What do you get when you cross . . .
I’ve been coveting one of those “Nashville-Style” Telecasters — you know, the hot-rodded, three-pickup versions popularized by Nashville session superhero Brent Mason, and now a regular Fender production model.
Then it dawned on me: Since some of Mongrel Strats I’ve been playing with have strong Tele tendencies, why not flip the equation? Instead of a Tele that acts like a Strat, why not a Strat that thinks it’s a Tele?
The Fender version replaces the usual Tele 3-way switch with a 5-way, as shown in this wiring diagram, though many players prefer to keep the 3-way switch and add the middle pickup via a blend knob, as in this other wiring diagram.
I took the latter approach, and I am flipping out over all the new tones it unlocks. Check out this little video demo:
The disadvantage of the blend-knob version is, you no longer have access to the sound of the middle pickup alone. (As if I care — it’s the most boring sound on a Strat!) One the other hand, you get the splendid sound of the outer pickups together — something you can’t obtain on a standard Strat. Better still, you can adjust the amount of middle pickup added to the combined settings, unlocking many cool shadings unavailable on a conventional Strat. You can also dial in the sound of all three pickups together, another combo unattainable on regular Strat. (Generally, this setting doesn’t do much for me, though I love it when using a Tele-caster style bridge pickup, like the Seymour Duncan Twang Banger I have in this guitar. (The neck pickup is a Duncan SSL-1. The middle pickup is also an SSL-1, but reverse-wound, reverse-polarity version.) All that in exchange for sacrificing middle pickup alone? Such a deal!
Aside from the sounds, I dig the concept of this wiring scheme. Now I think of the “out of phase” sounds not as pickup-selector positions, but as a character accessible at all times. With the middle knob turned left, you get sharp, crisp Tele/Strat tones. As you rotate it to the right, the colors get softer, prettier, and more diffuse. As I mention in the video, it reminds me of the focus and aperture controls on a high-end camera. It makes me think differently and play differently — and those are almost always good things. 🙂
Hey Joe
Another great article and demo.
I was wondering what that component is on both the 3-way and the 5-way switches.
Thanks.
Thanks, Sam!
Do you mean, what switches do I use? I’m really into the Schaller Megaswitches, available from Stew Mac.
Actually, what I meant was; if you look in both the wiring diagrams, you see some sort of component (resistor, diode,ect) soldered to lugs on the switches. Just wondering what those might be.
That had me confused too, i believe it’s the spring seen on some of these switches
I made a tele/Les Paul hybrid using the Megaswitch. I don’t have an option to blend the middle pickup, and only use it in the 2 and 4 positions.
Hmmmm… wired my lone Strat with a blend pot to mix neck & bridge pups, but I’m intrigued by the idea of the blend adding in middle instead. Could be cool…
Well, it’s a fairly easy mod. And the good part is, it requires no new parts — just some switching around.
Love the sound of this guitar, and really love your riffing on this. The outer pickup tone is great, and I really like the tones with the bypass middle pickup rolled in when the tone is down. Two interesting questions- how do you wind a pickup to encourage the Tele squawk? Is it less low end? I thought the boingy tone was coming from the big Tele bridge plate distorting the magnetic field
Also, wouldn’t you rather use the RW/RP pickup at the neck? Then it will hum cancel with the bridge pickup (or at least partial do so if they don’t match electrically).
Another brilliant and cool schematic!
Thanks for the nice stuff you said, David! 🙂
Yeah, I love the outer pickup tone too. There are a lot of way to get that. One of the easiest is install the Strat Megaswitch that simply replaces the position #3 with outer pickups together.
I believe the Twang Banger — and other pickups of its type — rely on a metal bottom plate similar to the ones on Tele bridge pickups. And the more I play it, the more I think twang and squawk aren’t quite the right words to describe it. To me it’s a metallic clang, like an iron gate slamming shut.
Joe this wiring seems to be what i was searching for a very long time , outer pickup position is really interesting and that tone control is very effective . I’ve just a few questions : if i put the middle pickup volume all the way up , can I still obtain the hum-cancelling effect typical of 2-4 position in a regular Strat wiring?And what about putting the middle pickup volume at half or less?
Oh , just one more thing : you’re amazing !
