Awesome Telecaster User manual

Telecaster Upgrade Installation Instructions Revised: June 6, 2014

Before you start, read these instructions first to understand what you need to do to install this product.

Assumptions

This patented Pickup Switch UpgradeTM product is

designed to use only one Volume and one Tone

control for all of your instrument’s pickups. These

products are designed to control 2, 3 or 4 magnetic

pickup coils. Note: Active (uses batteries) or Pizeo

pickups cannot be used with this product.

Tools Needed

You may need one or more of the following tools

(not included with purchase) to install this Pickup

Switch UpgradeTM product (see each product for

additional specific tool requirements).

•Wire cutters / Wire strippers

•Regular pliers

•Small Phillips & straight slot screwdriver (a

4-way screwdriver can be used as a deep-

well socket to remove switch mounting nuts.

•Ohmmeter to measure continuity

•Optional: rotary file and electric drill

•Optional: Soldering iron (25/30 watt max.)

with fine tip, rosin-core solder .022” dia.

Preamble

Although not required for this product, you might

want to completely remove all strings from your

instrument for easy access to its parts. The strings

are probably already old and replacing them will

make your instrument sound even more brilliant

after you install this product.

This Telecaster Control Plate Upgrade will have

you cutting existing wires on your instrument. You

may need to make wire connections, increase the

length of existing wires, and remove some wood in

your instrument body cavity.

Because you will be making several changes to your

instrument, you need to have a plan to install this

revolutionary Pickup Switch UpgradeTM product.

See the Reference Drawing on a later page of this

document. Use a pencil to draw the original circuit

of your instrument before you proceed. When you

record where the wires (and colors) were removed

from your instrument, you have a way to restore it

to its original condition should it become necessary.

Since there is a large variation of pickup switch

wiring that spans 50 years, you will need to draw

your own pickup switch used in your original circuit

Adding Extra Wire

If your pickup or input wires are too short to easily

reach the specified connection of the green terminal

strip on the Pickup Switch UpgradeTM circuit

board, here is what to do. Measure out the needed

length of the RED or BLACK wire in the included

PARTS BAG to permit the wire to reach the applicable

connection. A length of 3” (7.62cm) is budgeted for

each wire extension. Insert the unstripped end of

each wire into the 2-wire UY2 yellow/clear

connector and clamp down using regular pliers.

Use pliers to squeeze the UY2 connector top button

so it is flush with the body to create a permanent

electrical connection. Verify electrical continuity

between the two pickup wires using an ohmmeter

(some coil resistance will be present). The 71B grey

wire nuts are used to make the needed firm and

insulated connection to the input jack wires, but let

you disconnect the installation if needed.

Note: If either your pickup or input wires use a

shielded/braided cable, you will need to solder

black wire to the cable because the green terminal

strip (J1) does not directly accept shielded cable.

Product Variants

Your installation will involve one of the following

upgrade products. This document contains

information specific to one of these products.

1. Pickup Switch Upgrade Board

2. Telecaster Upgrade

3. Stratocaster Upgrade

4. Jazz Bass Upgrade

2. TELECASTER UPGRADE

You have received an assembled and tested Telecaster Upgrade designed to install into a standard American

Telecaster guitar. It contains one of our high performance Pickup Switch UpgradeTM products, one tone and

volume control with matching knobs. No soldering is needed to install this product. You will use your own

pickups. The following items are included in a Parts Bag.

•An AweSome Musical Instruments headstock decal to apply to your instrument

•Several business cards to pass out to friends

•An equal length each of black and red insulated wire (to lengthen pickup and input jack wire if needed)

•2 or 4 yellow/clear connectors (UY2) to make pickup wire extension connections if needed

•2 grey wire nuts (71B) to connect input jack wires to your Telecaster control plate upgrade product

Preparation

If needed, remove your strings. Remove your existing control plate attaching screws. Lift it out and document

how your instrument is wired (see Preamble on page 1) before you start this upgrade.

Disconnect the input jack hot and ground wires from your stock control plate. The wires stay on the input jack.

Cut the pickup wires from the 3-way (or 5-way) pickup switch so all wires are of maximum length. If needed,

disconnect the bridge ground wire. Remove your original control plate. Temporarily stow the input jack wires

and pickup wires within the body cavity.

