How to Wire a 4 Way Telecaster - 4 Way Switch Wiring Mod 

Wiring diagram for everyone asking where the bridge pickup goes - apologies it was missed in the video www.sixstringsupplies.co.uk/4-way-telecaster-wiring

Thanks for the great instructional video - super clear and much appreciated - I bought a 4 way conversion kit a year or so ago and just started the installation and your video was perfect for showing me how to complete the job. Excellent soldering throughout - some of the best I've ever seen in a guitar wiring - well done!

I'm resurrecting an old bitscaster you've definitely inspired me to have a go at the wiring,thanks! :)

Can't imagine wanting just a 3 way tele switch when this 4 way gives you more tone options. I've put them in all my teles

Great video. This was a great step by step to get me through my 4 way switch mod on my Classic Vibe Tele. Thank you for a great tutorial, keep up the good work!

Just bought this 4 way telecaster kit pre mounted in a nickel plate. SUPERB detail and a quality job using the best materials. Can't recommend these enough. 👍👍👍

This is a fantastic guide - thanks so much , it really helped me have the confidence to see the job through by myself, so rewarding.

This is such a great tutorial. Did this mod while following this video and it turned out great. A big thanks to you mate.

Great tutorial! I recently got a 90s Fernandes and have wanted to do this mod but wasn’t real clear on exactly what to do after watching a few other videos. Very in depth thanks!

This video was great, thanks for taking the time to do such a thorough job!

Thank you for uploading: very instructive ! Well done.

I purchased a couple of kit for les paul from you and I'm very happy of quality and goodness of your material. Unfortumately after Brexit the costs for shipping and custom for Italy increased very mutch!

hands-down the best guitar electronic soldering videos on the internet!

Thanks for the great step-by-step. Worked perfectly for me!

I'd like to add my thanks and compliments on this excellent video. I have struggled for two weeks trying to install my Tele four-way switch. Yours is by far the best, most comprehensive resource I have found. I have subscribed and look forward to following your other tutorials.

Best video on this mod I’ve ever seen 😃

Great ventilation there. Thanks for the video!

I like you soldering demos....Great stuff!

Great video, just ordered a four way kit off of Amazon with the exact same components.

Works like a charm - Great instructions - Great Video ! Applause !!!

Great video. Everything seemed to be explained to your very well thank you

Thanks. This is great. I'm getting a Mojotone pre-wired Tele 4-way kit, and I didn't know how the third yellow wire was connected to the neck pickup.

I believe the diagram and video don't match, aside from the bridge pickup missing. Is there a reason that capacitor wasn't wired in accordance with the diagram at the beginning of the video?

quality work mate. and nice that you made the treble bleed optional I never liked it on my first 4 way kit.

Outstanding video. Thank you.

Great video Ed! Just the instruction I was looking for for my new USA Standard :)

Excellent video.

Very clear ! Thanks !

Excellent

great video

I have looked at so many videos on this mod having also done this mod myself and not seen one as good or comprehensive. I worry about having to keep the soldering iron on the back of the pot to pool solder. I have even tried out making a common copper wire resulting in 2 solders to the pots. Probably over the top but that's me. Thanks for a great video.

Seems like lugs 6 and 7 are mixed up on the video compared to the diagram. Neck goes to 7, bridge to 6? I went with the diagram version and seems to work fine. But I thoroughly enjoyed working along with the video, super chill and professional, great channel.

Nice professional job.

Fantastic step by step video!! How would it work if I wanted to do the same setup with a 4 way rotary switch?

Grate video! I would like to ask if you know how to connect a noiseless pickups gen 4 in a 4 way switch. Thanks.

I wish you could've continued with the pickup wires to the control panel. To complete the whole connection. Great tutorial though. Really helped me out.

I liked that. Could you do a video for a strat with a 6-way switch, if it is possible? I'd like to have the 6th position as series bridge and neck pickups and everything else standard.

great video. I would really like to not have tone on the neck. how do I do that?

I did a solder-along to this today and got all four positions sorted - really clear and easy to follow but my volume pot (which is a brand new Mojotone Vintage Taper 250k pot) doesn't roll off the volume - it kind of goes from 10 to about 6 - have I cooked the pot by leaving the iron on there too long or is there a common wiring mistake that leads to this? EDIT: I fixed it! The volume pot lug wasn’t grounded properly to the back of the pot. Reflowed the solder and added a tiny jumper wire for good luck and it now works a treat - have a solderless Tele kit on the way from you which is going to make swapping pickups so much easier - can’t wait!

very informative video but how would you wire in a twin rail humbucker as they come with four wires I would really like to know this

Hi thanks for the video! Is it possible to wire the pickups - bridge, b+n in series, b+n in parallel, neck, if so any idea how? Cheers!