My main gigging guitar has an HSH configuration allied to a 5-way switch. The bridge is a PAF-style pickup, wired to an on-on-on switch that gives parallel/single/series sounds; the neck is a fantastic Seymour Duncan P-Rails, wired as suggested to give the rail/P90/humbucker sounds. Once I’d installed these, it struck me that there are some great tones to be had from the ‘outer’ positions, as so ably demonstrated by Joe in his video. I therefore wired the tone control up on a push-push switch, so it stills functions as a tone control should, but the switch engages the bridge pickup regardless of where the 5-way is set. Obviously, in positions 1-3 this makes no difference to the sound, but position 4 gives you all pickups on, and position 5 gives you neck and bridge. Dial in the three sounds that each of the humbuckers can produce, then add in the middle single coil, and you have 31 possible combinations. Of course, some are just subtle variations on a theme, but the outer sounds are fantastic. It’s ideal because I play in an Elvis band, so I need twang, and then in a rock band where I need grunt; thanks to these wiring mods, this one guitar has it all covered.
Didn’t the Stellacaster just come up recently ? Let me find and scan the schematic I got for that thing just for fun. My HM Strat has been heavily modded , now it is HSH Anderson pups and it has Floyd Rose instead of the kahler. But the one thing I really use alot is the blend knob in the last spot it really opens up some great sounds and allows you to focus the pickups any way you might like. Very cool Joe we like it alot ! :stupid:
Ok try this one?
Wow! that guitar sounds great!
Thanks, JH! Your words mean more than you might imagine, since that is, in fact, the first guitar I’ve ever assembled myself from scratch. Sure, it’s just a “parts Strat” of the sort any experienced builder could slap together in an hour. But it was pretty nerve-wracking for me! 🙂
Makes a million times better since you did it yourself !
A couple quick questions. Could you put in a 4 way switch, allowing you to get both the outer pickups in series, without changing anything else? Also, you mentioned that this setup doesn’t let you get the middle pickup by itself. For those few of us that like the middle pickup sound (we do exist), could we add a push/pull that turns the outer pickups off? Or just turn the main volume knob to 0 and turn the middle pickup blend knob all the way up? Just wondering.
This gentleman has been selling Strat rewire kits and preconfigured switches off his website for years: lots of info here.
https://deaf-eddie.net/
Is it just me, or is there something wrong with the link to the second wiring diagram? I get a “page not found” message.
I just tried it, and the link seems to work. Maybe something was screwy on the Duncan site, where it resides?
Anyway, if you can’t download it, email me (joe_at_tonefiend.com), and I’ll just send you a copy. 🙂 :ban:
I have 3 pickups in my tele and have the neck and bridge wired to a 4 way switch for series/parallel options and the middle wired to its own volume pot. This makes for an extremely versatile instrument and I initially came up with this wiring because the tele was my only guitar. The series option with the middle blended in sound pretty cool as does all three pickups in parallel.
P
Hi pj!You know, I’m still addicted to that wiring scheme, or variations thereof. Overall I have far more experience with Strats than Teles, but I’m relating to my Strats much more with Tele-type wiring.
Hey Joe,
I just discovered your website/blog and am really digging it. A question – I love the idea of blending in the middle pickup as in this wiring but want to keep the five way switch my Strat came with. The plan is to make the middle knob a blend knob and keep one master volume and tone.
Anything useful I could use the extra two positions for?
Yes, it would work — but with some quirks. The idea with the blend wirings is that the middle pickup bypasses the selector switch, going directly to its own volume pot and then the output. With a five-way switch, that would mean you’d get normal strat operation with the blend knob all the way up/ But when the knob is down, you’d have silence in position 3, and positions 1 and 2 and positions 3 and 4 would sound identical. But the biggest drawback of that approach is you’d miss out on the great outside-pickups-together setting, one of the main reasons for the change. Alternately, you could convert one of your tone knobs to a push/pull pot that leave the bridge always on. That provides all seven possible settings, but wouldn’t let you blend.
Here’s a relevant thread from the Strat Talk forum. Hope that helps!
Joe, this seems essentially similar to the Strat wiring I learned from Steve Kimock and which I use on two of my three Strats. You mentioned not being able to get the middle pickup alone — why not? Couldn't you just roll the main volume off and roll the second (middle p/u) volume up? That's how mine work, anyway. I kinda like the middle pickup alone sometimes, especially on my Strat that has lipstick pickups.
Thanks for sharing the videos and the wiring diagrams. I'm going to be brave and try a project soon. I've messed some s**t up in the past, and I'm down to 2 strats at the moment. One is "gold", with dual Dimarzio PAF Joe's and a treble roll-off, and nobody better mess with it. The other is a basic MIM partscaster. I have the Twang-banger ready to go in, just pulled it from a project that was aborted a parts were sold. I'm thinking I might try to pick up a Squire really cheap, practice on that before I attempt the mod on my good strat.
Wow! Really? People actually used the middle pickup by itself. What for?
Hee hee.
Do you have a diagram for the mod you did on those? I might like to have the option of the middle pickup alone, since I use it every once in a blue moon for some gritty lead.
