WARNING: The switch is the other way around on the wiring diagram than irl. I spent 6 hours and learnt this the hard way. See how he does it in real life, and notice it's reverse to the wiring diagram. Hope a saved you a lot of time and energy.
I’m super late here but if anyone wants a diagram, google deaf Eddie’s five tone tele mod. As for the switch orientation, it changes in the middle of the video, I’m guessing cause it wouldn’t fit in the cavity. It will not matter in practice though since the switch works in both orientations. Just make sure the bridge pickup is wired to the side facing the bridge and the neck is wired to the side of the switch pointing to the neck.
@@paolodn89 it works on either side, the 5 way switch doesn’t have a back or front. As long as the wires match the diagram, the switch can face either way. You can find a diagram by googling “deaf Eddie’s five tone tele” and just match what you do to that
Dude! Thank you SO much. I am a deep down in my soul telle man. I have no idea how I didn’t know about this, but fortunately I have a telle project that just started… And THIS mod is going in it! I’ve also never seen such an engaging, thorough and concise wiring walk-through. You guys JUST earned my business.
The Jerry Donahue Telecaster employed a neat trick that I believe was the late Bill Lawrence's brainchild: the half-out-of-phase. Most folks know that when two pickups are put out of phase with each other, you end up with a rather thin nasal sound, and a big volume drop. The amount of cancellation that occurs is a function of how much overlaps there is in the sound produced by each pickup on its own. And since the neck and bridge pickups share a fair amount in common, you get a lot of cancellation. If you reduce the amount of overlap, though, you don't get as much cancellation. The JD Tele uses two pickups (a normal bridge PU and a Strat PU in the neck position), but manages to practically nail one of the "cluck" sounds from a Strat, by doing this little trick. The neck pickup is placed out of phase with the bridge pickup, but a capacitor is used to trim much of the bass on the neck PU. The result sounds startlingly like the neck+middle position on a Strat, and has none of the volume drop. I've installed this mod on a guitar with two single-coil pickups, and another with a pair of humbuckers. The dual HB guitar will NOT sound like a Strat, but the phase-flip-with-bass-cut does provide another very usable and different two-pickup sound. I have absolutely no idea what the mod would sound like if the two pickups were in series rather than parallel. I've only done this to parallel PUs. What value of bass-cutting cap to use? Personally, I get decent results with a .01uf cap, but you can experiment with different values a little higher and lower than that. On a Tele, perhaps the best way to implement this mod would be to use a push-pull Tone pot to actuate or cancel the phase reverse. Note that one of the perks to doing that is that if you apply phase reverse with bass cut to the neck pickup alone, you get another usable sound of neck pickup with bass cut. NO routing required.
Thank you for this description! I have been interested in cutting the bass on my neck pickup in general, and this tells me how. I'm assuming that cap is to be wired in parallel (from signal to ground), rather than in series (in-line with the signal path)?
@@veramusement First, you're most welcome. Second, no, the cap is wired *in series* such that the signal of the neck pickup *must* pass through the cap on the way to the selector switch. You will note that the Fender Jaguar implements something like this which folks refer to as the "strangle" switch/setting. This cuts out a lot of bass and lower mids to achieve a VERY thin sound, It involves no phase reversal, and can be applied to any pickup or combination on the guitar; a different sort of implementation. Several companies, like G&L and Reverend, also use a bass cut control on many of their guitars. IN that case, all pickups pass through the cap, and a pot is used to provide a variable resistance *in parallel with* the cap. When the resistance is high, it's as if there is ONLY the cap as a viable path for the signal. As the resistance is reduced, more and more of the lower mids and bass are allowed to pass in an unobstructed way. Think of it like a "strangle switch" with the option to add more bass.
@@markhammer643 Very cool, thank you much for this expert description. I will look into adding a custom "strangle" switch or knob for my partscaster's neck pickup.
I thought I was cool when I put a 4 way into my telecaster! But, I also added a new switch plate from rock rabbit guitars. Best mod on a tele by far! Moves the selector switch over slightly and at an angle so you can actually fit your finger between the volume and the switch. Great video...love stew mac!!!!
This is awesome. I accomplished the same thing, by simply buying a Fender Baja Classic Player tele switchplate, and swapping it out. That's the one with the 4-way switch and the S-1 button. This method seems like a lot more work, and as far as I can see offers the same sounds (maybe even less, because the Baja switchplate also allows for "parallel out-of-phase" in addition to the "humbucker out-of-phase" you mention.) Thanks for the vid.
Series or parallel, both pickups make a humbucker. You make it sound like it's only one when in series. The difference is that in series it's louder and a little more punchy.
I installed a 4 way switch on my tellie and it sounded strange and thin on the fourth, and it took the twang out of the bridge. So yesterday I went on and got it out and installed a 3 way. Now I'm a happy Tele user!
