Metropoulos Forum

Okay, so... I'm building another telecaster, and while I'm waiting on my neck and body, I have all my other stuff, so I decided I would tackle what wiring I could in the meantime.

So this is a little odd... it's a traditional style tele control cavity and 3 way switch, but I'm running two humbuckers and two concentric 500K CTS pots that I want to wire up 50's les paul wiring style.

Fine and dandy, but I'm confused by all the connections on this 3 way switch, as I have never messed with a tele like this before (the previous build was a deluxe, so very LP).

Can someone tell me how to wire this switch to the pots/pups/jack to get what I want?

Here are pictures of my current situation... the upper/outer pots (the lower ones in these pictures, since we're upside down) are my volume pots, and the lower/inner pots are my tone pots. I've grounded the appropriate pot lugs and attached the capacitors (RS Guitarcaps, .015 and .022).



Now what? Here is what I think I've figured out...

1. Grounding is handled by the plate that everything is attached to.
2. The outermost two lugs get jumpered and run to the 'hot' lead of the input jack.
3. On the 'top' side of the switch in these pictures, the 'neck' side... I jumper the two center lugs together, and from there to the appropriate volume control. I leave the leftmost lug empty.
4. On the 'bottom' side of the switch in these pictures, the 'bridge' side... I jumper the two center lugs together, and from there to the appropriate volume control. I leave the rightmost lug empty.

Is that right? I think I need to switch the volume pot lug that the cap connects to from the inner lug to the outer lug to have independent volume controls... I think I looked at the wrong diagram.

Is this the right thing to do, or am I getting confused somewhere?

Also, I know that I need to wire the case of each pot together to ground them, and then a wire from the bridge to the controls to ground everything... but how do people make contact from the controls to the control plate?

Thanks!

Here is a shit load of variations on Tele wiring:
http://www.fender.com/support/wiring_di ... telecaster" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Here is the PDF of the standard wiring scheme of a 3 way tele switch:
http://www.fender.com/support/diagrams/ ... 02BPg2.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hope that helps!!

Yeah, I've seen some of those... I don't know if they apply... I don't understand why the middle lugs are empty... my setup is a bit weird since I'm running 4 pots instead of 2. Definitely not going for a standard tele setup.

Oh, and I'm using 2 conductor wire... I'm not sure what the different colors are from the pickups in most of those...

50s Les Paul-wiring goes pickups-controls(volume)-switch-jack.
Tele, in general goes pickups-switch-control(volume)-jack.

To mix them..., I really do not see how you should go from the Tele switch in to the jack. If everything else fails you could always use a Les Paul switch (an angled one) and complete the 50 wiring. But it may not be your cup of tea. The look will not be Tele, if you do not in some way replace the Les Paul button with a Tele. Never done that myself...
Did use a Les Paul switch on a Strat. And it has done me good.

Good luck, Bob!

Well, I'm not going to mix them, I'm just going to go fully LP style, but w/ the tele switch (and LP *does* go switch->jack.)

My main problem is just that I was confused by the connections on this tele switch, because it was unfamiliar.

I think my way works... it shouldn't really matter where in the circuit the switch is located... it is either on or off.