Great video, well done. Question: if I'm using a Lollar royal T (no cover) in the neck position than I obviously don't need to add the third wire, do I? Just making sure, sorry for the dumb question.

Man you are awesome. I have been trying to get my 4 way Texas Special pick ups wired right. I can't seem to get the wire right. I do not know what wire is what. I think the cream wire is +, and the yellow is like my case plate - and black is pot ground -.? Not sure. Then the bridge pickup is yellow hot or is black the hot wire?. Thank you I have pulled my hair out for a week my switch it may be gotten over heated. Oh well I am sure you know if you could tell me I will surely appreciate it very very much... Bill H...

I've watched many of your videos and love them. I just really wish you would complete the installation by dropping everything in the guitar. I'm currently taking noiseless pickups out of a tele and replacing them with single coils and this mod. I feel some of the wiring is probably not needed (the green and maybe some black wires screwed into the guitar) but after watching this video I have to do more searching to find out what I need to do to finish the job. Just something to think about. Thanks anyway!

Does it matter which way the terminals 1-10 are numbered? i.e. if the can I have the wafer pointing inboard (opposite to your wiring)? I can't see why it would make a difference but I've done the preliminary wiring (like the beginning of your video) and don't want to install in the guitar without checking. Thanks! Great video btw.

Hi! Great vid, you explain a lot of info very well. I see why the mod has to be done to the stock Tele neck pickup, but what if one uses a Firebird, full-size humbucker, or Mini Humbucker with a metal cover soldered to the p/u base plate? Do you have to run another wire from cover to ground? I realize that if the situation was with a Strat, Jazzmaster, or a P-90, those have plastic covers, so nothing to ground. But what about the Gibson-style metal covered pickups or other metal covered ones like Gretsch, etc.? Thanks in advance. Keep up the great work!!! :)

My Performer Tele has the neck pickup cover grounded already. I'm going to do the soldering tomorrow, I just need cable pliers to work with those flimsy plastic wires.

Great video! If I would like to have the neck pickup without tone control, how would I do that?

You said the Cream hot wire from the neck pickup went to terminal 6 but you pointed out terminal 7 in the Video!

Great vid. I want to do this setup with 2 P-90s. Doable? Changes required?

Hello, Question, When Modifying the neck pickup, Wont it melt? *Referring to the black plastic part*

Ayup, great video, if you get to see my message . . . I plan on doing this soon, are the pots audio or linear taper - or does it even matter

Great vid, thanks! I followed exactly. No matter what I do, I can´t get the bridge to work alone, I am about to loose my mind :)

You mentioned in the 3way video it's worth running a ground wire from pot to pot (on cheaper guitars) would the same apply here?

ANY ideas on how to make this 1)BRIDGE series NECK2)BRIDGE3)BRIDGE parallel NECK4)NECK

Thanks for the video! I’m looking into buying a tele with the 4 way switch (a vintera modified 50s). I’m wondering if there’s a way to wire the 4 way tele switch so that position 4 is neck, position 3 is both in series rather than the other way round? I want the extreme positions of the switch to be bridge or neck only as a normal tele would be as that’s what makes more sense to me, but not sure if that’s possible and if so how to wire it as such. Any help gratefully relieved!

Would people recommend shielding the cavity with copper along with this mod? Or is it not necessary? Could I have problems with forming ground loops if I did this? I'm no expert, maybe you can tell.

hi . can I wire a humbucker in the bridge and a single coil in the neck using this 4 way method

Can I use a 4-way switch with a Stratocaster? I wanted to wire it so I'd have each pickup by itself, and the bridge+neck combo.

Hello, can you show us how to wire a similar mod but done via a DPDT push-pull pot? I feel I'm doing it right but my bridge pick-up won't make a sound when the supposed series setting is on

I did this mod to my tele. The series and parallel settings don’t have much sound. The neck pickup only and the bridge pick up only setting sound as one would expect. I would expect the series and parallel to produce the same amount of sound. Any suggestions about how I can get more sound out of my series and parallel settings? Thanks.

what if my neck pickup is a humbucker, do i need to modify it. can i also apply this mod with a coil split mod?

I did exact to this video. Why do I have a hum in 2nd and 4th position? Please help!

