Hey all
Just wondering if someone could help me out a little?
You know that glassy/chimey/quacky (delete as appropriate) tone you can only get from a Strat? Is there any way to get it from my Tele?
I have an American Deluxe Telecaster and whilst I love it to bits I'd really like to know if there's anything I can do to squeeze that Start sound out of it? I'm guessing the tone in question comes from a combination the Strat's pickups and 5 way selector. Is it possible to get that sound (with a little tinkering) from a 2 pickup Tele?
Of course I can save up for a couple of years and buy a nice Strat but I was wondering if there may be a way to mod my Tele's selector switch to get the pickup combination necessary for the tone?
I've done a bit of Googling but most results returned are on how to make a Strat sound like a Tele, not a great deal on the reverse!
All help greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
I remember my Baja had a phase selector swich on it that got some really interesting 'quacky' tones.
Strats middle pickup is reverse polarity wound, so a phase switch might get you some way towards 'Strat'esque tones.
Baja wiring:
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj279/Edwards_Guitar/Tele-Baja_zpscd630b2c.jpg)
It's mostly the in-between position, and you won't get exactly the same cancellations given the distance between the pickups in a tele compared with a strat.
Teles are routed for a third pickup.
Get a darker neck pickup, or a strat pickup, and put it in the middle.
The lead guitar here is using an in-between position on my red 3-pickup tele - the pickups used are a tele neck with a plastic cover (brighter) and a broadcaster (darker):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9878279/Midway%20Fair%20-%20demos%20and%20scratch%20tracks/Firebird.mp3
You can also use an EQ pedal with the in-between position on your tele and turn up the bass a little and drop the 1-3KHz bands. You might also need to kill the 5KHz depending on how hot your bridge pickup is.
However, some of it is technique. Playing softer will yield more quack even without using an in-between position. I think this has something to do with the resonance frequency of the pickup; if you play softly, that big peak from the pickup doesn't clip, so it sounds like a cocked wah way up in the treble frequencies. When you play harder, the tone evens out and you lose that.
The Jerry Donahue signature tele (of which I have two 8)) is wired for Stratier tones in the in between positions by introducing some capacitors into the circuit and using a strat neck pickup. Diagram is as here
http://www.redherring-tonebones.com/jerry-donahue-telecaster-wiring-2/
The parallel half out of phase is what gets you the closest to an inbetween tone on a strat. This gets you four out of the six settings on the Baja as well w/o having to add the S-1 switch.
The EHX Knockout claims to do it.
Thank you for the replies. Really appreciate it. I'll have a look into the different suggestions.
Thanks again
I know you said strat tones from a two pickup telecaster, but a Nashville style Tele with the middle pickup is your best bet.
I've already got the Tele though.
Quote from: Guybrush on January 28, 2015, 07:23:25 PM
I've already got the Tele though.
Again, Teles are all routed for a third pickup. If you take the pickguard off, you'll see a spot for another pickup. ;)
Ahh yes I missed that from your 1st comment. Cheers Jon.
You could always unbolt the body from the neck, replace with a contoured body routed for 3 pickups. Then unbolt the neck from that body and replace it with a neck with a bigger headstock and rounded heel. :)
Quote from: Leevibe on January 28, 2015, 08:33:22 PM
You could always unbolt the body from the neck, replace with a contoured body routed for 3 pickups. Then unbolt the neck from that body and replace it with a neck with a bigger headstock and rounded heel. :)
Give me a minute, I'm going to whip up the switching schematic for this.
EDIT: Damn, not enough poles on a 3PDT.
EDIT EDIT: Wait, I've got it, using four Poles. One to hold the screwdriver, one to hold the neck, one to hold the body, and one to restring it. It's a slow switch, though, it takes about 4 minutes.
I added a middle Strat pickup to my Tele and added an extra volume knob for it so I can blend the out of phase sound in with the stock Tele sound. It lacks the full springy sound of a Strat, but it is a versatile compromise with a 3-way switch. All the pickups are humbucker stacks and are coil tapped with push-push knobs to get a more single coil sound. I love it.
http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=19268.0 (http://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=19268.0)
Quote from: midwayfair on January 28, 2015, 08:50:22 PM
It's a slow switch, though, it takes about 4 minutes.
well played
Quote from: midwayfair on January 28, 2015, 07:27:11 PM
Quote from: Guybrush on January 28, 2015, 07:23:25 PM
I've already got the Tele though.
Again, Teles are all routed for a third pickup. If you take the pickguard off, you'll see a spot for another pickup. ;)
Really?
When I think of a stock Tele body, this is what comes to mind:
(http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/wp3/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Ash-body.jpg)
Quote from: culturejam on January 29, 2015, 02:04:36 PM
When I think of a stock Tele body, this is what comes to mind:
Older ones are like that, so you still see them that way for partscasters, but the bodies on normal teles from Fender are routed for H-S-H, so they can use the same body for dozens of models.
I think post 2012, American Standards and Deluxes are routed for middle and neck pickups (I say 2012 cause my 2011 Std wasn't, and 2012 was a redesign year for the Am Stds). MIM Deluxes I think have a swimming pool route under the PG. Pre 2012, you'd be hard pressed to find a non-Nashville body with a middle pickup route IIRC (I can't remember ever pulling the pickguard off a tele and seeing a 3 pup route, but I haven't owned a Fender tele newer than 2011).
RIs, Vintage series, Classic Vibes, Highway 1s (and possibly American Specials), and Thinlines don't have middle pickup routes. Safe bet - if it's got a three barrel saddle, it probably won't have a middle pickup route, if it's got a six saddles, it likely does.
Mine is a pre 2012 American Deluxe. I've just checked and it's got routing for a 3rd middle pickup.
I'd just like to clear something up...
The middle pickup on Strat is NOT out of Phase. Reverse Wound and Reverse Polarity is very different from out of phase. Reverse Wound and Reverse Polairty (RWRP) pickups are used to cancel hum, hence why positions 2 and 4 on strat cancels any hum you may hear from using positions 1/3/5. Out of phase switches the ground and hot connections that gives a different sound, much thinner, tinny and more of an effect rather than a usable sound.
The Neck pickup on most Teles will be RWRP so that it cancels the hum between the neck and bridge pups. If you wanted to add a middle pickup (this would get closest to the strat tone) you would have to replace the neck pickup too, so only the middle pickup is RWRP. Otherwise you would no get the hum cancelling and sound that this creates.
My suggestion, get a fresh set of pickups, Tele neck, RWRP Strat Mid, Tele Bridge, 5-way switch and stick an EQ box on your board to target the high mids that the tele creates (via its body shape and string through bridge). Use the EQ around 1-3kHz as previously mentioned, dip those and you should get a much quckier, hollower sound in strat territory.
Anyone else you refers to RWRP as out of phase shall now be shot ;D
ahahahahaaaaa....
I highly recommend asking some of your questions at the tdpri.com forum, if you haven't already.