Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

[Gearjoneser]

I was talking to my guitar tech, who used to work at Valley Arts, and he suggested the Fender Tele 4 Way Switch.

He said that it selects the bridge, B & N Parallel, B & N Series, and Neck.

Supposedly, the bridge and neck in series gives a darker, more humbucker-like tone, good for jazzier stuff. Anyone have this?

[Kent S.]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

I was talking to my guitar tech, who used to work at Valley Arts, and he suggested the Fender Tele 4 Way Switch.

He said that it selects the bridge, B & N Parallel, B & N Series, and Neck.

Supposedly, the bridge and neck in series gives a darker, more humbucker-like tone, good for jazzier stuff. Anyone have this?

I've got a couple laying about ... yeah the fourth position puts the neck in series with the bridge, you run a separate ground line to the neck pups cover to keep it shielded. It's a 2P4T lever switch, with independent throws (no shared throws like a 5way switch). The original layout was bridge, bridge and neck in parallel, neck (all stock tele), and then the fourth was bridge in series with neck ... they may have changed the order around ... don't know, the original order is the way Fender showed it on their installation instruction sheet. Part number something or other...I've got it in the files.
They also do something a bit less than stellar regarding the way they go about it doing it (IMHO),it works okay, it's just there is a better way to do it from the standpoint of a proper design.
What did you want to know specifically, and yes the series position like all series positions (over parallel that is) is warmer, bassier,and louder.

[mrfjones]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

this has got my interest. but i do not think i am going to use the 4 way switch. I have a set of tele pickups that are both wound in the same direction. now i know that this should not be hum canceling but would this be like one of the positions on that 4 way switch?

GJ sorry if i hijack your thread, but this is something i would really like to know about, and your descriptions got me wondering some more.

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

I got it in this guitar up front...
<-------

I'm actually using a 5 way switch.
I tried doing a Dan Armstrong mod. (Neck, B N Parallel, B N Series, B N Phased, B N Out of Phase) but i could not get it to work. So i just improvised.

I have it right now as follows.

1. Neck.
2. Both parallel
3. Bridge
4. Bridge
5. Both series

Its all cool except for bridge being both in 3 and 4... Doesn't bother me though.

The series sound is amazing for distortion and overdrive.
I usually play rhythm and chords on the neck pickup, then shift into 4th gear for the solo :P The tone IS humbuckery, but it still retains the twang of the bridge pickup by about 50 percent (not as twangy as parallel though). When you put 2 pups in series the resistance of them both is combined. I have 14 K resistance in series and 4.5 in parallel i believe...

Try it. you will like it!

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

this has got my interest. but i do not think i am going to use the 4 way switch. I have a set of tele pickups that are both wound in the same direction. now i know that this should not be hum canceling but would this be like one of the positions on that 4 way switch?

GJ sorry if i hijack your thread, but this is something i would really like to know about, and your descriptions got me wondering some more.

Well you can do everything with same wind same polarity pickups that you can do with RW/RP pickups... You can still have neck, bridge, N&B series, N&B parallel with a four-way, its just that the 2 combined positions will not be hum-cancelled. (I'm not too sure of what you asked though)

[Fresh_Start]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

FWIW on my Strats I've got the ability to put the neck & bridge pups together and in series. It's not humcancelling, but it's beefier than the 2 pups in parallel. With the pickups being farther away from each other, series seems to add something special - maybe certain harmonics cancelling each other out and others getting duplicated? Anyway, I like the tone a lot.

Chip

[mrfjones]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

thanks chip, thats what i really wanted to know. i never thought to try using a strat bridge and neck together to see what it would sound like. I don't have either of my strats wired to do that.

Thanks again for the help guys, i have a good idea of what it sounds like now.

[Curly]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

I saw this discussed on the Fender forum

several people said they preferred stock wiring ... probably a lot of tele players are inclined to be conservative

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

Yeah, I see no need for anything beyond a 5 way strat and a 3 way Tele, but I'm just looking to maybe change that.....without adding mini switches, or anything.

My N.O.S. Schecter US Tele is turning out to by one of the best guitars I've ever played. The pickups are Tom Anderson type large polepiece designs. The tone pulls up to tap the hot pickups. They really sound good, but I may explore all the good Duncans in it. Then, I can use that pullup tone for some tricked out wiring option with the Duncans.

[Curly]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

I'm using a 5-way switch for the custom tapped set in my new tele ... that's what Evan said he uses ...

so it's the four settings of a 4-way, plus the tapped option

I suppose I could use push-pulls instead, but the wiring seems less straightforward

teles, for the most part, are all about simplicity, right?

[pgambon]

Re: Tele 4 Way Switch. Anyone have one?

I have them in both of my teles. I love it. It gives you a humbacking option while maintaining the original pickup layout. The're about $15 plus installation. The only reason I can see not to do it is if you're stuck on the function of the three way. It's basically something for practically nothing.