concentric pots and tele plates

[rightintheface]

im planning a tele control plate with 5 way switch and 3 concentric pots. what i need to know is: will the concentric knobs be in the way of the bridge position of the 5 way (as i have noticed on teles that some regular knobs r pretty close)? anyone who has input would be of great assistance, as i can't order until i find out for sure :-(

 

[RLW]

I just happen to have a Tele plate and Tele knobs in my Box O' Spares. I lined up 3 knobs, and there's not even room to fit my pinky between them.

 

[rightintheface]

so its probably not plausible to have three CONCENTRIC pots on there then hey.. or is it do-able, just a bit messy?

 

[tfarny]

I have a concentric knob in the volume spot of my tele and a five-way, it's no problem at all. Three concentrics would be really crowded though it's probably possible. A bigger problem than the external spacing may be getting all those electronics into the tiny control rout.

 

[nathan a]

A bigger problem than the external spacing may be getting all those electronics into the tiny control rout.

:icon_thumright:

Don't count on fitting all that in a standard tele cavity. Even normal tele wiring can be cramped.

 

[stubhead]

There are mini-pots available, but not concentric that I've heard of. It's pretty easy to find some smaller, 5/8 X 5/8" top knobs that might help the spacing up above. I'm a big fan of having extra room and no big worshipper at the Church of Vintage - since you want three knobs you could just blow out a big hole and cover it with some pickguard stuff, leaving room for more stuff later:

I've got concentrics on this baby and a 5-way Superswitch that gives me all possible combinations of the bridge Lawrence L500XL humbucker coils, and boy can it make a lot of noises!

 

[Shmoopie]

cool! 

 

[rightintheface]

hmmm. ive kinda shuffled my idea around, i'm leaning towards just two concentric pots and a three-way gibson switch. warmoth doesn't sell them, do they sell standard sized tele plates for three-ways at all? i was also gonna put two mini-switches between the pots for coil-tap. hopefully it'll all fit....

 

[tfarny]

How many pickups, and what combos are most important to you? Some people actually use all their options but many others just end up with the same favorite setting all the time. your first plan, 5 way switch and six pots to mess with, sounds confusing in practice.

 

[rightintheface]

so, i was originally planning to have a H-P90-H setup, with 5 way blade and a concentric pot for each. i was also going to have it rear-routed and put 2 mini switchs just below the control plate, below the concentic pots for the HBs. i have since thought about it, ummed and ahhed, and decided that i'm just gonna stick with H-X-H with 2 concentrics, hopefully fitting two mini switches onto the control plate (between the two concentric knobs).

i have noticed on the teles that i have seen recently (willyk's collection), that there is plenty of room between the two knobs, i just hope it will fit inside... however the mini switches are very mini, even the housings are fairly unobtrusive. the pickups are vintage vibe guitars custom humbuckers wound like hot p-90s, with ceramic magnets. i have them at present in an epi sg with the above-mentioned mini switches, and they rock. massively.

i guess this way i will save money on rear-route, not to mention extra pickup, extra pots/knobs etc for the p-90 i was gonna slap in between the HBs.

still i need to know though; are control plates available on the market that are set up for 2knobs and a 3 way gibson style switch? or are they all set on blade switches? can i buy blank plates and just drill them myself? i am totally new to the tele thing, so i don't have much clue...

 

[tfarny]

GFS sells DIY plates: http://store.guitarfetish.com/guitarhardware.html - but I'm not sure if you'll get your mini switches in between the two concentrics, it's not a question of space on the plate but underneath - you've got to position those concentric pots so the little connector tabs face each other, which will eat up most of the room underneath. May fit, may not. Your simplest option, and one that allows you to keep that p90 and all your original idea of switching, is to do a tele custom.

 

[Rick]

I have a 4 way switch on my tele. neck, neck and bridge series, neck, neck and bridge parrallel.  A concentric tone ring from torres engineering which gives a regular tone knob and knob for mid range boost/cut which works very nice.  Regular volume knob.  All 500K pots.  There's room for a mini switch if you want to do a signal split on a humbucker in the neck position.  When I'm playing that's about all I can keep track of, though I suppose if your recording the skies the limit.

 

[tfarny]

How does it give a mid boost without active electronics? No way you'll fit a battery into a standard tele rout.

 

[Rick]

The midrange boost / cut from torres is really cool.  Outer ring is tone all the time, and the inner knob is the midrange.  I don't know how it works, but it does.  There is no battery and it all fits in a tele route.  You can call Torres Engineering to find out how it works.  :headbang1: