Strat tone from a Tele? (Don't shoot me)

[Guybrush]

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.

[raulduke]

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:

[midwayfair]

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.

[GermanCdn]

The Jerry Donahue signature tele (of which I have two ) 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.

[Scruffie]

The EHX Knockout claims to do it.

[Guybrush]

Thank you for the replies. Really appreciate it. I'll have a look into the different suggestions.

Thanks again

[jball85]

I know you said strat tones from a two pickup telecaster, but a Nashville style Tele with the middle pickup is your best bet.

[Guybrush]

I've already got the Tele though.

[midwayfair]

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.

[Guybrush]

Ahh yes I missed that from your 1st comment. Cheers Jon.

[Leevibe]

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.

[midwayfair]

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.

[diablochris6]

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

[Leevibe]

It's a slow switch, though, it takes about 4 minutes.

well played

[culturejam]

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: