Tele 4 way wiring questions..HELP!

[sugarlou]

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa142/lickysixx/tele4way.jpg[/IMG]
Heres the schematic from Fender that came w/ the switch..Heres my confusion

I purchased a Sprauge .022 cap. Can that be swapped out for what Fender says to use a .05mfd?

I also purchased a .001 Sprauge treble bleed cap..does that go between the volume pot lug and its ground (off the same lug as the tone cap)?

Also the pots, should they both be 250 k?

and lastly could someone explain the whole ground lifting of the rhythm pickup cover and an additional ground wire added? Does the bridge need a ground wire sandwiched underneath it?

I'm a little confused, this is my first Tele wiring attempt.

[Jim Collins]

You can use any value you want, for a tone capacitor. The vintage value is .05uF (or .047uF), but a .022uF cap is what you'll see in modern Teles.

The .001uF bleed cap goes between the two non-grounded lugs of the volume cap. In other words, between the left and center, if all lugs are pointing toward you, with the shaft pointing toward the floor. (The right lug, you can see, is grounded, by virtue of its attachment to the pot casing.)

Before you attach the treble bypass cap, see if you like the results without it. .001uF is actually a rather large value for this function. Yes, Fender did use that value, starting in the late 60s, along with a 1Meg volume pot. Personally, I think these were some of the worst sounding Teles -- ice pick in the ear syndrome. If both the volume and tone pots are 250K, you may find you don't need the bypass cap. If you do think you need one, a value between 100pF and 150pF is better than .001uF. To compare apples to apples, .001uF = 1000pF. (uF is microfarad, and pF is picofarad.)

The chrome cover of the neck pickup MUST be grounded, or you'll get all kinds of noise. When the pickups are in series, the negative lead of the neck pickup is connected to the positive lead of the bridge pickup. If the neck pickup's negative lead happens also to be connected to the chrome cover, the cover will not be grounded, and you'll get all kinds of noise. That is why, for four-way switching, the chrome cover on the neck pickup must have its own ground wire, connected to ground all the time. (Traditional neck pickups feature a little jumper underneath the pickup. This jumper attaches the cover to the coil's negative lead. To implement four-way switching, this jumper has to be removed, and a new lead attached to the chrome cover's tab.)

Whether or not the bridgeplate needs a seperate ground wire depends upon the bridge pickup. A vintage style bridge pickup features a plate underneath the pickup. This plate is connected to the bridge pickup's negative coil by means of a little jumper wire (similar to a vintage neck pickup). The bridge pickup is connected to the bridgeplate by three conductive screws, and each screw contacts the grounded base plate. This automatically grounds the bridgeplate.

If the bridge pickup does not have a baseplate underneath it, the bridgeplate MUST have a seperate ground wire.

[sugarlou]

Thanks ..the pickups are Fender Texas Specials

[lazy912]

Sorry to be bringing up an old thread, but I figured it would be better than starting my own. I'm planning on doing a 4 way mod myself but the grounding of the cover still confuses me. I've read the post a few times and looked all over the internet but still cant find a clear cut answer. I have fender noiseless pup's, how would I go about grounding it. I know I have to cut something off the cover but I'm pretty much lost. Some help please. Pictures or drawings would be nice, I'm a little stupid.

[lazy912]

Anyone?

[testing1two]

The basic premise is this:

If you look at the bottom of your neck pickup, you'll see a small wire in the middle that connects the pickup case to the negative lead of the pickup. In order for the 4-way switching to work, this little wire must be cut and a new wire must be run from the pickup case to ground (usually the case of the volume pot).

Here's a link to a diagram from Acme that's much easier to follow: http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/pdf/WiringDiagram_Tele_4-Way.pdf

[Redfish]

Anyone do this to a Nocaster yet? Does the neck pickup have a jumper that needs to be cut? I am about to try it on my Nocaster and would welcome any info.

[lazy912]

Well, I haven't tried it yet, I'm still doing the research part of the project before I actually go on with the project.

[Redfish]

Bump for info.