Fender Noiseless, bit gutless?

ICBM

ROOG said:

Cheers SidNewton, Im not sure how you tell what switch it has, any advice?

If it stops working, it was the S1 .

Easy actually - the S1 has a little push-in centre in the top of the volume knob.

Seriously, these can be unreliable and are a pain in the arse to change - the part only comes from Fender and is quite a complicated thing to wire up. (Less bad on the Teles than the Strats, admittedly.)

I prefer a 4- or 5-way 'superswitch' pickup selector, they're more reliable in the first place and easier to get replacements for.

ROOG

Oooh, I'll give it a prod see if it moves!

ICBM

If it does, I'm pretty sure it only works in the middle switch position, giving both pickups in series. This seems to be a bit of a waste of a fancy switch really, when a 4-way selector can do exactly the same thing.

On the Strats, the S1 gives either four or five completely different settings, depending on whether it's a 3SC Strat or a HSS one.

ROOG

I spotted a vid covering the difference in sound, can't say I expected any tele to have such a feature, I consider that part of their charm is their simplicity.

stickyfiddle

Just stopping by to say BKP Boss FTW!!

Andyjr1515

There is a lot of good advice here but so many different issues! FWIW - the difference between single coils and humbuckers in sound is considerable. Some people love them and some people hate them - before changing anything I would pop down to your local guitar shop and ask to listen to yours vs a standard fender or squire. That will tell you if it's single coils per-se or THOSE single coils. - that said, I find the noiseless have a little less edge...but this is going from someone who is used to and likes single coils. - if it is THOSE singles, then there are loads of great ones about...and great doesn't always mean expensive. For strats, I've fitted Kinmans (can't remember, but over £300 a set) great...and I've fitten Tonerider vintage blues (I think around £40ish) which, for 'that' sound, we're just as good Hope this helps and ignore if it doesn't! Andy

ROOG

Thanks for all your comments, I assume that most people here have more experience in these matters than me, this is one of the reasons why I joined, so as not to suffer the pain of learning without some help, (as I did the first time around 30 yrs ago). As you've probably gathered from my OP I'm not sure it is a problem, I just wondered if I was missing something. It is all too easy to jump to the conclusion that an up grade is required with out really understanding the problem.

From my limited experience I do prefer the sound of Humbuckers and it helps that I don't seem to have to work the strings so much, to start to approach; "the sound I hear in my head". :0) 

Next time Im prowling the local guitar shop I might just do as you say and try the two variants; single coils and SC noiseless  side by side, to see what there is to hear.

Grateful for everyones thoughts though.

ROOG

ICBM said:

If it does, I'm pretty sure it only works in the middle switch position, giving both pickups in series. This seems to be a bit of a waste of a fancy switch really, when a 4-way selector can do exactly the same thing.

On the Strats, the S1 gives either four or five completely different settings, depending on whether it's a 3SC Strat or a HSS one.

Checked my tele, no push function on vol knob, is that a good thig then?

ICBM

Yes .

If you do want the series sound - and you might, if you're finding it a bit gutless, since that essentially links the pickups a bit like a widely-spaced humbucker - you can do it with a 4-way switch.

With the 'modern' Tele wiring where the bridge is separately grounded from the pickup, I personally find it better to reverse the switch wiring - which is not only easier but also then puts the 'loud' sound at the bridge end, which is more logical to me.