4 way switch in Tele..

Istanbul

Istanbul

New member
is it possible to split coils with switch?..

1 single size humbucker in bridge
1 single coil in neck..


Switch 1 : Humbucker bridge alone
Switch 2: Coil split bridge
Switch 3 : Coil split bridge + neck
Switch 4 : neck alone

is that possible?.. how can i try it?.


Now i am splitting the humbucker with tone pot but i want to try with switch also..

is it something smilar to "tapped" story? if i wire just like in Seymours schematics "tapped tele".. will it work?

Lots of questions.. i know. :question:
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Quick reply: I'd have to draw that up after work to see if it is feasible. If not, you might look into the 5 position 4 pole "mega" switches, which can accomplish practically anything. You might want to think of a 5th linkage... maybe coil split hb in series with neck.
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

I have a Samick tele with a five-way that definitely does it. I might suggest a push/pull pot on the tone or volume would be more flexible...And my tele has that too! It's a tap for a middle pup that's a hot rail. The five way taps a neck bucker in position 2.
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

I just did this quick-&-dirty to give you the basic idea. I haven't been feeling real well today. I'll do you a better one tomorrow if you need. :blackeye:

Tele-4-way.png
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Back from work... Artie's schematic (for SD pickups) looks good but you probably want to see a "pictogram" that shows which wire is connected to which terminal. Depending on which pickups you are using you might need to alter the drawing so that the Bridge Red/White wires are connected to Ground in positions 2 & 3.

In the meantime, you might want to check your linkages with alligator clip jumpers to figure out how to get the polarity right... presumably you want the split coil/neck linkage to be humcancelling. Let us know what you find if you want us to talk you through this.

For a quick primer in humcancelling...

#1 the tops of the two coils need to be magnetically opposite so that they are attracted to each other for the combination to be humcancelling. You may need to flip the magnet in the humbucker if it matters which coil is used with the neck pickup.

#2. the winding direction of the coils need to be opposite, which just means try hooking them up one way, and then the other way to figure out what works better.

HTH
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

BlueGuitar said:
Depending on which pickups you are using you might need to alter the drawing so that the Bridge Red/White wires are connected to Ground in positions 2 & 3.

HTH
Click to expand...

I'm not positive, because I doodled a couple things up real quick, but I don't think that'll work. At least, not with a Tele 4-way. One of the limitations of the 4-way, is you'll be forced to split the bridge to the "screw" terminals.

If you use the bottom half of that switch to gound the red/white wires, then the bridge would have to be connected to the top half. That won't work because the 4-way never connects adjacent terminals together the way a 5-way does. So, you could never have bridge and neck on at the same time.
Thats one of the reasons that a Tele 4-way uses one side of the switch for the neck, and one side for the bridge.

The ideal solution here, is to just use a push/pull pot for the "splitting" chores. Then you can do whatever you want. ;)
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

About 9 months ago I went with a Vintage Stack in the neck and a Little 59' in the bridge. I thought about a 4 way but decided to go with push-pull pots instead. It technically gave me one extra sound and didn't make me go blind trying to read the schematic.
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

ArtieToo said:
If you use the bottom half of that switch to ground the red/white wires, then the bridge would have to be connected to the top half. That won't work because the 4-way never connects adjacent terminals together the way a 5-way does...
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct on that, sir... if there is a phase issue, Istanbul could try swapping around the leads until a combination was found that that worked right. Or just cheat and use a 4 pole 5 position megaswitch... :dance:

The "adjacent terminal" trick with the regular 5 way strat switches is the main reason I prefer them to the 4 pole mega switches... the other reason being that they are usually quieter (since one contact is closed before the next contact is opened).

--Thanks!
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Not exactly a pictogram, but here is Artie's diagram in ASCII/HTML:


nc . . . nc . . .N+ . . N+ . . + Hot Output
[1] . . [2] . . [3] . .[4] . . [C]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . . . VOL
. . [1] . . [2] . . [3] . . [4] |_[C]
. . B+. . .Br/w . . Br/w . . nc


Make sure that the two common terminals are closest to the volume pot (they are both connected to the hot terminal on the volume control).
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Thanks for answers, unfortunately the schematics are so complicated for me.. i am trying to understand.. My bridge pup is Jb.Jr and it sounds great with STR-1 when i split it.

coil splitting with tone knob is great as you can arrange the level of splitting just like volume parameter but its difficult to make it during a song :)

Push/Pull is also seems difficult to me, thats why i wanted to make it by a switch. But if Push/Pull pot is the best solution. i would go with it..

If someone has a easy schametic which helps to wire that switching it would be great.

By the way what would be your POT value for such a guitar 250K?? or 500K?

:)
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Istanbul said:
... If someone has a easy schametic which helps to wire that switching it would be great...

By the way what would be your POT value for such a guitar 250K?? or 500K?

:)
Click to expand...

OK, here is a wiring diagram that should be easy enough to follow... I looked at one of my 4 way switches and it should look like the one you have. There are 5 terminals on each side. N+ is the hot lead from your neck pickup. B+ is the hot lead from your bridge pickup (probably black in color). Bw/r is the coil split wire(s) of the bridge pickup (probably red and white together). The OTHER wires from the pickups should go to ground.

You could use either 250k or 500k in your guitar. If the pickups are too bright I'd go with a 250k pot; if they are too muddy I'd go with a 500k pot.

Good luck!

http://www.blueguitar.org/new/misc/4way_sw041205d.pdf
 
Re: 4 way switch in Tele..

Thanks so much.. for your help..

Pot, i only used 500K till that time, thats why i ve asked about 250K..

As STR-1 neck got so much bright with 500K and i had to solder a 047uf capacitor between hot wire of neck pup and switch terminal (that was a suggestion of seymour duncan help)

Now the overall tone is ok but when i switch to neck pup there is a little click coming out because of my modification(capacitor) and it disturbs me with huge amps..I think i have artifically reduced the high frequencies by using that capacitor..

The problem is i dont know how Jb Jr sounds with 250K.. I am gonna try it also :)

Thanks so much guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top