I'm thinking about getting a Telecaster to complement my SG, and i'm already thinking about how i could mod it.
The pickup wiring scheme that looks the most interesting is the "5-sound" or "T-riffic" mod, which involves a 4P5T lever switch (aka SuperSwitch).
http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/triffic/index.php
http://www.deaf-eddie.net/drawings/5-tone.jpg
http://www.geocities.jp/dgb_studio/2svari_e.htm#6 (this one lacks series-out-of-phase, but there are plenty others)
I've found that with a little thinking and a small mechanical modification of the switch, these wirings are available with a standard 5-way Stratocaster switch !
All you need to do is to make the 4th position "break-before-make" on one side of the wafer (instead of "make-before-break"), in such a way that the last lug does not make contact with Common (and most important, with middle lug) in 4th position, and makes contact with Common only in 5th position. Without this mod, 4th position will be silent as the output will be grounded.
Depending on the switch model, this involves un-crimping that last lug and crimping it back in the next slot, or rotating it on its eyelet, or maybe just bending it with pliers. PCB-based switches could be filed.
What you get is a logical progression from dark to bright sounds :
- Neck and Bridge in series, for fat humbucker-like sound
- Neck, nothing special
- Neck and Bridge in series, out-of-phase, for quack !
- Neck and Bridge in parallel, same as stock middle position
- Bridge, in the Right Place®
So what do you think ? I've not performed this mod yet, as i don't have a suitable guitar ... So i don't know how difficult the switch modification will be.
BTW, which Tele do you recommand between Blade T1 Delta (w/boost), Peavey Generation EX (w/piezo), Squier Vintage Modified SSH (w/mini-humbucker), and Squier Custom II (w/P-90) ? Or something else ?