Hi folks:

Yes, this belongs in one of the guitar newsgroups, but like the drunk
looking for his keys under the streetlamp, the light is better here.

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952 replica,
built in Japan for the Japanese market. Odd because its pickup switch was
wired most peculiarly. It was a four-position switch, and in positions 1, 2
and 4 (as viewed from player's position) only the neck pickup was connected.
In position 3 both pickups were connected. There was no position where only
the bridge pickup was connected.

I've been told that taste among Japanese players runs to never having the
bridge pickup running by itself, but I find it hard to believe that the
switch would come wired with three identical positions (and they did sound
identical). So what gives? Did its owner wire it up weird? Is something
broken? Or did Fender's Japanese branch really build them this way?

Peace,
Paul

I've been told that taste among Japanese players runs to never having
the bridge pickup running by itself

Not true. Quite the opposite actually.

but I find it hard to believe
that the switch would come wired with three identical positions (and
they did sound identical).

It didn't come that way.

So what gives?

Some monkey screwed with the wiring. I've fixed numerous guitars with
'faults' that are just down to the owner 'having a go' at 'improving the
sound' :-)

I can't recall the 4-way wiring at the moment, but what you describe is
just plain broken.

Al.

Sugarite wrote:

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952 replica,
There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

Roy Buchanan? Danny Gatton?

--
ha

No original Tele ever used a 4-way switch, it was either a custom
order or someone modified it.

Al

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 17:31:03 GMT, "Paul Stamler"
wrote:

Hi folks:

Yes, this belongs in one of the guitar newsgroups, but like the drunk
looking for his keys under the streetlamp, the light is better here.

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952 replica,
built in Japan for the Japanese market. Odd because its pickup switch was
wired most peculiarly. It was a four-position switch, and in positions 1, 2
and 4 (as viewed from player's position) only the neck pickup was connected.
In position 3 both pickups were connected. There was no position where only
the bridge pickup was connected.

I've been told that taste among Japanese players runs to never having the
bridge pickup running by itself, but I find it hard to believe that the
switch would come wired with three identical positions (and they did sound
identical). So what gives? Did its owner wire it up weird? Is something
broken? Or did Fender's Japanese branch really build them this way?

Peace,
Paul

On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 14:20:44 -0500, "Sugarite"
wrote:

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952 replica,
There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

I love it... a good tele is the Swiss Army knife of electric guitars.

Al

Paul Stamler wrote:

like the drunk looking
for his keys under the streetlamp, the light is better here.

That wasn't just any drunk...

Sugarite wrote:

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952
replica,
There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

Roy Buchanan? Danny Gatton?

I stand corrected. Roy Buchanan amd Danny Gatton owe everything to the
bridge pick-up tone of a Fender Telecaster. Their talent had nothing to do
with it. Thanks for setting the record straight.

As if a Tele could only twang.

--
ha

playon wrote:

No original Tele ever used a 4-way switch, it was either a custom
order or someone modified it.

Not true. Some Nashville's and bound Custom's come stock with a 4-way switch.
The wiring on the guitar in question maybe screwed up,as it is not uncommon for
unskilled geetarist to wreck things.

The *normal* wiring for the 4 position is Neck-Bridge in Series/Neck/Neck-Bridge
in parallel/Bridge. There are a few Tele 4-way schematics at the Guitar Nuts web
page if you are interested in doing something about the wiring.

--
Nathan

"Imagine if there were no Hypothetical Situations"

On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 20:27:58 GMT, Nathan West
wrote:

The *normal* wiring for the 4 position is Neck-Bridge in Series/Neck/Neck-Bridge
in parallel/Bridge. There are a few Tele 4-way schematics at the Guitar Nuts web
page if you are interested in doing something about the wiring.

Yep. I'm about to do this wiring for a friend of mine, in a mahogany
bodied Tele with 2 P-90s.

Should sound niiiiice...
jtougas

listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door
let's go

e.e. cummings

I think when the Tele came out, the neck pickup was used to simulate bass,
so the sound was round,hence the use of the bridge pick-up.This is what
folks think of as the "classic tele" sound. Whatever you think of it, it
sure cuts through the din.

