ToneShaper Wiring Kit, Telecaster, Big Apple (HH1)

Big Apple Wiring
Fender created the Big Apple Stratocaster in the 1990s in order to marry some of the most popular Strat tones with the humbucker tones of a Gibson. They followed this effort with more two-humbucker Strats - like the Double Fat Strat and the Blacktop Strat - making it clear that this pickup configuration has been met with a warm reception by players everywhere.

So of course we thought "Man, wouldn't that be cool in a Tele? But then, you'd need a superswitch that would fit in a Tele." Well, it happens that we have just such a switch.

The scheme is straightforward: Positions 1/3/5 give you the straight-ahead humbucker tones you'd find in a Gibson, while the 2/4 are the Fender positions. Our experience is that a normal Strat's 2-position (bridge/middle in parallel) and 5-position (neck only) are the two must have pickup options in the view of most players - these are the overwhelming favorites. The Big Apple wiring for HH Teles mimics these two settings in the 2 and 4 positions.

Our HH2 wiring scheme essentially employs the original Big Apple wiring, but with the notable exception that the second position uses one screw coil and one slug coil from the pickups in order to achieve hum-canceling (our diagram uses Duncan's color coding; other pickups may have different color coding and behave differently, call us for more information). Like the original, we use a 500k volume pot since this is the value that most humbuckers are voiced with, but we've also added functionality that drops the volume pot's value to 250k in the 2/4 positions, so the Fender positions will sound more convincing.

This kit
includes everything you need to wire a dual-humbucker Telecaster to get this switching (refer to the images above for a switching diagram). This kit makes use of our exclusive narrow superswitch, which fits in a standard Tele control cavity. The kit includes the finest components, from the same suppliers that the large U.S. guitar companies have used for decades:

• (1) Capacitor, .022µF Orange Drop
• (1) Jack, Switchcraft 1/4" Mono, Long Bushing
• (2) Pot, CTS 500k Audio (1/4" Bushing Length)
• (2) Resistor, 470k
• (1) Screw for Shielding Ground Lug
• (1) Shielding Ground Lug
• (1) Switch, 5-Way, Oak-Grigsby, 4-Pole Superswitch
• (1) Treble Bleed Kit for Humbuckers
• 2' Wire, 22 AWG Stranded Silver-Plated Copper, Black PTFE
• 2' Wire, 22 AWG Stranded Silver-Plated Copper, White PTFE
• Professional, Fully-Illustrated Wiring Diagram