# convert a tele to quack like a strat



## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

hi all.
i have deluxe chambered mahogany fsr tele which i want to convert to maximum strat quackiness WITHOUT adding another pickup.
all suggestions of manufacturer and technique appreciated...

it has to do with 1/4 out of phase setting by adding a cap or two


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

I couldn't imagine putting a Strat pickup in the bridge position of a Tele. Or a strat for that matter. If it was me, I'd add a strat pickup or Twister Tele neck pickup to the middle slot. My plan for my B-Bender Tele is to leave the neck pickup alone, and add a Twisted Tele in the middle slot, with a 60s style Tele bridge pickup.


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

thanks Garrett.
Yes to installing a middle pickup ala "nashville" style plus a 5 way selector. I just read about HOOP wiring to obtain the quack from the stock 2 pickups without adding a middle ....I may try this first....I just miss the quack of a strat in positions 2 and 4


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

I have a Turser Tele that I converted to "Nashville" form, with a Strat pickup in the middle. Normally, Strat-type 5-way switches give you N, N+M, M, M+B, B. So you get the cluck of positions 2 and 4. HOWEVER, you forfeit the almost-as-signature-as-the-bridge tone of N+B, something I cannot do without.

I figured out that if one swaps the hot pickup leads from the bridge and middle pickups at the selector switch - nothing fancier than that - you get the following: N, N+B, B, B+M, M. So,the first 3 positions are what a Tele normally does, and the latter two are Strat type. You forfeit one of the clucks but you retain the Tele "sparkle".

People do have preferences for which cluck they like, though, so the alternative is to swap the hot leads for neck and middle at the selector switch, instead. That gets you: M, M+N, N, N+B, B. In this arrangement, the first two switch positions are "Strat" positions, and the last 3 are standard Tele positions. Again, one forfeits a cluck setting but retains all that makes a Tele ring true.

Alternatively, leave a 3-way switch in place for the two stock pickups, and either use a push-pull switching pot, or drill a hole in the control plate and install a toggle, to be able to add the middle pickup to whatever you want; N+M, B+M, N+M+B. Personally, I prefer the 5-way switch, simply because it only requires one motion to get from anywhere to anywhere else, and is less disruptive to one's picking. I forfeit a bit of flexibility, but it's a forfeiture I find easy to live with. But that's me. YMMV.


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Thanks for those clear ideas


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

Does one install an RWRP in this scenario?


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Alan Small said:


> Does one install an RWRP in this scenario?


You can, as per what is typically done with Strats. Normally doing so means you get hum-cancelling in positions 2 and 4, but not in 1, 3, or 5. If a person converted their Tele to "Nashville" format, with a RWRP in the middle position, they would get hum-free cluck when using M+B, but the other hum-free cluck position is forfeited. Alternatively, if the bridge pickup is the RWRP one, you get hum-cancelling with M+B and N+B. Your choice.

Similarly, if one uses the second scenario I described - still with the middle pickup being the RWRP unit - you get hum-cancelling with the M+N cluck position, but not with any other. If the neck pickup is the RWRP unit, then you get hum-cancelling in the M+N and N+B positions.

Either way, there are going to be more non-hum-cancelling positions than hum-cancelling ones; something which is true of Strats as well.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

cave in and trade for a strat. Done.


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

yes, i would trade for a strat too so PM me if you are interested. thanks.

excellent and thank you again...a plan in the works


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)




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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

anyone know of a 3 way half out of phase diagram without an added switch?
I do not use the center position while playing at the moment, thus having that always be "hoop" would be useful to me.
thank you


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## zztomato (Nov 19, 2010)

You can do a standard 5 way with the Nashville setup and activate the neck on a push/pull on the tone pot. It's a "Gilmour" mod. Works when on the bridge pickup you pull to add the neck- hard to live without the neck/bridge selection. I have this on these two 3 pickup guitars;


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

If you want the out of phase quacks, I have a suggestion. You will get the 2 (Br+Mid) and 4 (Mid+Neck) out of phase options without cutting the pickguard or altering the classic tele appearance.
You'll need a standard 5 way selector and a hot single coil pup. Mount it in the center cavity, and adjust the height with the top of the pickup level with the body. Replace the pickguard and adjust your neck/bridge pups to taste.It works quite well..been there done that!
You will not get the _same_ result with the stock tele neck /bridge spacing.
The familiar strat quack (the frequency phase cancellation) between the two pickups is all about and determined by the physical spacing between the pickups or to the extreme the reversal of coil polarity of one in relation to the other.


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## Alan Small (Dec 30, 2019)

thanks...a great idea.


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