Kosmo Music just try swapping the 2 wires of one of the pickups around. But make sure to keep the earth of the pickup cover ro ground ( earth ) I also cut the earth of the bridge pickup plate ( Under the pickup ) and soldered that to ground. Has really powerful humbucker sound that still sounds like a tele ☺
and it gets worse, when he removes the pickguard you see the horrible neck pocket fit of a strat neck end in a tele neck pocket - they are very different designs
Great info & quality video. Pretty straight forward if you have ever done any soldering. Was a little unnerving to see so much of that beautiful Butterscotch Tele body exposed while soldering, though !
could i suggest that it would be easier to discern the different tones if you were to play the same single note melody followed by a few chords on each of the pickup settings in order.
good point... simple for a viewer who is not a pro is why these vids are here. He's a guitar banger and they could have a guy who can actually play do the sound demo.
if you get a used Baja Classic Player, you won't need to! It has the 4-pos switch with S-1 phase button. But good luck finding one! (you can find a Baja switchplate on ebay and swap it out, to the exact same effect)
@@TheForce_Productions Easy for you, or maybe not realy, but don't tell others it's easy! There's more to it, I know, I am an electrician and repair/build guitars for a living, and get tons of terrible wiring jobs with all kinds of problems coming through my shop! No wiring diagram can teach you soldering skills, the do's and dont's of wiring, strain relief, ground routing for low noise, and then some. Even many so called tech's and luthiers have bad wiring skills, and some are even clueless when it comes to magnetic polarity, electrical phase, and coil winding direction. I can say it's easy to me, but never tell others that it will be for them, as a matter of fact whenever one of my clients tells me they are going to tackle a wiring job, I tell them, that if it doesn't sound right when they are done, not to run out and waste money on a different pickup, because it's probably just not wired right, and "You know how to find me". More often than not It ends up here to be set straight.
@@Bob-of-Zoid Paying attention on schemes and what you're doing and keeping the work and working area a bit clean, anybody can do it so far. It's very easy, it's just some persons ("luthiers" or civilians) sometimes wants to make things rush and pass over those details.
@@TheForce_Productions No, that is not enough! As I said, a diagram is not a schematic, those are even harder for some, and neither teaches soldering skills, which are very detailed, with lots that can be done wrong, causing problems right off the bat, or further down the road! If you can't see that, then I can only imagine how bad you do it, and only think your good at it! BTW "You can be anything you want to be" is utter nonsense, and just not true! It sets people up for failure, and makes some believe they know what they are doing, when they really don't, and then they even argue with professionals when they are told they are doing it wrong, and why!
@@Bob-of-Zoid By your subscribers clearly you must know a lot about the matter... Just slow the BS down, get a life and go selling your thing other you keyboard warrior.
@@ianernest2504 I went with a lot of fancy stuff so it has been around $1,500 for everything including a nice case and strap. It can be done for significantly less though. The neck seems very playable as it was shipped.
Was thinking that I had to buy the Vantage Jerry Donahue to get the 5 way until I saw this. Great news. I can just have my two teles modded and save a ton of cash. Cheers from Thailand. Subscribed.
Brilliant! I used a similar switch, but ... different wiring and with a third pot, resulting in 1.Bridge 2. Bridge + Neck trhough 3rd pot 3 Neck + Bridge through 3rd pot 4. Neck 5. Both, serial ... and using three push/pull pots ... hum-free stacked pickups - those can be switched to parallel operation and the tone has two capacities to chose from But I like this wiring, too! Everything allowing the classic positions and just adding more is worth a thought I think...
I have two Teles I've been wanting to put four way switches in but have been apprehensive about digging in because I've never done any wiring and have found so many ambiguous diagrams. I will do this to both of them. The explanation about the ground to the pick up cover was something I was concerned about because I have a set of Twisted Tele pickups from ebay with that ground and wasn't sure what to do with it.
I'm not sure you need the 'super-switch' for this mod, just a standard Strat 5-way, I think. I believe the super-switch allows you to obtain two levels of wiring accessible via a switch, like a switchable pot, so two wirings per position.
ohhhh thank God it worked. my old affinity was kinda different. im missing a bridge screw tho. ill prolly wake up in the middle of the night with it in my butt crack.
I did this to a Glarry it was fun and now I'm building a parts caster I'm going to do this to as well but I'm adding a toggle switch to use no cap a .22 cap and .47 cap
I like the four position mod better. Or wire it Gibbo style using concentric pots. Pro tip: Stewball needs to offer a blank undrilled weenie plate. You can then drill to taste.
The best difference to the Telecaster of recent years, is the s1 system as on Tele deluxes, well worth buying a decent Tele if only for the relief of the thin scratchy sounds and 60 cycle hum issues.
The "S1" (one switch) is just a DPDT push pull or push push switch attached to a pot. Those have been around for over 50 years! You can put them in any guitar replacing one of the regular pots, and do all kinds of stuff with them. You don't have to buy a whole guitar to have one, two, three or even 4 depending on how many of what type of pickups you have, and what you want them to do. As for the 60 cycle hum (50 in some countries), that's a drawback of single coil pickups, but where humbuckers cancel the hum, they also cancel some of the frequencies, and a single coil has more headroom (frequency range). I actually prefer them, but they have been making "Noiseless" single coils for a good 20 years already too, they are different inside, and have a higher current output, but at a lower voltage than regular humbuckers and are not noisy at all, but still only have a single coil (a very tiny one). Most of them are still just shy of a regular single coil as far as frequency range is concerned though. Once you start playing the single coil nose gets drowned out for the most part. A good gate/limiter pedal can take care of it between songs.
It’s much easier to use one of those 4-way switches to add the neck/bridge pickup in series. I understand that a few players got a great sound from out of phase but I was extremely disappointed with the sound.
