Alternate Tele 4-Way Wiring

[Shandrazar]

I am interested in a 4-way switching arrangement on a Tele, but I have some questions.  Here is the standard diagram in ASII art (I hope proportional fonts don't destroy this):

B+:  Bridge hot
B-:  Bridge ground
N+:  Neck hot
N-:  Neck ground
O:  4-way switch lug


        N+ ----------------------------OUTPUT
          |    |
    B+    |    |
    O    O    O    O    O
                            /
        O      O    O    O    O
              |    |          N-
              |    |
          B-  ------------------------GROUND

This gives you the following outputs:
Pos 1:  Bridge
Pos 2:  Parallel (normal Tele middle)
Pos 3:  Neck
Pos 4:  Series (humbucker-like)

This setup bothers me two ways.  First, it makes a lot more sense to me to have the Series position next to the Bridge position.  Second, it requires you to separate the neck pickup cover from the neck ground lead and give it its own lead.  I found a different wiring on the net, but I didn't like it much better.  I came up with this alternate wiring on my own:


              N- ----------------------GROUND
                |    |
    B-          |    |
    O    O    O    O    O
          /
        O      O    O    O    O
                    |    |    N+
                    |    |
                  B+ ------------------OUTPUT

The gives the following outputs:
Pos 1:  Series
Pos 2:  Bridge
Pos 3:  Parallel
Pos 4:  Neck

I think the switching makes more sense because it make Pos 1 hottest and Pos 2 second hottest.  It also removes the need to split the neck cover from the neck ground lead.  My question is, why doesn't anybody use it.  Have I missed something important?

 

[Shandrazar]

It's this, isn't it?

The bridge pickup case grounds to the bridge, and it is a lot harder to isolate that than it is to isolate the neck pickup from the neck cover.  I hate  thinking about something for a day or two and then figuring it out 5 minutes after I post.

 

[tfarny]

With a 5 way mega switch you can add series out of phase which is surprisingly useful (volume is same ballpark as parallel in phase), you still have to lose the neck cover ground of course. Diagram is somewhere around here....

 

[Dan025]

i also had a way to get those combos with a half oop through a capacitor using a strat 5way. it is easy to wire, very few connections but is very hard to follow. i almost didnt believe it was posible but got into a puzzle solving mood and came up with something that was almost too perfect. a 5-way 2 pup tele that was really easy to wire and didnt take up precious cavity space. i have it in a notebook somewhere if you are interested. btw it still requires that you seperate the ground on the neck pup. 

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Go to www.acmeguitarworks.com.

this wire diagram is posted there.

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/Assets/pdf/Acme_Guitar_Works_Diagram_Tele_4-Way_Alternate.pdf

 

[Shandrazar]

I am familiar with both Acme diagrams, but I was really hoping to find a way to do the switching in the order Series / Bridge / Parallel / Neck like in my second diagram. 

If I am right about the bridge pickup case being a ground, how hard would that be?  Would I simply have to cut a jumper and add an extra ground (like the neck pickup on all the other 4-way diagrams)?  Would I have to have to insulate the bridge pickup from the bridge (which would require tape in the pickup and nylon screws)? Is there some internal connection in the pickup that makes breaking the ground impossible without a complete rebuild? 

It's beginning to look like what I want just isn't practical.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I apologize, I misread the intentions of your post.

Best of luck figuring it out.

 

[Dan025]

a telecaster has an iron base plate on the pickup, the plate is coper plated on the bottom side and is often confused with brass. there is a lead connecting the black wire from the pickup to the baseplate that can easily be removed. this is often used to ground the baseplate and thereby grounding the bridge and strings, many builders use a secondary ground for this anyhow and some modern pickups have a non metalic baseplate. as long as you have an alternate ground for the bridge you can simply desolder a small lead on that base plate and use youre alternate version. that may even be easier than modding the neck pickup.

also with the 4-way switch the positions can easily be reordered any way you like by reordering the jumpers. i cant remember which lugs are the commons but if you were to reorder the positions the commons would not change. i would like to explain this better but it is easier with pictures and it would take time to draw some up.