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That sounds totally credible, especially since you back up your claims with science! Just a few quick questions:
1. Does this present a potential problem for heterosexual female guitarists? Do they have to fend off a lot of unwanted attention from other women? I’m not saying that in an anti-lesbian way or anything. I just mean in case they’re not into other chicks.
2. Say I’m a guy who digs guys. Is there any trick that can make it work the other way? Maybe like a phase-reverse switch, or something? Does it work with transgendered women? What about ultra-feminine gay guys?
3. How about on a left-handed guitar? Will that lure only dominant women? What about a reverse-strung righty? (I don’t mean to split hairs here, but I’d by lying if I said I didn’t foresee possible complications.)
4. Any advice for metal and punk players who may not know the changes to “Moonlight in Vermont?” Do you need to play a complete chord-melody arrangement to achieve the desired effect? Or would it be enough if you just learned the melody from tab? Is it okay to use distortion? Can I still scoop my mids?
5. You emphasize that it’s the “hidden sounds” that produce the effect. In your experience, are some more effective than others, or are all the non-standard settings equally potent? (If a few are particularly useful, I can imagine a “light” version of your product, with fewer wiring permutations, but an emphasis on the most advantageous ones. You can use that idea if you like — no charge!)
6. Does it work with any sentimental music? Or just “Great American Songbook” numbers from the ’30s and ’40s? Have you tried it with sentimental non-jazz numbers, like “Beth” by Kiss, or Bobby Goldsboro’s “Watching Scotty Grow?” I know both of those.
7. What would happen if you made an impulse response of one of your “hidden” settings, and then ran a conventional tone through it so the spectrum matches your product? Is that a plausible workaround, or does it have to be analog?
8. How do dropped tunings affect the results? Do they attract chunkier chicks? How about when you play with a capo?
9. What effect does pickup height have? Is the effect stronger when the pickups are closer to the strings?
10. What about pickup output? Do pickups with a stronger magnetic pull exert, um, a stronger magnetic pull? (I’d assume so, but I figure it’s worth checking with an expert.)
11. What if my “target audience” doesn’t like sentimental music? Say she’s really into Throbbing Gristle and Sunn O))). Will it still work? Will it make her a jazz fan?
12. What happens after your invention becomes a hit? Will it still be possible to distinguish oneself after every other schmo has unlocked those “hidden” sounds? Or is it simply better to be an early adopter and milk it while you can?
Wait, I almost forgot!
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I know my readers will have questions too. Hope you can stick around to reply.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
You don’t need pickup “switch”, just good pickup “lines”.
I put a phase switch on the middle pickup of an SSS Yamaha guitar with individual toggles per pickup. So I got 3 new tones, not including the coil-tapping switch (which gives a softer, brighter tone to all settings).
2 of the 3, in addition to being humbucking were so bright that they’d rip your head off for anything other than a special effect thin sound. The third one, with all pickups on, was nice and gave a scooped-mid kind of sound.
The problem with some of these hidden tones is they deserve to be hidden. And can you imagine dealing with 6 toggles in performance?
Pickups shmickups, what a beautiful piece of music and fine playing. I got here researching Nashville Teleisms, but I think I’ll just try to practice some more. Was that in DADGAD? Cheers.
What a nice thing to say, Nwahs! Much appreciated. I seldom use DADGAD, but I’m in dropped D 90% of the time.
Joe, I first saw this in your article on the "3 must-have mods" and I fell in love with the sound. I hope this thread isn't dead – gotta question. I would figure it out myself except:
a) my Strat currently consists of an Ebay (Kramer) neck, a set of Rose pickups (in a box) a Bladerunner bridge (in a box), and some strings, no body yet.
b) My Godin uses humbuckers, so is not eligible for this experiment.
c) As you might have guessed from the low-cost parts listed above, my budget is tight.
My question is this: It seems to me that with an appropriate toggle switch (on-on-on 3PDT or 4PDT) you could easily route EACH of the pickups into the blend control in turn – as in: Position 1: PUs 1 & 3 – Nashville, PU 2 – blend; Position 2: PUs 1 & 2 – Nashville, PU 3 – blend; and Position 3: PUs 2 & 3 – Nashville, PU 1 – blend.
In your opinion, is there anything of potential sonic interest here?
Joe, I really love the Twangbanger in the bridge. Is it possible to get some of this sound by adding the copper coated plate to the bottom of any pickup? For example, a Duncan SVR-1 with the plate? Would that create a humcanelling version of the Twangbanger? What do you think?
