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Looking for a 4 way switch wiring diagram for a tele for series/phase selection.

Just finished shielding my friends guitar (telecaster) and installing a new set of pickups. Scratch tested the neck pickup before re-assembly and everything seems to work fine there, but the rhythm pickup puts out static whenever I touch it. This problem persists even when the pickup is removed from the shielded cavity - so I don't think it's anything to do with the pickup coming into contact with the copper shielding. I'm wondering at this point if there isn't a short in the coils of the pickup itself. Any tips for trouble-shooting would be appreciated.

They must have gold bridges for sale somewhere as they come with the gold B5 tele setups from Elderly Instruments. My Bigsby experience is mainly with Gretsch's and the rolling bridge is important (but not vital) for tuning stability. I have a tune-o-matic bridge on my Les Paul w/Bigsby and Triflow teflon lubricant on the saddles seems to be all I need on that one. My friend's G&L ASAT Z3 w/bigsby is one of the best guitars I've ever played. It has a tune-o-matic bridge and sperzel locking tuners. The Bigsby on that guitar is also recessed into the face by approximately 1/8", this seems to help give more downward tension off the back of the bridge and reduces the chance of the strings jumping out of the saddle. It seems to me (if I remember correctly) that the tune-o-matic on that guitar is also recessed a little bit, probably to deal with the height problem you mention.

Seems like it would be tricky to get the template aligned properly and that you'd also need a much longer drill bit to get through the body.

Perfect! That looks like just the thing! Thanks very much for your reply.....much appreciated.

Just discovered yesterday that the throat on my 9" drill press is not deep enough to drill the through-body string holes on my tele body. Just wondering if there are any hand-tool options or tips for getting these drilled through cleanly without ponying up another $180 bucks for a 12" press. Thanks

I've read in many places about using Naptha to clean the wood before finishing. I went to the hardware store to look for some and what I found was a product called 'VM&P Naptha', which apparently stands for 'Varnish Maker's & Painter's' Naptha. So my question is: Is this the right stuff to use or is there another Naptha product I should be looking for? Thanks

Ahhhh........okay. Thanks!

I was just looking at the wiring diagram for my Nashville, B-bender tele...and I never noticed this before, but in the diagram there's a solder lug under the control plate which appears to be screwed into the body at the bottom of the control plate cavity. Does this serve as a an alternate ground to the bridge plate?

Yippee! Always feels better to understand how something works rather than just following the diagram and hoping the person who drew it knew what the hell they were talking about.

Isn't there a built-in bridge ground on some pickups? I know that tele bridge pups are usually grounded to the copper base plate which, in turn, is connected to the bridge via the mounting screws.

After looking at numerous tele diagrams, which all seem to have different switch wiring, I think I've figured it out. I wired my CRL 3-way tele switch as per the '52 and 60's tele wiring diagram (so that the two end lugs are ganged on either side, then there's a crossover in the middle). When I attach the two pups to the open end lugs on either side, there will be an empty lug remaining on both sides as well. So when the bridge pup is selected, the output of the neck pup is routed to the empty lug and therefore removed from the circuit. At least I think that's what's supposed to happen. Let me know if I've got this straight. Thanks

I figured as much, the only thing it seems like it might affect is how much up or back angle you can shim in. So, what I've done is lay out the measurements on a piece of paper as per the Stew Mac site. Then I centered the cover plate on the connecting lines to center the holes, and traced the cover plate outline onto the paper as well. I cut this out so now I have a piece of paper the same size as the neck plate, with very good 'crosshairs' for the center of the bolt holes, I can position this how I want on the back of the body over the neck pocket and have accurate guides for centerpunching the holes before drilling. I've positioned the plate like my factory Fenders, about 1/8" from the edge and center punched the holes. Ready for drilling. I don't know a whole lot about woodworking, but it seems to me that if I put a piece of scrap wood in the neck pocket before drilling through, this might help reduce breakout as the bit punches through into the neck pocket.

