TL-1TB Telebilly

[wokkaboy]

nice mods Scott, still trying to get my head around it all but think I understand what you have done. When I'm ready to wire up my tele with a 4 way switch I may need some advice. I'll be using the tonerider pups sold by PBG most likely.
So as this surf 90 is going in the neck position does that chrome pup surround cover the route ok ?

[WeirdBits]

Yep Woks, the kit is routed for humbuckers and the Surf 90s are humbucker size so the chrome hummy rings fit nicely. hehe your recent Tele Tonerider and 4-way switch discussions with Gav is the reason I drew up that image of how to do a standard Tele neck pup 4-way mod in the first post. Happy to help with your 4 way wiring if/when you need it.

[wokkaboy]

ah ok got it cheers Weirdy, wondered why the tonerider tweak was there, cool I'll remember to check out this thread. So do I have to do that to neck and bridge pups ?
what will your 4th switch setting be ?
The reason I asked about the neck pup surrounds covering is my TL-1A alder kit is routed for a lipstick neck pup with a pickguard, when I put a humbucker and chrome surround it barely covered the route, it must be a bit larger than the TL-1TB neck route

[WeirdBits]

You only need to do it on the neck pickup, that's the only one that needs separate positive, negative and shield wires for the 4-way wiring. The 4th setting will be both pickups linked together in series rather than parallel, for a fatter heavier sound.

[gavinturner]

Thanks for the heads up on the neck pickup mod wierdy!

cheers,
Gavin.

[WeirdBits]

Time to put some caps in my ax…

Or, at least, to wire up the control plate ready for when it can go in the ax. First step, work out the components you'll be using and test them now… it could save you hours of time looking for a fault that's not actually your fault later.



I'll be using a mini-switch on this build so I had to add an extra hole on the control plate. A careful measure then centre punch, drill and burr removal took care of that. The pots I'm using were also too large for the holes, so I used a stepped bit to open them up to 3/8" (9.5mm). Good thing about the stepped bit is the next size up removes the burrs for you.

[WeirdBits]

Components in place, I also swapped out the domed screws that came with the switch with some more suitable countersunk ones.



I originally planned to use this wiring design, but recently I've been experimenting with modified Fender TBX circuits and I thought that would add some interesting options to this build. With the Surf 90 pickups and the series setting on the 4-way switch, being able to thin out some bass could be useful.

For those unfamiliar with the Fender TBX, it is a specialised dual gang pot with a centre detent made up of a 250K No Load pot and a 1M blend style pot. Basically, if you turn it counter-clockwise (from centre) the 250K pot goes from 'no load' -> 250K -> 0? while the 1M? pot stays at 0?, and when you turn it clockwise the 250K pot stays as 'no load' and the 1M? pot goes from 0? -> 1M? (see pic below). 'no load' means that it is non-conductive and is essentially removed from the circuit. A TBX is normally wired with a cap and resistor and when you turn it counter-clockwise you get a normal tone control that reduces treble, but when you turn it clockwise it reduces some of the bass instead.



With a few changes you can make a TBX a bit more flexible so that you can tweak what range of frequencies are affected by the bass control, ideally matching it to your specific pickups and guitar. Essentially, just like the value of your normal tone cap controls what frequencies are affected by the tone pot, you can add a 'bypass' cap that controls what frequencies are allowed to bypass the bass control (like the way a treble bleed works). The higher the value of the cap the lower it's cut-off frequency, the lower the value of the cap the higher its cut-off frequency. Everything above the cut-off frequency bypasses the bass pot and everything below the cut-off goes through it.

I wired up a test circuit for the TBX with some clip leads so I could try out different caps with the Surf 90s on my 1-string tester, and I also hooked it up as an external circuit to my G-special Tele. I tried bypass caps in the range of 1500pF to 6800pF (0.0015uF - 0.0068uF), different tone caps, and some circuit variations. In the end I settled on a 0.0047uF (4700pF) cap for the bypass. In my (very) rough testing, the cut-off for the 0.0047 seemed to reduce the bass on frequencies up to around an open D, which was about what I wanted. Then again, it was me doing the testing so anything's possible. For the tone cap, I was originally going to use a 0.022uF Orange Drop but an Emerson PIO just sounded soooo much smoother and more useable I had to go with that.

[WeirdBits]

This is the TBX version of my wiring design. Surf 90 pickups, Tele 4-way switch, TBX giving treble/bass adjustment, and an On/On/On mini-switch providing Volume only, Volume & TBX, and Volume, TBX & Treble cut filter cap settings. The filter cap will cut some treble which can also then be combined with a variable bass or treble cut via the TBX, which should produce some interesting options.


The 'Tone Cap' is the normal tone control cap (0.022uF - 0.047uF).
The 'Bypass Cap' controls which frequencies bypass the bass control (0.0015uF - 0.0068uF).
The 'Filter Cap' provides a fixed treble cut (0.0015uF - 0.0068uF).


The tough part was working out how to fit three largish caps into the tiny Tele control cavity, but with some creative repositioning I think I've managed it. Here's the completed control plate wired as far as I can take it at the moment, the loose wires are connections that I can't attach until the pickups are connected. I think it'll all fit… maybe.

[Nickosaurus]

I had a similar set up on my telecaster except it was a DPDT mini switch splitting coils. I really had to cram it in there. The fender routes/panels are really thin too. If I owned a router I'd definitely be making it deeper/wider for more MODS. :P

[lunaticthighs]

Dude!!
Way cool mods but that seriously made my head spin reading that. Glad it's clear in your head. So many options for sound, well cool.