Telecaster Wiring - a four-way switch (and Noiseless pickups)

[simonallaway]

My wife bought me a set of Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups for Christmas. So as well as installing those I decided to try the 4-way switch wiring. This gives you neck and bridge in series on the fourth position. If you can make it through to 4:14, here's what that sounds like:

https://soundcloud.com/simonallaway/four-way-tele-switch

It's almost as fat as a humbucker when compared to the typical Tele twang (be quiet, Ritchie200). Here's a whole post on it:

https://hotbottles.wordpress.com/2015/01/15/rewiring-a-telecaster-with-a-four-way-switch/

[MakerDP]

It's almost as fat as a humbucker when compared to the typical Tele twang

You may already know this, but they are "Noiseless" because they are actually a stacked-humbucker pickup design. Which is why a lot of people don't like the Noiseless pickups. I actually like them quite a bit.

[simonallaway]

You may already know this, but they are "Noiseless" because they are actually a stacked-humbucker pickup design. Which is why a lot of people don't like the Noiseless pickups. I actually like them quite a bit.

I suspected as such from their physical appearance. They're very tall...especially the neck pickup. But on their own I don't hear a difference from regular single coils, in terms of tone. In my opinion its the width of the pickup (and therefore the magnetic field, I suppose) that is important for the tone. i.e. a wider pickup, such as the P90s on my Les Paul, 'see' a wider part of the string and thus a different range of harmonics. The neck pickup on a Tele has to be at least a third of the width of a P90. More-so a dual coil humbucker.

I like these pickups a lot too.

[Ed_Chambley]

You may already know this, but they are "Noiseless" because they are actually a stacked-humbucker pickup design. Which is why a lot of people don't like the Noiseless pickups. I actually like them quite a bit.

I suspected as such from their physical appearance. They're very tall...especially the neck pickup. But on their own I don't hear a difference from regular single coils, in terms of tone. In my opinion its the width of the pickup (and therefore the magnetic field, I suppose) that is important for the tone. i.e. a wider pickup, such as the P90s on my Les Paul, 'see' a wider part of the string and thus a different range of harmonics. The neck pickup on a Tele has to be at least a third of the width of a P90. More-so a dual coil humbucker.

I like these pickups a lot too.

I like the S1 switching and the 4 position as well.  Not a fan of the noiseless, but you are correct about the smaller magnetic field somewhat.  Noiseless pups will not quack as well in out of phase position.  There are tradeoffs and not just the magnetic filed.  Noiseless pups are great when using distortion as the microphonic feedback is almost none.  Really is there was no difference in tone single coils would no longer exist.

It is very possible to properly shield the cavity and not have single coil hum unless something gets close to the front of the pups.

It looks like you have your tele setup to Rock and the noiseless pups are just right.  From your blog it looks as this may be the case.

Question:  Why is the finish missing under the bridge?

[simonallaway]

It looks like you have your tele setup to Rock and the noiseless pups are just right.  From your blog it looks as this may be the case.

Very true. I'm not a huge fan of clean tones. I find them lacking in expressiveness. So I tend to go for mildly overdriven, which I got here with a simple Champ-esque AX84 amp working hard.

Question:  Why is the finish missing under the bridge?

I built this particular guitar way back in '87. And since then it's had four different bridges and I've lost count of the different pickups I've put in it. It's had Schaller tele pickusp, DiMarzio Brain May pickups, good old Seymour Duncan JB-4 and EMGs. So this body gets used as a test bed for my whims. The mess you see under the bridge is the first step in restoring the body to pretty much stock tele. It was a route for a Kahler tremelo system that I put in a few years ago. I filled it with a nice piece of ash to match the rest of it, and then an epoxy filler to make up the rest. I still have lots to do, but I didn't want to spend the winter without my Tele (I cant spray nitro in mid-west winters), so I bolted her back together and strung her up :)