I added a middle pickup with an add/solo switch ala Steve Morse. Now I can get Start and Tele without giving up my 3 way tele switch (I hate 5 way switches). So, in short, my guitar can still operate like a stock tele when I want it it by ignoring the add/solo switch, but now I use that middle pick A LOT by itself and with the bridge and neck. I sold my Eric Johnson strat after I did this.
Awesome video-can’t wait to do this mod to my Tele! Hey around 4:05 you said there’d be a link to link to the wiring diagram in the description-I didn’t see it-did I miss it or is not there?
If you had a 6 position switch you could have one further option (Neck pickup only; both pickups in series and in phase; both pickups in series and out of phase; both pickups in parallel and in phase; both pickups in parallel and out of phase; bridge pickup only) as my 70's Gibson L6-S came stock from the factory.
A Traveler Guitar EG-2 seems to use the Telecaster Wiring/single coil pickups (plus a built-in practice amp, that can double as a Preamp). I would guess this Mod would work here also? I would
Genuine Fender Original Vintage Tele Telecaster Pickups Set - 099-2119-000 read the glowing reviews on sweetwater an musicians friend...great value, perfect tele tone But if you have the money, Fishman Greg Koch ...Fluence Signature Series Greg Koch Gristle-Tone™ Pickup Set
just do the late great Bill Lawrence’s 5way switch mod. It is more versatile and you don’t need a pricey “ super” switch , just a fender 5 way. Buy the parts from anyone but Stew Mac and save money!!
Hi, quick question: I have a prewired control plate and both of the wires that go to the output jack are soldered to the volume pot. Is this a problem at all and would I have problems using the 5 way switch with it soldered like this?
Using overdrive would have helped demonstrate the new tones a bit better. Series and series/out of phase is a big part of Brian May's tone, and out of phase is a big part of Jimmy Page's tones as well.
I put a paf style humbucker with push pull pot, a p90 in the neck, and with a three hole control panel I added a varriatone knob in my off set telecaster project
Hey thank you so much, I've been researching this stuff for hours and this is exactly what I am looking for! Only one exception,I'm playing a fender cyclone. So it has a humbucker in the bridge and I'd like to coil tap that as well. I'll keep looking but if anyone can answer this I'd appreciate it! Do I need a push pull for coil tapping a humbucker or no?
You have three coils, so you can't do the exact same thing. Not that you can't use a 5 way, but the wiring will differ, so you need to know what wire color goes to which coil on the humbucker, There is no standard, but most manufactures use the same color code on all of their pickups (there's charts, or check the MFG's site), but Fender isn't one of them! They change it around all the time, mostly by instrument model, so if the neck pickup is a fender you have to figure that one out too, and cannot rely on this video. You also have to have 4 wires and a ground coming off the humbucker in order to split its coils. Some have two wires only, and are set to series or parallel at the pickup. If so, and you are lucky, then there may be visible solder contacts, if not they are wired in between the two coils at one and under the tape. Any which way, pickup coil wires are thinner than human hair, and really easy to break, once you break one, your pretty much done. Wiring at a pickup isn't always as easy as in the video, but he just added a separate ground, so he could throw that coil out of phase. You also have to understand the magnetic polarity Should be N, S ,N or S N S (Either way is good), You cannot go by which coil the screw pole pieces are either, that only works for Gibson pickups (again no standard), but any one N + one S coil together should be a humbucker if all S coils are the same winding direction (CW or CCW), and all N's the opposite AKA "Reverse wound reverse polarity". finally you need to know the "Coil start" wire of each coil, it goes to the inside of the coil and is where the winding starts, and then it gets buried under the rest of windings... It's the signal wire; some may call it hot, but in electrical terms that's wrong, and it's not + either! Pickups generate AC, but it still matters that you treat all of the start of coil wires as the signal wire, because of the winding direction. Only if you have all three right between any two coils, do you get a humbucker in phase, and that is as for the sound, electrically they are actually out of phase, and why they cancel hum. Any one wrong on any coil and it's out of phase (sound again) Whoever named it first set the standard I guess. As you can see, there's way more to it than most would think (I left some out too), and well, I rewire like at least a few every week, because DIY guitar tinkerers electricians do not make, and sadly there are plenty of techs and "Luthiers" out there that don't get it right either! I have had customers that bought and tried 3 and 5 different pickups, and just couldn't get it to sound like they were supposed to, and then bring it to me, and I found they were all Seymour Duncans, and all wired in wrong, because he was going by the color code of the Dimarzio neck pickup! Anyhoo, you need to do your homework first, or bring it to someone who knows what they are doing, and even that's a craps shoot, but this is not your circuit, unless you understand what needs changing for your use case, because you also have to manage the coil split, as well as the series/parallel of the humbucker itself whichever sound you like better, and whether you even like an out of faze sound Not too many do, but you have the additional coil, and so other options. I Have a degree as an electrician, studied engineering didactically, and started repairing and building guitars 40 years ago, and it's how I make my living. Good luck. (
In want to do; 1: both series 2: bridge 3: neck 4: both parallel 5: both series with a tone circuit Can I do this with a 5 way knob, or do I have to use this 5 way switch?
