Guitar Wiring and Switching Sorcery (Tele Series?)

Four-way switching on a tele is great if you play live, don't use or don't rely upon a pedalboard and need a volume boost for soloing on the fly. That fourth position, in my opinion, doesn't add an incredibly different fourth tone to the guitar ... it just bumps the vol and the subsequent girth on the "both pickups" position to make it stand out in a mix. Plus you'll need a four-way specific neck pickup (with a second ground off the cap) or you'll have to modify your existing pickup to make 4W switching occur. Wiring a circuit is one thing, modifying a pickup is another ... The latter can be tricky and you can destroy the pickup if you don't know what you're doing and/or aren't good with a soldering iron. Heads up!

My favorite mod for strats is a neck-on switch regardless of the blade position, so you can get the ultra useable neck + bridge option and lush all-three-on switching. AKA, from five to seven pickup combinations. This is commonly called the (David) "Gilmour mod." Highly recommended if you use a lot of clean tones in your playing.

If you like the single-sized 'buckers, be sure to check out Duncan's "Everything Axe Set." Very versatile.

I like that strat idea too. I thought about going master tone and using tone 2 as a blend at one point.

Thanks again.

Any bridge pickup can be used for four way tele wiring/switching. Any neck pickup with a metal cap can be used, because the second ground attaches to the cap itself. A reputable tech can make that mod for you. You can probably make that mod with a little practice. Get an old broken tele neck pickup from someone's salvage bin and learn/practice how solder the ground to the cap on it.

My personal tele currently has a matched Starwood for Tele pair from TV Jones. I'm also very fond of Rio Grande's Muy Grande tele set. Duncan makes a lot of cool stuff. Just be careful when you pursue "vintage" voiced tele pickups because they often are not wax potted and more prone to feedback even in mild OD settings.

Let us know how it goes.

I’ve got a strat with two hb’s Wired to a v/v/t and a three way switch. Have never cared for the quack. Picked that one up from Jimmy Herring. In the middle, it blends the two.

Also a strat with Eric Johnson wiring which puts the second tone pot to the bridge pickup instead of the middle. Easy mod.

Alas, my modding days are few and far between now. I bought a Kemper and have immersed myself in that technology.

Thanks for sharing your mods. I really want to do the blend mod on the strat.