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Hi all I have upgraded my 3 way switch on TL-1 to a 4 way switch to increase the available tones on this axe. The upgrade adds to the normal Bridge, Bridge/Neck Parallel, Neck to a further option of Bridge/Neck Series. This mod will give you a louder and darker tone and leaves intact the normal configuration so you have nothing to lose other than the $15.00 odd for the switch, whilst I was on the job I upgraded the pots to CTS solid shaft 250k so that I could put on a knob that was closer to the fender original. Also added in a .047uf capacitor capacitor and a 120pf capacitor on the Volume pot to compensate for the natural lloss of high frequencies through the guitar cord when the volume control is partially rolled back (Vol kit).
Anyways when testing the wiring out I found that the switch was not functioning as expected in that the neck pickup was remaining active.
The purpose of this post is to alert those who want to do this mod of the problem I encountered as there seems a distinct lack of info around talking about this issue. The distance the 3 way switch travels from left to right is about 3mm less than that of the 4 way switch so when mounted the four way switch was not fully engaging into the far left and far right positions (Neck and Bridge), the only way to fix it with the control plate in the kit is to widen the channel the switch runs in, very simple to achieve with a hacksaw, took about 1.5mm each side and up it goes... 100% working.
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thanks for the tips Chris, its nice when an electrical fix is that easy, its normally hours of analyzing the problem. Look forward to hearing the difference of the 3 way supplied versus the 4 way switch
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love it when it is a simple solution
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Did you disconnect the earth wire on the neck pickup cover that is connected to the pickup and run a separate earth from the cover to the back of the volume pot? If not,this would be why the neck remained active..
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Yes mate done all that, the issue was the slot in the Control Plate was wide enough for the 3 way switch to travel its full distance but not the 4 way switch, sliding the 4 way it seems to engage correctly into each position but it wasn't which is why the neck pickup wasn't turning off when it should. The metal in the Control Plate was quite soft so I just hit it with a hacksaw blade each side and extended the slot by about 1.5mm and fixed! I guess if you buy a kit that has a Control Plate with it you wouldn't get this problem. Just wanted to let everyone know.
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Thanks for the heads up Chris, you just beat me to it. Just doing the 4 sound wiring now on my TL and found the same problem AND solution. I also had to take a smidge off the plastic knob on the lever switch just to get a little more movement.
I also went for the full size CTS pots and found that the control panel routing needed to be widened a bit to take the extra width of the pots. With my penchant for not using power tools I attacked the cavity with rasp and file and managed to put a few nice gouges in my finished body. RATS!!
Just another reminder to do a Pre-fit of the complete guitar (including all proposed mods) before finishing the body unless you're after the relic look. :?
Cheers
rob
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LOL Robin, I done the CTS upgrade as well put the router in before I finished the body so was ok. I did have the make the depth deeper to take the 4 way switch though which did catch me out after the body was finished...Will check the knob when installed thanks for the heads up on that one also