Confirm that the Telecaster Upgrade will lay completely flat and within the routed body cavity with no

interference by the wood body. If the Telecaster Upgrade lays flat on your instrument and the plate mounting

holes line up with the body mounting holes, proceed to the next section, Terminal Strip, to continue with the

upgrade process.

If your Telecaster Upgrade mounting holes and body mounting holes do not line up, or you have a control

plate body cavity with a non-standard dimension preventing the upgrade product from being installed, see page

10 – Solving Installation Issues for information that identifies how to easily resolve these issues.

Terminal Strip

Here is how to attach wires to the green terminal strip (J1) that is on the PTM circuit board. Use a small

screwdriver or writing pen tip and press down on the square release button located directly above the wire hole.

Hold the button down and insert the stripped wire completely into the wire connection hole and then release the

button. Lightly tug on the wire to confirm it is firmly gripped by the Terminal Strip. A legend is printed on the

circuit board with the name of each terminal strip wire hole from left to right. Attach each wire to the correct

terminal strip hole. In all instances, the GND and VOL wires from the Volume/Tone control circuit displayed in

Figure 2 to the wire connection holes on the terminal strip are already connected.

T2-Switch (6-hole terminal strip): [GND] [VOL] [+]NECK[-] [+]BRDG[-]

T3-Switch (8-hole terminal strip): [GND] [VOL] [+]Coil-3[-] [+]Coil-2[-] [+]Coil-1[-]

T4-Switch (10-hole terminal strip): [GND] [VOL] [+]NECK2[-] [+]NECK1[-] [+]BRDG2[-] [+]BRDG1[-]

Caution: Do not insert hard items in the wire holes because it will decrease reliable electrical connection.

Connecting Your Wires

There is no industry standard for pickup wire lead colors. More common color pairs are red/black, red/white,

black/white and white/shield. You are advised to use consistency when connecting your pickup wire color pairs

to the [+] and [–] pickup connections on the green terminal strip (J1).

Determine which wire color for each pickup coil will be attached to the applicable [+] and [–] green terminal

strip connector on our PTM board. If one of the pickup wire connections is a shielded lead, always connect the

shield to a BLACK [–] wire to be inserted in the green terminal strip on our switching system.

Determine if there is enough wire length from each 2-wire pickup coil to comfortably reach the corresponding

connectors on the green terminal strip on the Pickup Switch UpgradeTM circuit board. If not, refer to the

“Adding Extra Wire” topic (page 1).

WARNING: If your pickups have a metal bottom and if either pickup coil wire is grounded to this housing

(use an ohmmeter to check each wire to body), make sure your instrument’s body cavity is not lined with

grounded metal shielding and the pickup housing does not have a separate grounding wire. Reason: This will

cause the pickup to “short” to ground when the pickup switch is put into the regular/reverse phase. To fix this,

isolate the pickup housing from the body cavity shielding with soft foam.

Strip off 3/16” (4.76mm) insulation from the end of each pickup wire and also the input jack wires then twist

the exposed wire strands so they are tightly bound. Insert the wires of each pickup pair into the correct location

on the green terminal strip (J1) using the process described in the above “Terminal Strip” topic. Attach the

wires using either of the following instructions.

Use the two gray wire nuts (71B) to connect the wires labeled “IN” to the wires on your input jack. The red

wire goes to the hot lead (normally red) on the input jack and the black wire goes to the ground lead on the

input jack.

Note: If you have a ground wire coming from the bridge (and maybe from body cavity shielding), connect them

to ground lead on the input jack.

Connecting your pickups to the TCP-T2 Telecaster Upgrade

Connect your NECK pickup coil wire pair to the [+]NECK[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your BRIDGE pickup coil wire pair to the [+]BRDG[-] connections on the green terminal strip

TCP-T2 Telecaster Upgrade Switch Identification and Use Summary

Here is a summary of switch use for this product (see Figure 1 for switch identification).