Logically thinking you could get a six way switch or some type of switch that allowed you to play both pups in series or parallel and also one that split the humbucker.
How would you wire in a SD HotRails 4 conductor bridge into this diagram? What jumpers would i replace? And is this a full 180 phase or a half phase? But most importantly my first question with where the 4 conductor hot rails get tied in? Thank you
After I add the second ground wire to the pickup, do I wanna put that little wire back that connects it to the outside cover of the pickup? Or do you just leave the cover ungrounded? If so how much more hum will I get?
rrrreally weird question: I bought the 4-way Oka Grigsby switch/kit for my tele... if the extra position runs the pickups in series, creating a humbucker... what if i've installed a singlecoil-sized humbucker in the bridge already? What will happen???
It seems like the diagram (the link is not working, by the way) and the physical soldering in the video are mirroring each other, that is, the diagram is 180 degrees opposite from the soldering shown in the video? Or am I just crazy? And does it matter?
Cool video! I tried wiring my tele like this and i really like the sounds. Are the pickups supposed to be louder in series? Mine seem to be louder in parallel, wondering if i did something wrong.
Not at all , they are aupposed to be louder in parallel cuz they create a humbucker pickup , in series however, both pickups work simultaneously but as a single coil each, thus quieter
@@WesthamORappelz I believe you've got that backwards. Humbucker means wired in series, not parallel. And series should be louder (unless phase-inverted). I've just verified that on two different reputable websites.
WARNING:
The switch is the other way around on the wiring diagram than irl. I spent 6 hours and learnt this the hard way. See how he does it in real life, and notice it's reverse to the wiring diagram. Hope a saved you a lot of time and energy.
Can confirm... Please bump the comment so hopefully others don't make this mistake
the wiring diagram is now gone
I’m super late here but if anyone wants a diagram, google deaf Eddie’s five tone tele mod.
As for the switch orientation, it changes in the middle of the video, I’m guessing cause it wouldn’t fit in the cavity. It will not matter in practice though since the switch works in both orientations. Just make sure the bridge pickup is wired to the side facing the bridge and the neck is wired to the side of the switch pointing to the neck.
I don't understand how should be the correct side. Can you explain me?
@@paolodn89 it works on either side, the 5 way switch doesn’t have a back or front. As long as the wires match the diagram, the switch can face either way. You can find a diagram by googling “deaf Eddie’s five tone tele” and just match what you do to that
Finally a gear vid where somebody plays styles that I play instead of just SRV licks.
Dude! Thank you SO much. I am a deep down in my soul telle man. I have no idea how I didn’t know about this, but fortunately I have a telle project that just started… And THIS mod is going in it!
I’ve also never seen such an engaging, thorough and concise wiring walk-through. You guys JUST earned my business.
That's a clean professional wiring job, now the rest of us will be trying to stuff a giant mess of wires back into the control cavity.
I'm absolutely in love with these midwest emo chords from Paul!
The only man that can use the word (Absolutely) and get away with it is Sylvester Stallone....
Stewmac got that midwest emo
MMMM. Sounds so good.
i got so happy when i heard this guy play lmao
its called "post-hardcore" :b
KidNato su su su schoolin
Laughed my ass off. Great one my dude
The Jerry Donahue Telecaster employed a neat trick that I believe was the late Bill Lawrence's brainchild: the half-out-of-phase. Most folks know that when two pickups are put out of phase with each other, you end up with a rather thin nasal sound, and a big volume drop. The amount of cancellation that occurs is a function of how much overlaps there is in the sound produced by each pickup on its own. And since the neck and bridge pickups share a fair amount in common, you get a lot of cancellation. If you reduce the amount of overlap, though, you don't get as much cancellation. The JD Tele uses two pickups (a normal bridge PU and a Strat PU in the neck position), but manages to practically nail one of the "cluck" sounds from a Strat, by doing this little trick. The neck pickup is placed out of phase with the bridge pickup, but a capacitor is used to trim much of the bass on the neck PU. The result sounds startlingly like the neck+middle position on a Strat, and has none of the volume drop.
I've installed this mod on a guitar with two single-coil pickups, and another with a pair of humbuckers. The dual HB guitar will NOT sound like a Strat, but the phase-flip-with-bass-cut does provide another very usable and different two-pickup sound. I have absolutely no idea what the mod would sound like if the two pickups were in series rather than parallel. I've only done this to parallel PUs.
What value of bass-cutting cap to use? Personally, I get decent results with a .01uf cap, but you can experiment with different values a little higher and lower than that. On a Tele, perhaps the best way to implement this mod would be to use a push-pull Tone pot to actuate or cancel the phase reverse. Note that one of the perks to doing that is that if you apply phase reverse with bass cut to the neck pickup alone, you get another usable sound of neck pickup with bass cut. NO routing required.
Thank you for this description! I have been interested in cutting the bass on my neck pickup in general, and this tells me how. I'm assuming that cap is to be wired in parallel (from signal to ground), rather than in series (in-line with the signal path)?
@@veramusement First, you're most welcome. Second, no, the cap is wired *in series* such that the signal of the neck pickup *must* pass through the cap on the way to the selector switch.
You will note that the Fender Jaguar implements something like this which folks refer to as the "strangle" switch/setting. This cuts out a lot of bass and lower mids to achieve a VERY thin sound, It involves no phase reversal, and can be applied to any pickup or combination on the guitar; a different sort of implementation.
