Baja tele S1 switching

midlifecrisis

bought one of these guitars off a fretboarder a couple of months ago and im really delighted with it.
Only thing is the S1 switching. the out of phase sound to me just sounds really horrible. very whiny, nasaly. i accept it probably is supposed to sound like that, and I dont have to use it but was just wondering if anyone here does use this configuration?

CasperCaster

Some folks prefer to use a capacitor on the phase reverse switch, such that the capacitor is put in series with the phase reversed pickup when the S1 switch is depressed. Broadly similar to the out of phase sound on the Jerry Donahue Tele. Counter intuitive I know, but cutting bass from one pickup (via a cap) results in more bass in the final sound when the two pickups are combined out of phase, since all of the bass from the second pickup is retained.

midlifecrisis

that makes sense. I wasnt really bothered about finding an out of phase sound, i just wanted a nice tele and the baja ones i tried felt nice. The usual 3 positions with the extra 4th seem to cover all the bases anyway

midlifecrisis

just watched a jerry Donahue video and he sure gets a great sound

CasperCaster

With the S1 thing I guess Fender wanted to provide as many options as possible - sort of a Journeyman guitar. There is no obligation to use it though, so feel free to ignore it! However, if you are competent with wiring head over to the Phostenix wiring diagrams site. Lots of options for Tele's from simple to complex

The JD wiring out of phase sound is supposed to emulate a Strat, and is often referred to as HOoP (Half Out of Phase) - it isn't really very Stratty, but is better than the regular out of phase sound IMO, and only requires one jumper on the back of the S1 switch to be replaced with a capacitor, so a very quick and simple change to make.

It's also worth looking at the mod to reduce noise when the bridge pickup alone is selected (perhaps the Baja's real Achilles heal). Fender wire the 4-way switch with the neck pickup +ve connected all the time, and lift the earth to the neck pickup when required (so it isn't active when the bridge pickup alone is selected). Unfortunately the neck pickup therefore acts like an aerial (-ve end left floating) and introduces noise when the bridge pickup alone is selected - dumb as most people buy a Tele for the bridge pickup sound! It's easy to remedy this by tying both ends of the neck pickup together (so both ends of the neck pickup will be at the same potential) when the bridge pickup alone is selected - just one short jumper added to existing wiring on the 4-way switch if my memory serves me correctly.

Of course, if the S1 switch bothers you it can easily be removed to remove the phase reverse function. And although it is a 4pole changeover switch the phase reverse function only requires a 2pole switch (DPDT) like a regular push/ pull or push/ push pot, or indeed a toggle switch.

midlifecrisis

havnt noticed any noise when using the bridge pickup or any other positions.. im not bothered by not using the s1 switch if that makes sense.. i was intending to just get a standard mexican tele with a 3 position switch but i tried a baja and liked the neck profile then found one used.