Document #A will help you “map” the pickup tones you get from the T2-Switch. It is available for download

from our website’s Document Library at http://www.AweSome-Guitars.com

SW1 and SW3 are ON-OFF-ON switches that turn on individual pickups in normal or reverse phase

SW5 is an ON-ON switch that changes the pickups from Parallel to Series connectivity

For a Right-Handed Instrument:

SW1 turns on the bridge pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW3 turns on the neck pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW5 When this switch is down, the pickups will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is up it puts the bridge and neck pickups in a Series circuit. Both pickups must be on,

either in normal phase(down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

For a Left-Handed Instrument:

SW1 turns on the bridge pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW3 turns on the neck pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW5 When this switch is up, the pickups will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is down it puts the bridge and neck pickups in a Series circuit. Both pickups must be

on, either in normal phase(down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

Connecting your pickups to the TCP-T3 Telecaster Upgrade

Connect your NECK pickup coil wire pair to the [+]Coil-3[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your MIDDLE pickup coil wire pair to the [+]Coil-2[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your BRIDGE pickup coil wire pair to the [+]Coil-1[-] connections on the green terminal strip

TCP-T3 Telecaster Upgrade Switch Identification and Use Summary

Here is a summary of switch use for this product (see Figure 1 for switch identification).

Document #B will help you “map” the pickup tones you get from the T3-Switch. It is available for download

from our website’s Document Library at http://www.AweSome-Guitars.com

SW1, SW2 and SW3 are ON-OFF-ON switches that turn on individual pickups in normal or reverse phase

SW4, SW5 and SW6 are ON-ON switches that change select pickups from Parallel to Series connectivity

For a Right-Handed Instrument:

SW1 turns on the bridge pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW2 turns on the middle pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW3 turns on the neck pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

When all of the following switches are down, the pickups will be in a Parallel circuit.

SW4 when switch is up it puts the bridge and middle pickups in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW5 when switch is up it puts the bridge and neck pickups in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW6 when switch is up it puts the neck and middle pickups in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW4+SW6 when these switches are up, all three pickups in Series. All pickups must be on or no sound will be

produced. SW5 has no effect.

1 The remaining non-series pickup may be either off -or- on (either in regular or reverse phase).

For a Left-Handed Instrument:

SW1 turns on the bridge pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW2 turns on the middle pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

SW3 turns on the neck pickup, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

When all of the following switches are up, the pickups will be in a Parallel circuit.

SW4 when switch is down it puts bridge and middle pickups in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW5 when switch is down it puts the puts bridge and neck pickups in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW6 when switch is down it puts the puts neck and middle pickup in Series. Both pickups must be on.1

SW4+SW6 when these switches are down, all three pickups in Series. All pickups must be on or no sound will

be produced. SW5 has no effect.

1 The remaining non-series pickup may be either off -or- on (either in regular or reverse phase).

Connecting your pickups to the TCP-T4 Telecaster Upgrade

If you are using two 4-wire humbucker pickups:

Connect your NECK1 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]NECK1[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your NECK2 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]NECK2[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your BRIDGE1 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]BRDG1[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your BRIDGE2 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]BRDG2[-] connections on the green terminal strip

If you are using two single-coil pickups and one 4-wire humbucker pickup:

Connect your NECK pickup coil wire pair to the [+]NECK1[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your MIDDLE pickup coil wire pair to the [+]NECK2[-] connections on the green terminal strip

Connect your BRIDGE1 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]BRDG1[-] connections on the green terminal strip 1

Connect your BRIDGE2 pickup coil wire pair to the [+]BRDG2[-] connections on the green terminal strip 1

1 Assumes that the bridge pickup position contains a 4-wire humbucker pickup

TCP-T4 Telecaster Upgrade Switch Identification and Use Summary

Here is a summary of switch use for this product (see Figure 1 for switch identification).

Document #C will help you “map” the pickup tones you get from the T4-Switch. It is available for download

from our website’s Document Library at http://www.AweSome-Guitars.com

S1N, S2N, S1B and S2B are ON-OFF-ON switches that turn on individual pickups in normal or reverse phase

S5N and S5B are ON-ON switches that change select pickup coils from Parallel to Series connectivity

For a Right-Handed Instrument:

S1B turns on BRIDGE1 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S2B turns on BRIDGE2 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S5B When this switch is down, both bridge pickup coils will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is up it puts BRIDGE1 and BRIDGE2 pickup coils in a Series circuit. Both pickup

coils must be on, either in normal phase (down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

S1N turns on NECK1 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S2N turns on NECK2 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S5N When this switch is down, both neck pickup coils will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is up it puts NECK1 and NECK2 pickup coils in a Series circuit. Both pickup coils

must be on, either in normal phase (down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

For a Left-Handed Instrument:

S1B turns on BRIDGE1 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S2B turns on BRIDGE2 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S5B When this switch is up, both bridge pickup coils will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is down it puts BRIDGE1 and BRIDGE2 pickup coils in a Series circuit. Both pickup

coils must be on, either in normal phase (down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

S1N turns on NECK1 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S2N turns on NECK2 pickup coil, either in normal phase (down), or reverse phase (up).

