Interesting guitar rewire

[erogenousjones17]

I've got an old Telestar from the late 60's that I'm about to refinish, and I've had a bit of an incomplete idea. The guitar has seperate on/off toggles for each of the two pickups, but then also has a three-way toggle switch that does absolutely nothing. I'd like to make this switch into something "cool," but I've no idea what. Any suggestions? I figure why not do it now, while the guitar is in pieces. Here is a pic of the guitar in question, for inspiration.

 

[ratherdashing]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Phase reversal maybe?

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

That's what I kinda thought, but how would I go about doing that?

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

...COOLER THAN HELL.

I love that. I love the hell out of it.

Please don't refinish it. It looks great. Silver Sparkle? I will buy it from you if you are going to refinish it :laugh2:

BTW. Original bridge?

And phase reversal yes. There are diagrams around... hmm. Maybe something that takes advantage of the third position though...

 

[scottish]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

i would wire it as follows:

use the three way switch for what they were invented for...choosing one pickup or both

use one mini toggle for phase selecting

use the other for choosing series or parallel when both pups are on

and dont ask me how to wire this, cause i have no clue, lol, but it sounds awesome

 

[Artie]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

This guitar, (besides being very cool), is almost identical to a Cyclone, as far as the configuration goes. I've already got a diagram made up that I was toying with. You use the two slide switches for this:

Neck up is neck.
Bridge up is bridge.
Both up is both in parallel.
Both down is both in series.

Then the 3-way selects 3 different caps. My idea didn't include the cap switch, but since its there . . . .

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Thanks a lot for the positive comments, I love this guitar too! Danglybanger: I was going to go with an antique white/cream, sparkle, of course. I like these ideas, but ArtiToo, what do you mean by "3 different caps?" I'm a bit of a novice.

 

[Artie]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

I like these ideas, but ArtiToo, what do you mean by "3 different caps?" I'm a bit of a novice.

Its something I've just recently discovered. I had a spare switch in my JetKing, so I used it to select between two different capacitors for the tone control. I switch between a .022uf and a .001uf. I can't believe how useful it turned out to be. I can have a "normal" tone control, or a very subtle tone control that just subdues the highest highs. Its especially nice to switch to the smaller cap, roll the tone control all the way down, and then lay in some heavy distortion. I get an almost "wah" type effect.

With your 3-way, you could select between 3 caps. It might be overkill, but you could do it. Technically, you'ld only have two actual caps, but the middle position would add them together. So you might choose a .01 and a .033 and have .043 in the middle. Or .022, .033 with .055 in the middle. That type of thing.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Alright, I think I get it...I like that idea, but I also like the series/parallel thing...so many decisions!

 

[Artie]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Alright, I think I get it...I like that idea, but I also like the series/parallel thing...so many decisions!

You can do both with my diagram. Give me a sec and I'll try to round it up.

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Awesome! Thanks for the help.

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

...as long as it's still sparkly

Artie's idea is one of the most clever things I've ever heard.

 

[Artie]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Its like this: (The top half is just to make it easier to see how the switching works.)

Your switches might be SPDT, but the replacement DPDT should bolt right in.
And they're cheap.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Wouldn't the middle position need to be off on the switches?

 

[Artie]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Hmmm . . . I'm not sure what you mean. I'm assuming using simple DPDT on-on slide switches.

Like this:

 

[erogenousjones17]

Re: Interesting guitar rewire

Alright, so I'm going to give this a try, and I'll let you guys know how it pans out. I'm kinda in the middle of school right now, so this could be a long-term project...but thanks a lot!