Wow, great question, John! I guess it should in theory. But then, theory can be pretty slippery.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
The steel plate on the bottom of some Telecaster pickup was, I suspect, placed there by Mr Fender for screening purposes. So yes it was intended to reduce (electrostatic) hum pickup. The Telecaster bridge as a unit has the steel baseplate with the clip on cover screening most of the bridge pickup. The baseplate just continues this screening as much as possible across the bottom of the pickup. Fender plated the baseplate first with Zinc and then switched to Copper as a rust preventative. The steel bridge also had to be copper plated before being nickel plated, so it made sense to plate all the steel with copper and drop the original zinc plating.
In later years and depending on the model, Fender often dropped the Tele baseplate or used a brass baseplate. One problem with the plate is that it needs to be well sealed to the bottom of the pickup with wax, otherwise it can vibrate and cause unwanted feedback. Which is why Fender often dropped it as players started to use more gain.
Because the baseplate is steel it focuses the magnetic field from the magnets a little more. It also increases the pickups inductance and adds a little capacitance, causing the pickups self resonant frequency to drop a little and thickening the tone. Adding a steel plate to the bottom of any single coil pickup does not make that pickup into a hum-canceler or humbucker, although it may slightly reduce hum pickup. The SD SVR-1 is a humbucking pickup with two side-by-side coils and (because the magnetic circuit on humbuckers is more of a closed loop) adding a steel plate to the bottom of humbuckers has a lot less effect than it does to single coils and it doesn’t make a huge difference even to those. I have tried measuring the increase in inductance due to an added steel plate and it usually doesn’t increase by much.
Basically, Terry always knows. 🙂
Joe, is the blend pot a “normal” pot or a special blend pot?
Does the blend pot alter the sound of the other pick ups as well, i.e. does it influence the volume of the other pickups? Or when you fully turn down the volume of the middle pickup, can you still hear the others?
Hiya, George! An audio taper pot works best. The volume level remains remarkably equal regardless of setting (assuming you have pickup height properly set). With the middle pickup volume. With the blend pot all the way down, you hear the outer pickups as normal, as on a Tele. That’s because the middle pickup is wired directly to the output. That means you have no tone control over the middle pickup, but it just seems to work better that way.
Hi,
Please find enclosed the wiring for the “Nashville” mod in strat
Using 3 ways switch
Regards
Mike
Hello Joe,
I really enjoy your mod work.
I have a few question about this particular ‘middle blend’ Nasville Tele mod, please:
When the bridge/neck pickups are in the middle 3-way selector position – i.e. they are combined in parallel – doesn’t that mean that when the middle pickup is introduced, that the middle pickup is wired in parallel with the parallel combination of bridge/neck pickups? Two questions arise from that:
1. isn’t that selection a very weak output?
2. isn’t that a selection that is totally impossible to achieve on a Strat or any common Strat mods?
One other thing; if one wanted the option to combine the middle pickup blend in series, as well as parallel, what would be the best or easiest way to achieve that?
many thanks
Roland
Yes the middle pickup is in parallel.
No it is not a weak output – consider that when the neck and bridge are combined in parallel the output is not weaker than either one of those pickups alone. Adding the middle in parallel also does not make it any weaker. Parallel combinations result in the output voltage remaining the same. On the other hand any series combination of pickups will add the output voltages and the signal will be hotter.
Yes it is normally impossible to achieve all three pickups in parallel on a Strat. With the S1 switch on the American Deluxe and now the Elite one of the possibilities is all three pickups in series. Fender keep changing the way the S1 is wired so there may have been a parallel combination at some point on some model.
A parallel or series wiring with blend requires that the blend pot be switched from in series with the blended pickup for the parallel wiring to in parallel with the blended pickup for in series wiring. I think that can be done with a 3 pole 2 way toggle switch.
This is really interesting… I recently got an HSS Squier Strat for $200. I really don’t like the bridge-only “wide open” mode in any situation. And I like the 2/4 quack settings. I like the neck only for that sound you get playing above the 12th fret.
In this circuit, with the volume all the way up, the middle pickup is loaded by the tone circuit just the way it would be had it been connected to the other pickups directly. But when the volume knob goes down, the middle pickup is less loaded by the tone circuit and more loaded by the volume pot.
There is a third option: 5 way switch, with no-load tone pot reprposed as a blender linking N and B pickups across the switch. This lets you get all the Strat-y sounds, and blend N into B or B into M depending on the lever position. In the B position, if pickup outputs are relatively the same, a little bit of series ersistance helps back the neck pickup off in the N+B blend, and gets you a lot closer to a Tele sound. Both of my Strats have this setup.
LOL 😀
the Resister or whatever in the diagram is ….
THE SPRING of the switch