Several companies, like G&L and Reverend, also use a bass cut control on many of their guitars. IN that case, all pickups pass through the cap, and a pot is used to provide a variable resistance *in parallel with* the cap. When the resistance is high, it's as if there is ONLY the cap as a viable path for the signal. As the resistance is reduced, more and more of the lower mids and bass are allowed to pass in an unobstructed way. Think of it like a "strangle switch" with the option to add more bass.
@@markhammer643 Very cool, thank you much for this expert description. I will look into adding a custom "strangle" switch or knob for my partscaster's neck pickup.
I thought I was cool when I put a 4 way into my telecaster! But, I also added a new switch plate from rock rabbit guitars. Best mod on a tele by far! Moves the selector switch over slightly and at an angle so you can actually fit your finger between the volume and the switch. Great video...love stew mac!!!!
Andy Linn do you know of it would fit a Squier Tele?
@@alwaysrockn2009 I am sure it would. Those plates are all the same size. Check out their website. rockrabbitguitars.com/
alwaysrockn2009 - it should
I thought the Top & Bottom Switch positions were "Mellow" and "Yee-Haw!"
Craig Browning Hahahaha
Wait.
They’re not?
@@meleecritical they are.
This is awesome. I accomplished the same thing, by simply buying a Fender Baja Classic Player tele switchplate, and swapping it out. That's the one with the 4-way switch and the S-1 button. This method seems like a lot more work, and as far as I can see offers the same sounds (maybe even less, because the Baja switchplate also allows for "parallel out-of-phase" in addition to the "humbucker out-of-phase" you mention.) Thanks for the vid.
I don't even have a tele, why am I watching this ?
Same
Get a Tele.
Same, now I gotta go get a tele I guess. I've always wanted one, this super switch just might push me over the edge :D
Because you already have a strat
One can dream! Plus everyone needs a tele. Even non guitar players should have one lol.
Series or parallel, both pickups make a humbucker. You make it sound like it's only one when in series. The difference is that in series it's louder and a little more punchy.
All my teles have 5 way switches, very similar end result with a standard 5 way strat switch and the Bill Lawrence wiring.
I may end up doing this to my current Tele build!
You might find the Free-Way switch easier to install.
I installed a 4 way switch on my tellie and it sounded strange and thin on the fourth, and it took the twang out of the bridge. So yesterday I went on and got it out and installed a 3 way. Now I'm a happy Tele user!
Kosmo Music then you may have wired it wrong as the fourth position should give a louder humbucker type sound.
@@malcolmhardwick4258 maybe, I think you need to know the pickups winding direction too to make it work
Kosmo Music just try swapping the 2 wires of one of the pickups around. But make sure to keep the earth of the pickup cover ro ground ( earth ) I also cut the earth of the bridge pickup plate ( Under the pickup ) and soldered that to ground. Has really powerful humbucker sound that still sounds like a tele ☺
@@malcolmhardwick4258 What an ideea, wow! I never gave that a tought, and really it's like a humbucker configuration!
Kosmo Music oh yes it does ☺ If the wires of one pickup are wrong way round it will make it sound weak. Good luck ☺
I cannot tell you how disturbing I find it that your Tele says "STRATOCASTER" on the headstock.
Well that's because obviously it's a Stratocaster neck....
Been wanting to get a strat neck for my tele . Alllmost there.
and it gets worse, when he removes the pickguard you see the horrible neck pocket fit of a strat neck end in a tele neck pocket - they are very different designs
he's using a squier strat neck i suppose
Looks really cool to me. Something I'd want to do if I had a tele
I appreciate the video as I plan to build a Telecaster , I do have a James Burton signature model and love the options.
Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed the video! Those James Burton models are killer!
Great info & quality video. Pretty straight forward if you have ever done any soldering. Was a little unnerving to see so much of that beautiful Butterscotch Tele body exposed while soldering, though !
could i suggest that it would be easier to discern the different tones if you were to play the same single note melody followed by a few chords on each of the pickup settings in order.
good point... simple for a viewer who is not a pro is why these vids are here. He's a guitar banger and they could have a guy who can actually play do the sound demo.
The best thing about this mod is that it helps you appreciate why telecaster just needs a 3 way switch!
Man, I kind of want to get a used mim tele and have my guitar tech do this.
Also, loving those Midwestern emo riffs
if you get a used Baja Classic Player, you won't need to! It has the 4-pos switch with S-1 phase button. But good luck finding one! (you can find a Baja switchplate on ebay and swap it out, to the exact same effect)
Awesome mod! It seems to be perfect for that modern sound, now.
Awesome! I wanted to do this to my tele for over a year but I couldn’t figure out the wiring. Thanks Paul!
It's very easy and you have all the wiring schemes you want in google, dare and good luck!
@@TheForce_Productions Easy for you, or maybe not realy, but don't tell others it's easy! There's more to it, I know, I am an electrician and repair/build guitars for a living, and get tons of terrible wiring jobs with all kinds of problems coming through my shop! No wiring diagram can teach you soldering skills, the do's and dont's of wiring, strain relief, ground routing for low noise, and then some. Even many so called tech's and luthiers have bad wiring skills, and some are even clueless when it comes to magnetic polarity, electrical phase, and coil winding direction. I can say it's easy to me, but never tell others that it will be for them, as a matter of fact whenever one of my clients tells me they are going to tackle a wiring job, I tell them, that if it doesn't sound right when they are done, not to run out and waste money on a different pickup, because it's probably just not wired right, and "You know how to find me". More often than not It ends up here to be set straight.