Tom



"hank alrich" wrote in message
. ..
Sugarite wrote:

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952
replica,
There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

Roy Buchanan? Danny Gatton?

I stand corrected. Roy Buchanan amd Danny Gatton owe everything to the
bridge pick-up tone of a Fender Telecaster. Their talent had nothing to
do
with it. Thanks for setting the record straight.

As if a Tele could only twang.

--
ha

"jtougas" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Dec 2004 20:27:58 GMT, Nathan West
wrote:

The *normal* wiring for the 4 position is Neck-Bridge in
Series/Neck/Neck-Bridge
in parallel/Bridge. There are a few Tele 4-way schematics at the Guitar
Nuts web
page if you are interested in doing something about the wiring.

Yep. I'm about to do this wiring for a friend of mine, in a mahogany
bodied Tele with 2 P-90s.


Mahogany body? P-90's? That's no Tele, that's a Les Paul Special! lol

Neil Henderson

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 13:27:54 GMT, "Tommy B"
wrote:

I think when the Tele came out, the neck pickup was used to simulate bass,
so the sound was round,hence the use of the bridge pick-up.This is what
folks think of as the "classic tele" sound. Whatever you think of it, it
sure cuts through the din.

And thru the mix -- the Telecaster is way more than a twang machine --
people like Howard Roberts and Jimmy Bryant played jazz on them... and
on the first three Led Zeppelin albums all the guitar tracks were cut
with a Telecaster.

Al


Tom



"hank alrich" wrote in message
...
Sugarite wrote:

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952
replica,
There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

Roy Buchanan? Danny Gatton?

I stand corrected. Roy Buchanan amd Danny Gatton owe everything to the
bridge pick-up tone of a Fender Telecaster. Their talent had nothing to
do
with it. Thanks for setting the record straight.

As if a Tele could only twang.

--
ha

Paul Stamler wrote:

Hi folks:

Yes, this belongs in one of the guitar newsgroups, but like the drunk
looking for his keys under the streetlamp, the light is better here.

Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952 replica,
built in Japan for the Japanese market. Odd because its pickup switch was
wired most peculiarly. It was a four-position switch, and in positions 1, 2
and 4 (as viewed from player's position) only the neck pickup was connected.
In position 3 both pickups were connected. There was no position where only
the bridge pickup was connected.

I've been told that taste among Japanese players runs to never having the
bridge pickup running by itself, but I find it hard to believe that the
switch would come wired with three identical positions (and they did sound
identical). So what gives? Did its owner wire it up weird? Is something
broken? Or did Fender's Japanese branch really build them this way?


Some Tele's came with 4-way switches, some got modded like this
http://guitarelectronics.zoovy.com/product/WDUSS4L1101

BTW, the original 3-way didn't have a two pickup combo in the middle

Sugarite wrote:
Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952

replica,

There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...

Roy Buchanan? Danny Gatton?

I stand corrected. Roy Buchanan amd Danny Gatton owe everything to the
bridge pick-up tone of a Fender Telecaster. Their talent had nothing to

do

with it. Thanks for setting the record straight.

As if a Tele could only twang.


...hence my applause for a Tele designed to avoid the twang...


Oh, he'll be able to get a good twang out of that one too if he wants to.

As if a Tele could only twang.
BRBR

Some of the most beautiful jazz guitar tones I've heard have come from a
Telecaster. In the hands of the right player, a Tele does dark & warm for days.


Scott Fraser

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:39:07 GMT, "Neil Henderson"
wrote:


Mahogany body? P-90's? That's no Tele, that's a Les Paul Special! lol

Yeah, it's kindofa Frankentele type thing, but I'm looking forward to
hearing it...

jtougas

listen- there's a hell of a good universe next door
let's go

e.e. cummings

Sugarite wrote:
Yesterday I played a most odd guitar, a Fender Telecaster 1952

replica,

There was no position where only the bridge pickup was connected.

*****APPLAUSE*****

Yaaaay!!!! Why aren't they all like that!!

...I detest the Tele twang...


Actually, the switching on the original Tele is Bridge pickup only, Neck pickup
only, and neck pickup hooked into a circuit that rolls off all the highs to
produce a boomy sound.

There is no combination of pickups on the switching.
Richard H. Kuschel
"I canna change the law of physics."-----Scotty