Decipher this Tele wiring?

[alex1fly]

Making a big push on finishing several guitar projects. This faux Tele has an electronics harness that I'm not familiar with, and was wondering if anyone can help me decipher what's going on in there. My goal is/was to replace the switch with a 4 way switch and do the N/B series wiring, but part of me wants to leave it alone because I'm superstitious and it sounds incredibly good right now - dynamic, rich, I'm just super pleased with it beyond any other Fender-style guitar that I've ever played, period. And this makes me wonder if there's something unconventional going on with the wiring; point being to try and replicate it, if possible, but with the 4 way switch.

Several pairs of lugs in the switch are soldered together. Additionally, the hot wire from the bridge pickup goes to some kind of capacitor before hitting the switch (is this the infamous de-mud mod? I've read about it for neck pickups).

Any insight would be appreciated! And I can clarify any questions with more pics or looks under the hood.

 

[alex1fly]

Whoops, photos. Can't get the URL upload tool to work so here it is: https://imgur.com/gallery/NrQs3Hb

 

[allbutromeo]

It looks like early 50s wiring, but I can't tell for certain.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Making a big push on finishing several guitar projects. This faux Tele has an electronics harness that I'm not familiar with, and was wondering if anyone can help me decipher what's going on in there. My goal is/was to replace the switch with a 4 way switch and do the N/B series wiring, but part of me wants to leave it alone because I'm superstitious and it sounds incredibly good right now - dynamic, rich, I'm just super pleased with it beyond any other Fender-style guitar that I've ever played, period. And this makes me wonder if there's something unconventional going on with the wiring; point being to try and replicate it, if possible, but with the 4 way switch.

Several pairs of lugs in the switch are soldered together. Additionally, the hot wire from the bridge pickup goes to some kind of capacitor before hitting the switch (is this the infamous de-mud mod? I've read about it for neck pickups).

Any insight would be appreciated! And I can clarify any questions with more pics or looks under the hood.

Nothing unusual about that wiring except for that capacitor btw the Neck pup and the pup selector switch, and I agree with your assessment that it's functioning as a De-mud Mod.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[alex1fly]

Nothing unusual about that wiring except for that capacitor btw the Neck pup and the pup selector switch, and I agree with your assessment that it's functioning as a De-mud Mod.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Thanks! Interesting, because I'm fairly certain that the capacitor is on the bridge pickup based on where where the wire enters the cavity.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

What are you trying to achieve?

The four way mod is great. It gives you a bit of extra oomph for crescendo.

I've only done the mod with genuine Fender 4 ways switches, however.

 

[Jack_TriPpEr]

Thanks! Interesting, because I'm fairly certain that the capacitor is on the bridge pickup based on where where the wire enters the cavity.

I agree with you that its probably Bridge pup. I only wrote "neck" because i thought you mentioned it in your first post. But looking again at the type of 3 way switch you have, yes, that should be the Bridge pup.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[alex1fly]

What are you trying to achieve?

The four way mod is great. It gives you a bit of extra oomph for crescendo.

I've only done the mod with genuine Fender 4 ways switches, however.

I'd like to throw a traditional 4-way switch in there to add the N/B series position while preserving as much of the in-place wiring as possible.

 

[alex1fly]

I agree with you that its probably Bridge pup. I only wrote "neck" because i thought you mentioned it in your first post. But looking again at the type of 3 way switch you have, yes, that should be the Bridge pup.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Okay, haha, glad I'm not crazy. Thanks!

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

It's a simple wiring job. Just buy a Fender 4-way and follow the instructions that come with it, or look on the S-D wiring diagram here:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/resour...iring-diagrams

It's important that if your neck pickup doesn't have a third wire, you'll need to add one.

On a regular 3 way Tele, the chrome cover over the neck pickup is grounded with the pickup ground. The 4 way switch, however, uses switching grounds, so you have to separate the shielding ground from the pickup ground.

Start by finding the link between the black ground wire and the chrome cover. Disconnect the link from the cover. Do not disconnect the pickup ground wire.

Next, file away a little area of chrome where you won't see it, for example off the fold-down tabs holding the cover on. You need to do this to expose the copper/ brass underneath the chrome. You won't have much luck trying to solder to chrome.

Finally solder on the new third wire on the exposed copper/ brass area.

 

[beaubrummels]

I'd almost argue it would be easier to ground the baseplate of the bridge separately and send bridge negative to neck positive for series. But maybe there's something I'm not considering.

 

[alex1fly]

It's a simple wiring job. Just buy a Fender 4-way and follow the instructions that come with it, or look on the S-D wiring diagram here:

https://www.seymourduncan.com/resour...iring-diagrams

It's important that if your neck pickup doesn't have a third wire, you'll need to add one.

On a regular 3 way Tele, the chrome cover over the neck pickup is grounded with the pickup ground. The 4 way switch, however, uses switching grounds, so you have to separate the shielding ground from the pickup ground.

Start by finding the link between the black ground wire and the chrome cover. Disconnect the link from the cover. Do not disconnect the pickup ground wire.

Next, file away a little area of chrome where you won't see it, for example off the fold-down tabs holding the cover on. You need to do this to expose the copper/ brass underneath the chrome. You won't have much luck trying to solder to chrome.

Finally solder on the new third wire on the exposed copper/ brass area.

Thanks for this tip. I'd read about adding the second neck pickup ground wire, but not about filing away the chrome.

 

[ThreeChordWonder]

Scrub that, the S-D wiring diagram has the lugs drawn out wrong.

I got asked the question about why you need to separate the cover ground before and I drew up the pictures below to illustrate the reason

 

[ThreeChordWonder]