@@Bob-of-Zoid Paying attention on schemes and what you're doing and keeping the work and working area a bit clean, anybody can do it so far. It's very easy, it's just some persons ("luthiers" or civilians) sometimes wants to make things rush and pass over those details.
@@TheForce_Productions No, that is not enough! As I said, a diagram is not a schematic, those are even harder for some, and neither teaches soldering skills, which are very detailed, with lots that can be done wrong, causing problems right off the bat, or further down the road! If you can't see that, then I can only imagine how bad you do it, and only think your good at it!
BTW "You can be anything you want to be" is utter nonsense, and just not true! It sets people up for failure, and makes some believe they know what they are doing, when they really don't, and then they even argue with professionals when they are told they are doing it wrong, and why!
@@Bob-of-Zoid By your subscribers clearly you must know a lot about the matter... Just slow the BS down, get a life and go selling your thing other you keyboard warrior.
This makes me want to get a tele
This is why I built a Warmoth. Well, that and I find Fender's color selection and hardware options lacking.
Raven Blackheart How much did you end up spending? Always wanted to just don’t have setup tools (specially fret files/soldering stuff)
@@ianernest2504 I went with a lot of fancy stuff so it has been around $1,500 for everything including a nice case and strap. It can be done for significantly less though.
The neck seems very playable as it was shipped.
Raven Blackheart - you think it’s better to build one? I’d be interested in trying it. Are the parts better made,more precision?
Return of the Native - 50’s reissue. Just like the original
I prefer the Jerry Donahue mod. It's basically the same thing except you get a strat bridge mid tone instead of the out of phase humbucker tone.
Was thinking that I had to buy the Vantage Jerry Donahue to get the 5 way until I saw this. Great news. I can just have my two teles modded and save a ton of cash. Cheers from Thailand. Subscribed.
this is super cool and that tele looks sick. i wish there was a way to get parallel + out of phase too.
Great sounds, that switch wiring is crazy.
Brilliant!
I used a similar switch, but ... different wiring and with a third pot, resulting in
1.Bridge
2. Bridge + Neck trhough 3rd pot
3 Neck + Bridge through 3rd pot
4. Neck
5. Both, serial
... and using three push/pull pots ... hum-free stacked pickups - those can be switched to parallel operation and the tone has two capacities to chose from
But I like this wiring, too!
Everything allowing the classic positions and just adding more is worth a thought I think...
I have two Teles I've been wanting to put four way switches in but have been apprehensive about digging in because I've never done any wiring and have found so many ambiguous diagrams. I will do this to both of them. The explanation about the ground to the pick up cover was something I was concerned about because I have a set of Twisted Tele pickups from ebay with that ground and wasn't sure what to do with it.
I'm not sure you need the 'super-switch' for this mod, just a standard Strat 5-way, I think. I believe the super-switch allows you to obtain two levels of wiring accessible via a switch, like a switchable pot, so two wirings per position.
Nooooo, you should have done one with bridge + neck, out of phase, in parallel. Such a cool sound :D
Excellent video and a great upgrade, very informative.... thanks very much.🇬🇧
Those pickups sound good either way
I need to get some brass wool for my soldering iron and a Doc Ock parts holding station.
ohhhh thank God it worked. my old affinity was kinda different. im missing a bridge screw tho. ill prolly wake up in the middle of the night with it in my butt crack.
I did this to a Glarry it was fun and now I'm building a parts caster I'm going to do this to as well but I'm adding a toggle switch to use no cap a .22 cap and .47 cap
Now trade places with the vol. and tone puts and it will make doing vol. sweeps easy...that's if you're into even more things to get you in trouble...
That's a pretty neat mod!
Seems like every channel I sub to on UA-cam is subtly convincing me to get a Tele.
I like the four position mod better. Or wire it Gibbo style using concentric pots.
Pro tip: Stewball needs to offer a blank undrilled weenie plate. You can then drill to taste.
Can you please post a good, working link to the downloadable PDF of the wiring diagram. That would be helpful.
I guess they ignored your message. He was far too vague in this video.
So I guess StewMac sells this revolutionary switch.
The best difference to the Telecaster of recent years, is the s1 system as on Tele deluxes, well worth buying a decent Tele if only for the relief of the thin scratchy sounds and 60 cycle hum issues.
The "S1" (one switch) is just a DPDT push pull or push push switch attached to a pot. Those have been around for over 50 years! You can put them in any guitar replacing one of the regular pots, and do all kinds of stuff with them. You don't have to buy a whole guitar to have one, two, three or even 4 depending on how many of what type of pickups you have, and what you want them to do. As for the 60 cycle hum (50 in some countries), that's a drawback of single coil pickups, but where humbuckers cancel the hum, they also cancel some of the frequencies, and a single coil has more headroom (frequency range). I actually prefer them, but they have been making "Noiseless" single coils for a good 20 years already too, they are different inside, and have a higher current output, but at a lower voltage than regular humbuckers and are not noisy at all, but still only have a single coil (a very tiny one). Most of them are still just shy of a regular single coil as far as frequency range is concerned though.
