uncommon tele wiring

[tone4days]

have any of you guys ever heard of this wiring for a tele?

3-way switch is NOT the pickup selector, but rather is a 'tone' control wired for "dark-medium-bright"

the "tone knob" is not a tone knob, but rather is a pickup selecting blender pot with a center 'detent' that represents the blend of both pickups ... full clockwise is "neck pickup only", full counter-clockwise is "bridge pickup only"

volume control is standard

thoughts?
cheers,
t4d

[jeremy]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

ive seen an esquire with the 3 way tone switch and it was pretty cool, but thats a cool new way to wire a tele!!

[Dave]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

I spent the weekend on my buddy's custom shop esquire with a vibro king and a fulldrive-2. It was totally hot and that wiring is great. Check out Mr. Gearheads via the fender website for a schematic.

Proof positive that all you really need is a bridge pickup!

wish it was string through body though...

[ArtieToo]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

The "cap selector" would be as simple as this:



You can use whatever values for the two caps that you want. Just remember that they add in the middle position.

[tone4days]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

interesting on the cap switching, artie .. i figured that the 3-way would be selecting which of three resistor values to put into the circuit with a single cap, each corresponding to the resistor values of a pot "all the way up" - "half way up" - and "all the way down"

cheers
t4d

[ArtieToo]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

Now that I re-read your original post, what you're describing would be closer to what you said first. In other words, if the 3-way replaced the tone control. I was thinking more in terms of having a regular tone control with 3 different EQ points.

Doing it that way, you'ld want something like this:



One way uses an on-on-on switch, and the other, a on-off-on switch. With either method, you'll either have the highest resistance, or lowest resistance in the middle switch position. There's no good way to have the tone go bright-medium-low, in sequence with the switch positions.

BTW - those are just example values. You could select any values you want, as long as you do the math.

Oh yeah, and in method 2, if you wanted to get a little fancy, you could replace the left and right resistors with those little trim pots. You'ld still have "10" at the middle, but you could flip the switch to the left, and "dial in" the tone you wanted, then flip the switch to right, and "dial in" the tone you wanted there. (Using a jewelers screwdriver.)

[tone4days]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

sweet idea - thanks

cheers
t4d

[Fresh_Start]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

Just a thought - I'd like to have this with the control plate reversed so that the volume knob is closest, then the blender, and the tone "selector" furthest back.

Chip

[tone4days]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

yup yup ...even better chip

sheesh, a guy throws out a hair brained idea and within half a day it gets tweaked upon to the point where it might actually work ... is this internet a wacky goofy world, or what?

cheers
t4d

[Kent S.]

Re: uncommon tele wiring

HHHmmm, this topic seems very familiar to me ... I wonder why Chip?
The Gibson Marauder (sp?) was one of the first guitars to use a balance control as a pup selector ...
The Esquire really just has one preset tone (no tone pot), connects to tone pot in the middle position, and then bypasses it in another position. The stock preset tone can be made more useful by switching the wire that connects to the two 503 caps and 3k3 resistor from one end of the resistor to the other end of the resistor.