Main Description
A completely constructed Control plate, for a Fender® Telecaster® built with the 4 way switching mod, allowing for pickups in series as well as the standard options- so its bridge, both in parallel, neck, both in series, all controlled by 1 volume and, 1 tone - all the classic Tele® tones, but with a little extra muscle in the new 4th position.
Built using the highest spec parts - CTS pots, Oak Grigsby Switch, Cornell dubillier cap, 22 AWG vintage cloth hookup wire and a switchcraft socket, all connected together, ready to do, and mounted onto a beautifully plated control plate and barell knobs fitted.
The Standard Parts
This particular model is specifically designed to be used with single coils; simply because it’d get pretty daunting pretty quickly if we let you tweak every single part.
Pots – we always use CTS pots where we can, they’re top quality, they’ve got an exceptionally long life span, they’re what’s been used on the Telecaster® since day one, and let’s be honest, that’s the tone we’re chasing with this assembly.
Caps – You’ll see various discussions out there about which cap is the best, “which value/which voltage/what materials are going to give me the best tone?” – And there’s a whole raft of opinions as to the right answer. Rather than get drawn into it, we’ve kept it simple – you’re getting a 0.047, 100v Cornell Dubliner Orange Drop cap. Not because we don’t subscribe to the whole “great cap debate” – but it’s just the most bang for your buck you’re going to get. It matches up to the originals in terms of electrical specification.
Wire – we use vintage correct 22 AWG black and white cloth covered waxed wire. A dream to work with and has no adverse effects on your tone.
Socket – That’ll be a Switchcraft standard Mono, best in the business if you ask us, dead simple to get your head around how it works, and just like CTS – will probably outlast every other part on a guitar.
The Switching
4 Way -I'm always suprised 4 way wiring hasn't become to modern standard to be honest - it gives you all the same tones as a standard setup, but gives you 1 extra position that really is something very different, and, really? Very usable! And thats both pickups wired in series (rather then in parallel, which is the normal position 2 wiring)
I wont bore you to death with an in depth explanation of series vs parallel wiring with pickups, but in a quick and dirty way, think of it like this. A Strat® or a Tele® when 2 pickups are "on", they're in parallel - literally 2 pickups "on" - and its great. Its a distinctive sound we all know and, ultimately, like.
Series wiring (which you're getting in pos 4 with this loom) has more in common with humbuckers - where you have one coil "on" but rather then going to output, the signal it is generating, is rammed into the negative of another coil, and that second coil finishes at output. This results in a bigger, more aggressive tone, with less signal loss (an inherent problem with parallel pickups) and more signal degredation (think of that as pickup heat)
Hardware
Control plate – OK, it’s not the most interesting part you’ll find on your guitar, but it’s worth bearing in mind that we use a 32mm wide plate, which will be standard on 90% of Telecaster® styled guitars out there (there are other sizes, but they’re getting rarer and rarer by the day thankfully). When we talk about the assembly colour, the control plate is the main component of that, be it Chrome, Gold, Black or Nickel, it’s a steel plate, electroplated in the desired finish.
Knobs – This was a bit of a bone of contention when it came to customisation to be honest. It was very tempting to offer knobs in different colours to the control plate and screws, offer them in different styles, different sizes. To be truthfully, it was just too much choice sadly, so we’ve limited you a little bit here – depending on your choices when it comes to optional extras you’re either getting solid shaft, dome topped knobs in the same colour as the Control plate. If you pick up the phase switch or wide range tone, then you’re getting push fit knobs (which work better with the split shaft pots well be using in those cases)
Tip – Supplied with a Top Hat switch tip.(PLEASE NOTE - photo is with a barrel tip)
Gibson®, Epiphone®, Squier®, Fender®, Stratocaster® and Strat®, Telecaster® and Tele® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Gibson Musical Instruments Corporation. Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC
Warranty & Returns
In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to write this section up, and, I really wish I didn’t have to, but, if I’m being honest and transparent about how pickups and wiring looms work, for better or worse, it’s probably worth being honest and open about your rights as a consumer too, and maybe give a little insight into how we actually build these parts.
How we do it
Pickups and wiring looms, at our end of things – are “Custom made” – I cannot stress this enough. When you click the “Add To Cart” button, there is no “thing” on the shelf, no bucket of pre-terminated bobbins or half soldered circuits. It is made, entirely, from scratch using the parts we have available.
This means, if you order a Bourbon city, or a Tele control assembly, or a Texas Blue loaded pickguard, it is made FOR YOU. It is being built to the specifications you have stipulated in the drop-down menus, even the most “normal” design, is still, essentially, built to order.
That entails our pickers collecting the parts from stores, delivering them to the engineers, who then get the tools out, and then the wind, solder, drill, nut and bolt those part, clean it all up and test to the Nth degree… you get the idea.
This is all done “in house” and, obviously, there is a queue, which is first in first out, so “builds” will NEVER be shipped same day. Realistically, it takes about 2 weeks on the more complicated parts, and a few days on the simpler stuff, but we do get busier at the beginning/end and middle of the month, so that can have a knock on effect.
And this is all being done, by hand, on a VERY small scale. At maximum, we can produce about 6 “things” a day (assuming a mix of complexities)
It works wonderfully frankly, because we can make, pretty much, anything you can dream up, and keeping it small scale, means we have an exceptionally high attention to detail with each pickup sold.
