Whenever it’s quiet online, it generally means I’m up to my ears in guitars.
Currently got a bit of a production line going – there are four Elle’s Guitars (all Teles) in the final throes of readiness, a Banksy-inspired Stingray Bass copy, the first of a series of Roy Lictenstein print guitars (the ‘Fashion Girl Firebird’), and this, the fifth ‘Treblemaker’ three-humbucker semi-hollow Telecaster.
To indulge in some guitar-y geekery, this represents an evolution. Thus far, these three-pickup guitars have used a standard three-pickup wiring system – the five-way switch, as exists on most Stratocasters (in fact, I use genuine Fender switches). But the middle position on these switches is ‘middle pickup only’, and I’ve discovered nobody uses it.
So the current ‘Treblemaker’ on the bench, this blue-sparkle-with-a-Bigsby, is debuting the new system. There’s a standard Tele three-way switch (neck pickup only/both neck and bridge pickup/bridge pickup only), plus a mini-toggle switch between the tone and volume pots that switches the middle pup on or off. This way you can have all three pickups ‘on’, which was impossible using the type of five-way switch I was using.
