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4 way Tele switch with humbucker question


randombastage

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I was planning to wire my FrankenTele with the 4 way method where two of the 4 positions are either neck and bridge in series or in parallel but the bridge will probably be a Dimarzio Fast Track T which is a humbucker which also can be wired series or parallel with respect to it's own two coils.

I don't want a bunch of extra switches on the guitar so I need to decide which 4 options would create the most variety.

 

Anyone have a preference for a Tele with two pickups, the bridge being a humbucker?

Also considering making the neck pickup a Dimarzio Area T which is also a humbucker...so how would you recommend the switching for that pair of humbuckers...I'm not stuck on 4 way if there is a better combination offered by a 5 way switch or something. I prefer no mini toggles or push pull pots if possible just one selector switch to get at least 4 different options.

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If they're humbuckers designed to mimic single coils (like the ones you mentioned), just think of them as single coils - the split or parallel wirings may be too weak or unusable. (EDIT: I mean coil splitting or series/parallel switching of a single pickup; series/parallel switching of the 2 pickups in combination is still a cool option.)

 

Another option I just used in a project is to put a resistor in between one of the pickups and the (5-way in my case) switch position to get a reduced volume mix on that pickup in that position. I wired mine as follows:

 

1. Bridge alone

2. (Neck and 33k resistor in series) and Bridge (Bridge at full volume, Neck not as loud)

3. Neck and Bridge (both full)

4. Neck and (Bridge and 33k resistor in series)

5. Neck alone

 

This worked great for me, giving me 3 different Neck + Bridge mixes with no extra volume knobs or switches - Tele simple master volume + master tone + switch, but with a 5-way switch for a nice transition between the two pickups. Depending on preference, pickups and pots, I'd guess anything from about 5k to 56k might be appropriate for the resistor. I jumpered a few and found 33k was perfect for each pickup in my application (2 HB's/500k pots).

 

drewfx

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Thanks drewfx!

That sounds like an interesting configuration I may have to borrow that idea!

 

When your neck and bridge are both on full are they parallel or series (and what is the usual way for both) Also, if you had a 6 way switch instead of 5 way would it be worth, or even possible, to have the two middle spots be: #3 both in series - and - #4 both in parallel?

Kind of a hybrid of the 4 way combined with your two resistor-added positions...

So it would be:

 

1. Bridge alone

2. (Neck and 33k resistor in series) and Bridge (Bridge at full volume, Neck not as loud)

3. Neck and Bridge (both full) in series

4. Neck and Bridge (both full) in parallel

5. Neck and (Bridge and 33k resistor in series)

6. Neck alone

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In my case it's just standard parallel wiring on the combined pickup positions, but my project was a Warmoth 12-string telecaster, with 2 "true" HB's, so I didn't really want/need the 2 HB's in series, though I probably would it they were single coils.

 

If I were doing a "normal" telecaster, I would probably do what you suggested, and use one of the 5 positions for the 2 pickups in series (I don't know if any 6 way slide switches exist). If I had to drop one to get to 5, I'd probably drop position 2 on your list, since, on a tele, lots of times the bridge pickup can overpower the neck anyway, but this, of course, depends on your particular tastes and pickups (and setup) - some people favor one pickup over the other, so if you're a bridge-pickup-kind-of-guy, you might want the extra position to favor the brige pickup...

 

But what I did was wire the 1,3 and 5 positions, then adjusted the pickup heights and stuff, and played around for awhile. Then I used some alligator clips to audition resistor values for 2 and 4, and came up wih 33k as ideal for both positions. With lower output pickups, and/or 250k pots, I'd expect lower values might work better. In my case, I'm thrilled with the results because it's both really, really simple, and natural to use, but the "extra" (2 and 4) positions make the guitar so much better, IMHO.

 

Just make sure you get a "true" 5-way switch with 5 poles (x2), not a typical strat-style 5-way with 3 poles and the "in between" positions hardwired to N+M and M+B.

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