are unnecessary.

On some budget CRL-alike selector switches, heavy handed use can deform the tiny sprung contacts. These can be bent back into the correct position with narrow nosed forceps.