Tele wiring mod suggestions?

Redlester

I have a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele. I am happy with the pickups and I’m not planning on a change. 
It has the standard three way wiring. 

I am open to ideas on wiring modifications, the kind of thing that gets a bit more variety out of what’s already there, rather than requiring different/ additional pickups etc.

The kind of things I have in mind are the four way Tele wiring system (with the additional sound with the bridge and neck pickups together). 

I also remember seeing a video once of Jerry Donahue explaining a five way switching system in his Teles. Has anyone done that one and does it give decent results? 

Are those two worth pursuing and are there any other suggestions? 

Thanks. 

Musicwolf

I have a Baja with the 4 way switch (which puts both pickups in series) plus the phase reverse switch on the vol pot.  It's not my most played guitar but, when I do use it, I tend to stick to the old three way options.

ICBM

There are three main options -

Series - the standard use for a 4-way switch - seems popular but I find the sound a bit muddy and uninspiring.

Out of phase - funky and thinner-sounding.

Some sort of preset tone - either like the original 50s Tele (neck pickup with a very bassy tone) or the ‘Eldred mod’ (a smaller cap which gives a honky fixed-wah type sound).

You can do all these with a 4-way switch. The Jerry Donahue ‘half out of phase’ sound can also be done with one. The full JD wiring has both that and a preset tone, but you can only do that with a 5-way ‘superswitch’, which often won’t fit in a standard Tele control cavity - a normal Strat-type 5-way won’t work.

Either series or out of phase require the coil to be separated from the ground on one pickup - most standard schemes do it on the neck pickup, but in fact it can be easier to do it on the bridge, especially if there’s already a separate ground wire to the bridgeplate.

Winny_Pooh

I like the series mode on a 4 way. Get a 4 way and install a kinman style treble bleed mod (two components) on the volume pot. 

TTony

Or a blower switch - you could do that with a push/pull (or push/push) on one of the pots.

Redlester

Thank you everyone. That’s very helpful. 

@musicwolf The Baja mod sounds intriguing. I will check out a demo of that guitar to see what those basic sounds are like. As for actually using them you raise a good point. I did a fairly elaborate rewrite to my Strat some years back, but I still usually revert to the classic wiring. 

Thanks @ICBM. That’s a good practical tip about the JD wiring. 

Lots of food for thought here. There is a very good guitar workshop near me and they’re friendly people, so this has given me a good basis for further discussion with them. 

Ta. 

Roland

ICBM said:

Series - the standard use for a 4-way switch - seems popular but I find the sound a bit muddy and uninspiring.

Out of phase - funky and thinner-sounding.

I use both of these. Series is useful when you want a warm, fat sound for a solo.

Funkfingers

The so-called half-out-of-phase sound is more Stratocaster-like. It requires a capacitor on the selector switch. (The Donahue circuit employs this.)

The series, in phase sound seems more usable when the neck position pickup is a “Twisted”, Stratocaster-voiced type. Almost P90-ish.

My suggestion is for the Freeway 3B3 six-way selector switch. This offers the same six pickup permutations as the Fender four-way + S-1 system but is more logical to use and less likely to physically break.

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The majority of these wiring changes will require a modification to the neck position pickup. 

Unless you are very lucky, the metal cover will be grounded via the black/start output conductor. 

Disconnect one end of the short jumper wire between the soldering eyelet and the cover. Solder an insulated wire to the cover, long enough to reach a grounding point in the control cavity.