Alright, I've got my body, neck and neck plate and want to drill the mounting holes in the neck pocket before finishing. Note, my AllParts neck is not pre-drilled so I will be marking and drilling it from these holes later. I layed out the neck pocket as per the dimensions on the Stew Mac site: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-4005/Bolt-On_Necks.html and it lines up almost perfectly with the neck plate I ordered from them as well. However, compared to my factory Fender teles, this will put the neck plate much farther down on the pocket (toward the bridge). I notice that the neck plates on my factory teles sit about 1/8" from the edge. If I mount it according to the Stew Mac instructions it will be more like 3/8" from the edge. So my questions are: Does this positioning even matter? If so, who's right, Fender or Stew Mac? (You like how I don't assume that Fender's right?) Should I drill the holes from the inside of the pocket to the back of the body, or from the back to the inside of the pocket? Also note, the top edge of the neck pocket is not completely square, it slopes off toward the cutaway so that the pocket is about 1/16" smaller on that side. Appreciate any help, this is a really beautiful body I got online and I'm trying to take it slow and do all the research before attacking it with sharp objects. Thanks!

Just finished building mine and all I can say is: it is what it is.....a $100 guitar. I bought mine more to learn some things about building and practice some things before beginning work on more expensive components. There are definitely a lot of 'opportunities' to replace the stock items that come with the kit. The tuning keys are definitely not the best, same for the pickups. The only problem with the wood I've found is some....well it looks like router chatter at the end of the neck. Other than that it seems fine, for a $100 guitar.

Another question comes to mind, can you use the sides of the neck pocket as guide lines as well? Or perhaps a better question is: is it better to mount the neck first and align the bridge to it, or vice versa? My instinct would be to mount the neck first, then position the bridge.

A lot of good stuff, thanks very much for your reply. I'm guessing the string spacing may vary slightly due to variations in the bridge depending on the manufacturer. Is this correct or is there a universally used spacing for this?

Glad to know I'm not alone.

I'm looking for information/tutorials on how to position the bridge, through-body string holes, etc. on an undrilled telecaster body. I have some books (Make Your Own Electric Guitar, Melvyn Hisock, Guitar Repair Guide, Erlewine, etc.) but apart from general information on the scale measurement, none give details instructions on how to place this hardware. I understand that the bridge needs to be located 25 1/2 inches from the nut, or 12.75 inches from the 12th fret, but where is this measurement too on the bridge. I assume this is about where the saddles should sit but how do you account for staggering of the saddles when the bridge is intonated? Also any tips on how to position the bridge with regard to the neck so that the strings run true over the length of the fingerboard. I've polked around quite a bit online for some tutorials but as I said, haven't come across any detailed info. Thanks

Well, the way it seems to me is that since the neck pup ground is on the same component as all others, it should still feed its ground back to the bridge plate, event when in the 'neck only' position on the switch.

I've been working on a Saga Tele kit to cut my teeth on some basics before moving on to a more complicated build project. The wiring was set up with all grounds running to the volume pot except the .05 tone cap which was run from lug 2 on the tone, to ground on the tone. Also there was a ground wire running from the tone pot to the bridge plate. After doing some reading, this ground to the bridge plate seemed extraneous since there was a already a ground from the bridge pickup, to it's bottom plate which should be connected to the bridge through contact with the pickup mounting screws. I removed this and moved the .05 cap ground from the tone pot to the volume pot via lug 3. Now the rig is wired exactly as show here: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-3191.html Sound right?

I believe the radius on all the Warmoth necks os 9.5", mine is 7.25" so I'm not sure those would work.

Some great links and suggestions. I think I may have to just file it out flat and start from there, mainly because the slot has been sprayed with the nitrocellulose finish and seems now to be too narrow for the 1/8" nut, also...it seems to me that the surface that the nut is glue to should be slightly roughed up for better adhesion.

True blue Newbie question here. I'm doing my first build, tele thinline. I have an All Parts neck which came without a nut, so I'm getting ready to do my first nut job. I'd like to put a bone nut in and I have some blanks, but they are squared up and don't match the radius curve of the slot. So here's the Newbie question of the day: Do I need to square up the slot by filing it down a little bit, or do I need to radius the bottom of the nut to fit the curve?

I was thinking about the 2 volume pot option, but then I'm starting to get into a lot of knobs. I'd still like to have 1 volume, 1 tone, then add the blend pot in if possible. My goal here is to have some nice tele twang in the bridge position, but then be able to add in a little Gretsch tone with the middle/blend and neck positions. From country to rockabilly with the flip of a switch so to speak.