Returns
So we have an item, when all is said and done, that didn’t exist until you purchased it, that has cost a lot of man hours to actually manufacture, and has been manufactured to your exact specifications.
As such, pickups and wiring looms come under the remit of “custom work” as laid out under the our terms and conditions, and as outlined in the UK governments distance selling regulations.
This means, in short, pickups and wiring looms, are none returnable, and none refundable.
I understand, in this day and age, that may seem quite the hard-nosed approach, but, sadly, there’s no wiggle room in this. Once a pickup is wound, there’s no going back. It belongs to you. There is no “I’ll test it to see if I like it” or “I’ll return it if I don’t like the colour!”.
Warranty
All Axesrus Wiring looms, and loaded plates come with a “5 year” warranty. This is a little stricter then then the “lifetime” warrenty we offer on pickups, purely because wiring looms are more prone to being abused, and whilst we will stand by our workmanship, there is, ultimately, always a chance, that any given part will fail during its lifetime (and, CTS, Switchcraft, Cornell Dubellier, offer absolutely no warranty on their parts, so that 5 years, is purely on Axesrus® )
We’re never going to ask you to register the purchase, stop offering support 12 months after purchase or limit support to the initial customer in the case of second-hand stuff. We are incredibly proud of the wiring we produce, and I’ll help out wherever I can, BUT, I do have to draw the line somewhere sadly.
And with that in mind, it’s worth laying out what I’d consider “realistic” expectations as to what we will cover as part of a warranty.
Repairs and replacements
Whilst we will not accept wiring looms as return for refund under any circumstances, we reserve the right to repair or replace any that develops a manufacturing fault within the warranty period.
Damage vs. Fault
Wiring looms, by their nature, will be subjected to “additional work”, and this is to be expected – I will say, on a personal note – I don’t expect anyone’s solder work to be immaculate. I know these parts are being fitted at home, on a DIY basis – I will never pull anyone up for having less than perfect joints – however, if parts have been damaged during install (and it does happen!) – this will not be covered by the warranty, so whilst I’m happy to turn a blind eye to a bit of burnt flux of an over enthusiastic ground loop, there isn’t much I’ll be able to do if a pot has been shorted by excessive soldering, or parts have been damaged trying to get them into a guitar.
Lead times and cancellations
We do publish the lead times on all of our custom build work, and there is very little we can do to decrease the time it takes to actually manufacture this stuff I’m afraid, short of jumping you to the front of the queue (which is never fair, and we won’t do it)
Be aware that once an order is placed, work beings on your build, and as such, you’ve entered into the contract, and there is no backing out. Coils can often be wound within the hour or the order being placed, parts can be drilled and soldered in preperation, but they will sit in the work queue due to a back log at terminating/testing/cleaning.
Modifications
There are, occasionally, situations where someone buys a loom, installs it, plays it for a while, and then might want something a little different down the line. Maybe a different pot, or switch, or knob, or a cover fitting, or a new hookup wire fitting.
I am happy to carry out this work, and, normally, regardless of the “time since purchase”, this will be done simply for the cost of parts and postage.
However, the “depth” of these modifications, and if we’re willing/capable of carrying them out, is at the discretion of Axesrus. We’re happy to discuss this on a case-to-case basis, but go in eyes open, that its unlikely to be part of the warranty.
“Warranty with initial purchase”
I’m not a stickler when it comes to this stuff, but I will say, we do have to draw the line somewhere, so, strictly speaking, this “relaxed warranty” is, officially, limited to the original purchaser of the product.
That said, I’m not a robot, nor am I a fool. I’m aware that sometimes, a wiring loom is moved on relatively quickly, or is bought by a 3rd party for someone else, so, in these cases, lets just be sensible about it. I’ll carry forward a “true” warranty on a pickup for 12 months after the initial purchase, regardless of who is contacting me in regards to any issue.
However, I will need to know who the initial customer was. Even if it’s just their name and a rough date of purchase.
This goes for technical support too – I’ve no problems offering support on Axesrus products, regardless of “time since purchase”, but I will ask for some proof that they are in fact, Axesrus products.
Modifications to second hand parts, will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis too.
Changes in specification/tolerances
Over the years, we’ve had a few “interesting” conversations regarding specifications, especially when it comes to returns and warranty.
The published specs on components, are with a “within tolerance” subtext, based off of the readings from our testing equipment.
There will, always, be variation between one part and the next, and whilst we endeavour to keep those readings within the tolerances stated, they do occasionally wander outside of the (usual) 10% we stipulate as “acceptable” – this is usually due to temperature fluctuation, or specification changes outside of our control (wire diameter, alloy composition etc.) – any resulting change in readings based on these factors, will result in an updated technical spec on the website, but, as you can imagine, the first we know about an unforeseen spec change, is when the part is soldering in place.
We do not consider these “out of spec” accidents to be cause for a warranty claim I’m afraid, and we endeavour to keep on top of them so the information we’re giving you at point of purchase, is as accurate as possible.
Warranty postage
Repairs or replacement postage cost, outside of an initial 14 day period, is at your cost. I appreciate, in some situations, that this is prohibitive (especially when shipping outside of the UK), but, sadly, we have to impose some restrictions to this.
