3 way blade switch, with neck humbucker & series parallel

[Themk98]

Howdy, I was wondering if anybody had any solutions, or even just knew if it was possible to wire an SH tele as follows.

3rd pos - neck in full HB mode
2nd pos - neck south coil in series w/ bridge SC
​​​​​​1st pos - neck south coil in parallel w/ bridge SC

I was hoping to use stock tele components, as I already had a harness lying around, but I wasn't sure if this was possible without a super switch or some other switch added in the mix. Any thoughts?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Welcome to the forum.
I have to ask a couple questions so we can get on the same page:

So it's a SH Tele (not an HS?)? Tele single in the bridge and humbucker in the neck? And you want full series humbucker neck pup in the 1st (bridge) switch position? That is a really weird switch wiring, or you are just getting the switch positions backwards. By convention, 1 is bridge, 2 is bridge + neck, 3 is neck.

In any case...no you can't get those combinations from a stock Tele 3-way switch.

 

[Themk98]

Sorry, yes I meant ​​​​​​SH. Tele custom-ish.

And yes, I got my switch numbering backwards. Yikes, 2 strikes. I will edit the post to reflect both mistakes.

It is still an odd wiring setup though! But I sort of figured that a standard 3-way wouldn't be enough to accomplish this. Any idea on how I would wire this with a 4-pole 3 way switch(3way super switch)? Apologies if my terminology is incorrect

 

[GuitarDoc]

Do you have a problem putting in a 5-way superswitch?

 

[Themk98]

For some reason Im not crazy about the idea of a 5way. Honestly, I don't really care for the bridge position on a tele (blasphemy to some), nor do I like out of phase tones. In general, I like to keep a guitar simple for live stuff, but still have a couple tones I enjoy to choose from.

In any case why do you ask? Would it be easier to accomplish with a 5 way supers​witch, rather than a 3 way superswitch?

 

[ehdwuld]

i have never heard of a 3 way super switch

 

[marcello252]

maybe a four post switch could

 

[orpheo]

A four position doesn't have enough poles to switch it around. A 3 way superswitch exists but you need to "make" it yourself.

Grab a Schaller Megaswitch 3 way and a megaswitch 5 way M-type, and swap the wafers. easy.

 

[orpheo]

https://www.premierguitar.com/pro-advice/mod-garage-meet-goldos-double-wafer-3-way-switch

or this. Enjoy!

 

[GuitarDoc]

In any case why do you ask? Would it be easier to accomplish with a 5 way supers​witch, rather than a 3 way superswitch?

Yes, because I'm not sure if you can get a 3-way superswitch, if they even exist at all.

 

[GuitarDoc]

For some reason Im not crazy about the idea of a 5way. Honestly, I don't really care for the bridge position on a tele .

Maybe it's because of the bridge pup you're playing. What bridge pup do you have?
There are a few Tele bridge pups that are really great. Maybe you aught to try a new one and learn to love. A couple of my favorites are: Jerry Donohue & Quarter Pound with tap (the tap could be on a p/p tone pot).

nor do I like out of phase tones..

You don't need to have OOP if you don't want it.

In general, I like to keep a guitar simple for live stuff, but still have a couple tones I enjoy to choose from.

Just because you have 5 tones doesn't mean you have to use them all, but you MAY want them, and you'll have them available.

For example:
1 bridge
2 bridge + neck (south coil), in parallel
3 bridge + neck (south coil), in series
4 bridge + neck (series), in parallel
5 neck (series)

 

[Themk98]

Grab a Schaller Megaswitch 3 way and a megaswitch 5 way M-type, and swap the wafers. easy.

Interesting idea I hadn't thought of that! Any tips on resources there? I think I can intuit the process, but couldn't hurt. I also found the switch I linked, would this work similarly?

As for the bridge pickup, you're right it's not anything special, just stock fender. It's not so much tele pickups specifically I guess, really any guitar. 99% of my playing is on the neck pickup, and the other 1% is in the middle lol.

I really just like a bare bones setup, and the elegant simplicity of 3 pos, vol tone just speaks to me!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Well, there you go. A 3-position superswitch. Awesome. Thanks for posting that. I bookmarked that page for future use.

 

[Themk98]

Thanks for posting that.

no problem! Now if I can just figure out how to wire the thing I'll be in business!

 

[Mincer]

i have never heard of a 3 way super switch

I have one, but I eventually went to a 5 way.

 

[GuitarDoc]

I have one, but I eventually went to a 5 way.

Yeah, might as well. Same size and look as a 3-way but so many more options available.

 

[ehdwuld]

The five way i put in my RG2
has
Bridge
Bridge and Neck in series + out of phase
Bridge and neck in parallel (normal)
Bridge and neck in series (one big humbucker)
Neck

 

[Themk98]

Yeah, might as well. Same size and look as a 3-way but so many more options available.

I think for most people more is better, but I just want to trim the extra fat on this one, so to speak. I've had guitars with five way SS, or switches for all sorts of wonky extra sounds, etc, and I always just look for the 3 positions that I mentioned, and forget everything else lol.

I have a strat with a 5way for all the weird sounds, and it makes sense to me there with the middle pickup. But on the tele, I don't know, I've whittled it down to the only sounds I want I think.