Once you start playing the single coil nose gets drowned out for the most part. A good gate/limiter pedal can take care of it between songs.
Dig it. That switch reminds me of the PRS rotary switch in terms of versatility.
Cool thanks. What are the values on the capacitors?
The switch orientation in the video looks flipped from the wiring diagram. Are the poles on these switches symmetrical?
Genius! And I don't have to pay a fortune for an S1 switch! Simple and effective!
It’s much easier to use one of those 4-way switches to add the neck/bridge pickup in series. I understand that a few players got a great sound from out of phase but I was extremely disappointed with the sound.
Cool - but the bridge pickup sounds a little different to me now than at the beginning? Anyone else?
Jordan Dupont - I heard that also. Now I have to watch it again to see how my hearing is. Lol
@@karstentopp I agree, put I doubt he touched the bridge pick up height...
I added a middle pickup with an add/solo switch ala Steve Morse. Now I can get Start and Tele without giving up my 3 way tele switch (I hate 5 way switches). So, in short, my guitar can still operate like a stock tele when I want it it by ignoring the add/solo switch, but now I use that middle pick A LOT by itself and with the bridge and neck. I sold my Eric Johnson strat after I did this.
Awesome video-can’t wait to do this mod to my Tele! Hey around 4:05 you said there’d be a link to link to the wiring diagram in the description-I didn’t see it-did I miss it or is not there?
MatosMechanics It is there. www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-TS0340/ts0340-superswitch-D3.pdf
If you had a 6 position switch you could have one further option (Neck pickup only; both pickups in series and in phase; both pickups in series and out of phase; both pickups in parallel and in phase; both pickups in parallel and out of phase; bridge pickup only) as my 70's Gibson L6-S came stock from the factory.
Que buen mood... Con eso ya pones a una tele standard al nivel de versatilidad de la élite
lol - 2:50 - suddenly that yellow wire grew another foot in length!
Don Vanco wires grow, just like living things apparently.
Don Vanco - I watched it a few times. Looks like that first short yellow wire goes to the bridge pickup. Then another yellow wire to the switch.
Yeah I noticed that too, wonder how many people had to start over because their wires were too short.
this gon be real usefull for my baritone tele build
Try a 4 pole 6 way rotary switch in a Tele. It's awesome!
Very cool ! thanks for the diagram !
A Traveler Guitar EG-2 seems to use the Telecaster Wiring/single coil pickups (plus a built-in practice amp, that can double as a Preamp). I would guess this Mod would work here also?
I would
For the Tele users here. I own a beautiful MiM tele from 98. Would you consider changing the pickups? If yes, for which kind? Thanks in advance!
Genuine Fender Original Vintage Tele Telecaster Pickups Set - 099-2119-000 read the glowing reviews on sweetwater an musicians friend...great value, perfect tele tone
But if you have the money, Fishman Greg Koch ...Fluence Signature Series Greg Koch Gristle-Tone™ Pickup Set
@@mikewhittenmusic Thank you kindly sir!
just do the late great Bill Lawrence’s 5way switch mod. It is more versatile and you don’t need a pricey “ super” switch , just a fender 5 way. Buy the parts from anyone but Stew Mac and save money!!
I imagine the neck pickup is reverse wound in order to achieve hum cancelling for positions #2 & #4?
Hi, quick question: I have a prewired control plate and both of the wires that go to the output jack are soldered to the volume pot. Is this a problem at all and would I have problems using the 5 way switch with it soldered like this?
Genius.. thanks for upload!!
What a great mod ! Superb!
5:21 what song or chords?
first chord is an Emaj7 on the a string while hitting the open low e string, second one is beyond me
second one is A Major 9
Using overdrive would have helped demonstrate the new tones a bit better. Series and series/out of phase is a big part of Brian May's tone, and out of phase is a big part of Jimmy Page's tones as well.
everytime i hear midwest emo on a telecaster i just wanna buy one
I put a paf style humbucker with push pull pot, a p90 in the neck, and with a three hole control panel I added a varriatone knob in my off set telecaster project
Awesome video!! Thank you.
Hey thank you so much, I've been researching this stuff for hours and this is exactly what I am looking for! Only one exception,I'm playing a fender cyclone. So it has a humbucker in the bridge and I'd like to coil tap that as well. I'll keep looking but if anyone can answer this I'd appreciate it! Do I need a push pull for coil tapping a humbucker or no?
You have three coils, so you can't do the exact same thing. Not that you can't use a 5 way, but the wiring will differ, so you need to know what wire color goes to which coil on the humbucker, There is no standard, but most manufactures use the same color code on all of their pickups (there's charts, or check the MFG's site), but Fender isn't one of them! They change it around all the time, mostly by instrument model, so if the neck pickup is a fender you have to figure that one out too, and cannot rely on this video. You also have to have 4 wires and a ground coming off the humbucker in order to split its coils. Some have two wires only, and are set to series or parallel at the pickup. If so, and you are lucky, then there may be visible solder contacts, if not they are wired in between the two coils at one and under the tape. Any which way, pickup coil wires are thinner than human hair, and really easy to break, once you break one, your pretty much done. Wiring at a pickup isn't always as easy as in the video, but he just added a separate ground, so he could throw that coil out of phase.
