setain
Meter Reader 1st Class
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Post by setain on Dec 19, 2007 15:19:27 GMT -5
Is it possible to achieve B, B+N, N, and BxN on a regular Tele 4-way switch without shorting a pickup in any position? If it can't be avoided, I'll live, but I'd rather not have to do it.
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Post by RJB on Dec 19, 2007 21:19:44 GMT -5
Fender P/N 099-2250-000 4way switch comes with the diagram for doing just that. Like this
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Post by sumgai on Dec 19, 2007 21:23:11 GMT -5
setain, Techically, yes, it's possible.... but then you have the problem of a hanging hot lead. Between the two, the shunted coil is the more preferable, because the "Dreaded Tone Suck" (© John Hewitt, 2006) is considered to less of a problem than the humming and buzzing caused by a hanging hot lead Here, take a look at this: Truth table: | 1 Neck 2 Neck + Bridge 3 Neck * Bridge 4 Bridge |
The wiring/switch positions may be rearranged to suit the player's taste. Notice that the Neck is shunted only when the Bridge is active by itself. That's because the switch (a Fender 4-way) has only two poles, hence one of the pickups must have a hot lead wired at all times to the volume control - it can't be switched like you'd find in an ordinary scheme. If we could get 3- or 4-pole 4-way switches, then the issue would go away, to be sure. But such is not meant to be, thus.......... sumgai
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Post by b4nj0 on Sept 13, 2008 12:10:31 GMT -5
I've struggled with this shorted pickup problem as well. May I quote you Sumgai? "The wiring/switch positions may be rearranged to suit the player's taste." I'd like to suggest that if one was to swap the pickups around on the switch (watch the polarities!) then the bridge pickup would be shunted instead and then only when the neck pickup was selected in isolation. Now, how many of us would resent a little "tone sucking" on the neck pup on a tele compared with loss of top end on the bridge pup? The vanilla Tele neck pickup with its tin hat was never exactly a stellar performer at the best of times! All that remains to be done is to reverse the orientation of the tele 4 way switch and now you have full treble on the bridge pup and (almost) the same switch positions as before. It crosses my mind that a simple push / pull pot mounted switch would avoid this question altogether and would be more intuitive in normal use. Incidentally, Joe Barden advised me not to bother with a 4-way when I wired my JBs and I believe that he was correct. (One unused Fender 4-way in the parts drawer!)
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