I attempted this mod and all positions work (seemingly as they should) except for the 2nd position. This position ought to be both pickups in parallel according to the diagram I used and while I can't 100% guarantee that the fourth position is series, it is certainly both pickups. I installed it once prior to watching this vid, then in frustration turned to the www and found this video, watched it in its entirety, and then with optimism renewed disconnected the switch and redid it step by step with the video open for reference. I was very careful both times and I quadrupled checked everything the most recent attempt. Everything is clean and connected, there is no extra noise or grounding issues, and I still have no second position. Any theories as to what would be the cause of everything working but no 2nd position (parallel)? Any and all ideas are welcome. On a related note, I've used my new dead position more than once already and I see a potential convenience in having a mute button/kill switch sort of option. Is there anything preventing me from just putting a five-way strat style switch in and leaving one spot blank? Lastly, once I get this tele sorted out I want to attempt wiring my copystrat out of phase if you don't already have a video on that I'll more than likely have more questions soon. I'm all subscribed and I'll have a look thru your videos. Thanks a bunch.

My neck pickup has the ground wire braided around the hot one. Should I just 'unravel' them so I have them separated, and then add the third ground wire to the pickup? Thank you.

Great video! Best I've seen on the internet. If I may, what temperature was your soldering iron. Thank You!

My tele has strat pickups in it. Do I still do that same tasks? Do I still add another ground wire to the strat single coil? Little lost here

Though the video is a good, connections to Bridge pickup were not shown. At what terminal number of the switch does the Bridge pickup gets connected?

I have a humbucker in the bridge and a standard single in the neck. Is it possible to use the 4way switch to split the humbucker? Example: Switch all the way down for humbucker. Up one for humbucker split. Up one for neck and split bridge. And all the way up for neck..

From an earthing point of view, would this be the same wiring for the thinline with plastic scratchplate?

A five way switch with two humbucker’s for Telecaster style guitar with one volume and one tone

Are you using tinned copper wire to ground the pot? What is the gauge of the wire? Thanks from the USA. Great lesson videos, I appreciate your time and effort.

Hey, l have a green wire coming from the top of the neck pickup. At the bottom there is the black and white wires but no grounding wires. Is the green wire the "modded" you added?

I'm rewireing a MK 530p Grounding issues. I'm using the original pickups. The neck pickup has been mo.dified for 3 wires ,but the bridge pickup also has 3 wires but the fender telecaster bridge pick up diagram shows a bridge pickup showing only 2 wires ( hot & ground) . So do I clip one wire or solder it to a pot? I have all new fender telecaster parts. (Not puckups.

I can’t find anything on wiring a oak grigsby 4 way switch for tele with 3 single coil p/ups don’t want to use additional toggle switches I have a 5 way switch in it now but want to use the oak grigsby 4 way 2 pole switch.please help.

No need to ground both pots together? What is different to seymour duncan wiring?

Just did this 4 way switch using Fender nocaster pickups. All switch positions work fine, except for the fourth position. I can only hear the neck pick up, and the bridge PU seems dead in position four. All connections match this video and the 920D diagram. However the bridge is not hot in position four. Any one have any thoughts?

So where does the bridge live go ???????

Can you make this mod with out of phase pickups?

So I'm getting a used mexican tele soon. If it already has a 3 way is much of this wiring already done aside from a few more from the 4 way switch?

What temp do I need for the soldering iron?

Hey nice video Have you done a Humbucker & Single tele setup ? :)

Why did you choose not to install the 2nd capacitor?

I have read diagram from your site, but why switch no 4 still neck pickup, not series. Please help me :(

I'm so confused...in the wiring diagrams, the capacitor looks like it's connecting the pots, but in the video it's getting grounded against the back of the tone pot...am I missing something? Wired this up same way as the video and I'm getting an insane amount of buzz whenever I touch a metal part of the guitar, with the exception of the jack...

I attempted this. Mine is terribly noisy. I've moved the pickup cover ground all over the dang thing and it still just makes an awful noise. Especially when I touch any metal

Next video how to replace tele switch by toggle switch pls

Is ther any way to work on this for people with big sized hands?

why is the conductor wired differently than in the diagram?

Hello the bridge pickup doesn’t modify?

So at 36:01. Are we meaning #7 or #6? I cant tell if we're pointing to #7 and saying #6 accidently. Help?

What if the bridge pickup does not have a cover?

I can’t turn the volume off completely You know what I should check??

Got me answer Volume pot = A250k and Tone B250

Whats a good effective wattage iron to get n not burn things up?

Does it what gauge wire you use for the ground you add to the pickup cover?

But how is the bridge pickup connected?

Can this mod be done with a Chinese covered pickup that only has two wires coming off it the cover didn’t have a ground wire connected to it?

can you use 500k on single coil pickups thanks.

Excellent soldering skills!!... at the end of the video: "white wire to "6"" but you pointed to "7"... I'll figure it out.... just sayin' ... video was informative though!