You also have to understand the magnetic polarity Should be N, S ,N or S N S (Either way is good), You cannot go by which coil the screw pole pieces are either, that only works for Gibson pickups (again no standard), but any one N + one S coil together should be a humbucker if all S coils are the same winding direction (CW or CCW), and all N's the opposite AKA "Reverse wound reverse polarity". finally you need to know the "Coil start" wire of each coil, it goes to the inside of the coil and is where the winding starts, and then it gets buried under the rest of windings... It's the signal wire; some may call it hot, but in electrical terms that's wrong, and it's not + either! Pickups generate AC, but it still matters that you treat all of the start of coil wires as the signal wire, because of the winding direction. Only if you have all three right between any two coils, do you get a humbucker in phase, and that is as for the sound, electrically they are actually out of phase, and why they cancel hum. Any one wrong on any coil and it's out of phase (sound again) Whoever named it first set the standard I guess.
As you can see, there's way more to it than most would think (I left some out too), and well, I rewire like at least a few every week, because DIY guitar tinkerers electricians do not make, and sadly there are plenty of techs and "Luthiers" out there that don't get it right either! I have had customers that bought and tried 3 and 5 different pickups, and just couldn't get it to sound like they were supposed to, and then bring it to me, and I found they were all Seymour Duncans, and all wired in wrong, because he was going by the color code of the Dimarzio neck pickup!
Anyhoo, you need to do your homework first, or bring it to someone who knows what they are doing, and even that's a craps shoot, but this is not your circuit, unless you understand what needs changing for your use case, because you also have to manage the coil split, as well as the series/parallel of the humbucker itself whichever sound you like better, and whether you even like an out of faze sound Not too many do, but you have the additional coil, and so other options.
I Have a degree as an electrician, studied engineering didactically, and started repairing and building guitars 40 years ago, and it's how I make my living.
Good luck. (
You play some cool emo style of music 😊👍🏻
In want to do;
1: both series
2: bridge
3: neck
4: both parallel
5: both series with a tone circuit
Can I do this with a 5 way knob, or do I have to use this 5 way switch?
Is that an original tele body? I noticed that it could mount a left handed bridge pup also.
If like to see how to clean out the polishing compound from the cavities, with out melting the finish.
OMG this is amazing... if only I knew what I was doing 😳
Looking at the new switch makes me uncomfortable
Wouldn’t do this on every tele I own, but maybe one of ‘em.
I have a tele with a hum in the neck. What would this switch do for my guitar?
Logically thinking you could get a six way switch or some type of switch that allowed you to play both pups in series or parallel and also one that split the humbucker.
Looks a bit tricky to me so Mr Stewmac so I guess I will leave my tele as it is, thanx anyway!
How would you wire in a SD HotRails 4 conductor bridge into this diagram? What jumpers would i replace? And is this a full 180 phase or a half phase? But most importantly my first question with where the 4 conductor hot rails get tied in? Thank you
I hear a lot of "cigarettes after sex" in his playing
Link is broken
My tele neck pu don't have the cover....how I can do this?
After I add the second ground wire to the pickup, do I wanna put that little wire back that connects it to the outside cover of the pickup? Or do you just leave the cover ungrounded? If so how much more hum will I get?
Wonder if you can use a push pull pot to achieve the same results,thanks for the video,if anyone knows please comment.
rrrreally weird question: I bought the 4-way Oka Grigsby switch/kit for my tele... if the extra position runs the pickups in series, creating a humbucker... what if i've installed a singlecoil-sized humbucker in the bridge already? What will happen???
It seems like the diagram (the link is not working, by the way) and the physical soldering in the video are mirroring each other, that is, the diagram is 180 degrees opposite from the soldering shown in the video? Or am I just crazy? And does it matter?
I like it but there’s a couple other ways as well. But even with this mod I’d rather have a humbucker at the neck.
Ive heard of A 4 way for tele’s but never a 5 way, will this help with the bridge humming ?
Can you update your links please. StewMac obviously moved their web pages around as I'm getting "cannot find the page you want." errors.
Why run another ground all the way from the pickup? Just daisy chain from the switch.
Does the out of phase setting still humbuck like Brian May's Neck and middle pickup?
Why not sell the switch already pre-wired so we just have to connect the existing controls?
perfect to do in Alpha key I live in Brazil this key is very expensive here😁
Better use push pulls on knobs. This way you'll also get singles with phase-out
Very cool mod!
Cool video! I tried wiring my tele like this and i really like the sounds. Are the pickups supposed to be louder in series? Mine seem to be louder in parallel, wondering if i did something wrong.
Not at all , they are aupposed to be louder in parallel cuz they create a humbucker pickup , in series however, both pickups work simultaneously but as a single coil each, thus quieter
@@WesthamORappelz Thanks!
@@WesthamORappelz I believe you've got that backwards. Humbucker means wired in series, not parallel. And series should be louder (unless phase-inverted). I've just verified that on two different reputable websites.
Best mod ever: replace those sh!tty cheap rubber tubes to manage pickups height for springs, rubber degrades in short time and is a mess.
I noticed there’s two orange cap. Why is that and do you need both?