S5N When this switch is up, both neck pickup coils will be in a Parallel circuit.

When this switch is down it puts NECK1 and NECK2 pickup coils in a Series circuit. Both pickup

coils must be on, either in normal phase (down) or reverse phase (up) or no sound will be produced.

Validating

Connect your instrument to an amplified source with the volume set to low. Turn the switches on and off as

described in “Switch Identification and Use Summary” topic while gently tapping the magnet of the pickup coil

that should be “on” with a small screwdriver to confirm pickup response. Also confirm the correct operation of

the Volume and Tone controls.

Left hand use note: Our VT-2 Volume-Tone Control assembly is only available as right-hand audio taper item.

If you receive the stated results, install the Telecaster Control Plate Upgrade mounting hole screws. Next,

install a new set of strings. Welcome to the Grand Canyon Wide range of AweSome pickup tones.

These are products that give your 2-pickup coil, 3-pickup coil and 4-pickup coil instruments a HUGE spectrum

of sounds ranging from Muddy/Dirty Blues -to- Classic Jazz -to- Ring-in-a-bell Surf -to- Intense Country

Twang and will even give you those elusive out-of-phase Tin-Canny pickup tones. After this Pickup Switch

UpgradeTM product is installed, you can duplicate the sound of virtually every electric guitar ever made;

including a Stratocaster, Telecaster, Les Paul Custom or Studio, Silvertone, National, Mosrite, Airline,

Danelectro, Supro, Harmony, Kay, Maestro, Valco or any electric guitar that has ever been manufactured! This

product will produce a wide spectrum of unique pickup sounds that you have NEVER even heard before.

Figure 1 – Telecaster Upgrade Mounting Orientation and Switch Identification

The following image identifies the each of the switches for the control plate.

Figure 2 – Reference Drawings

Use the following image to document your instrument’s original wiring. Be sure to identify wire colors where

needed. Use a pencil when doing this. You need to draw the pickup switch in your instrument.

The following drawing identifies where to connect your pickups and input jack to this Pickup Switch

UpgradeTM product. The Telecaster Upgrade includes our VT-2 Volume-Tone Control assembly that is only

available in Right-Hand audio taper.

Solving Installation Issues

Here is how to solve installation issues that involve insufficient body cavity width and/or depth.

1. The mounting holes for the Telecaster Control Plate Upgrade do not line up with the body mounting holes.

Loosen (but do not remove) all switch mounting nuts so that the Pickup Switch UpgradeTM product can be

slightly "Shifted" to achieve the needed adjustment. If that doesn't work then see item #2 (below).

2. The Telecaster Control Plate Upgrade does not fit into the body cavity because of there is not enough room.

It appears Fender never imposed rigorous standards on their manufacturing partners in China, Malaysia,

Indonesia, Mexico, Korea, India, etc. Because of this, some instruments were made with a control plate body

cavity that is slightly smaller than the cavity in the standard American instruments. Further, some instruments

may have a body cavity depth with two different levels and may require some material removal so the

Telecaster Control Plate Upgrade will completely lay flat into the body cavity.

To solve these body cavity width and depth issues, you can use a power drill with a rotary file to remove a small

amount of material on either side of the body cavity. You should only remove enough material to permit

installation. Typically, removing 1/32” off each side will be adequate to solve this issue.

The illustrations (below) identify how to use the electric drill and rotary file bit to remove excess material on

each side of the body cavity. Also illustrated are two common rotary file bits. The top one is a rasp bit, the

lower one is a scraping bit. Either will work.

When using this procedure, it is recommended that you enlist the help of a friend to firmly hold the guitar body

while removing the unneeded wood using the rotary file. Using a blanket or other material between the guitar

body and the working surface will prevent the bottom of the body from being scratched.

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