Steve Morse Model custom wiring: Tele switch, add-bridge mini and on-on-on middle mini

Parts and values

“Example part” means any part with the same value and lugs will do; the source does not name a brand. “Generic” stands in for an unspecified pickup: check your own pickup's lead colours before you solder.

Specific to this wiring

• Main Switch = 3 Way; Rear DPDT Switch = On/On/On; Front DPDT Switch = On/On.
• Three-way switch for Tele (EP1105): 1 = rear single, 2 = neck, 3 = bridge.
• Front DPDT mini switch, 2 position (EP1106): down = add bridge.
• Rear DPDT mini switch, 3 position (EP1108): up = middle single only; mid = 3 way + middle single; down = 3 way.
• On the rear mini switch each left lug is jumpered to the lug beside it on the right (top, middle and bottom pairs).
• On the neck and bridge humbuckers the black and white leads are joined and insulated.
• The HS-3 is drawn as top coil only with red, bare and black leads: black goes to the Tele switch, red and bare to the volume casing.
• The VS-1's black lead is the signal lead (to the rear mini switch) and its white lead goes to the volume casing.
• The volume's middle lug feeds the jack tip; the tone's middle lug is wired to the volume's input lug and the capacitor sits on the tone's end lug.
• The thin black lines drawn inside the Tele switch body are read as the switch outline, not as jumpers: a jumper there would contradict the sheet's 2 = neck, 3 = bridge legend.
• The switch tags are not labelled in the source, so they are mapped by what each does.

Connections

In soldering order: grounds first, then the switch, the pickups and the signal path.

What each position does

Not simulated: this circuit is drawn for reference only.

• The catalog Tele switch model's slot roles assume neck / neck + bridge / bridge, while this sheet puts the rear single, neck and bridge on positions 1, 2 and 3; the engine's selection rule (selectionReachesTip) therefore misjudges it (see ruleExceptions), so this reference is topology-only. The engine's per-position pickups match every legend state.
• The expected states are written from the sheet's legends. The mini switches are modelled with switchPosition; which lever direction reaches which throw follows the legends, not a lug label.
• The source's 500K custom taper is not reproduced: both pots use the stand-in's audio taper, so settings between the knob ends are approximate.
• The HS-3 top coil and the VS-1 are modelled as generic single coils; hum cancelling and phase describe the generic models, not measured DiMarzio pickups.
• Pickup resistance is not specified, so no numeric meter readings are given.

Before you solder

• Identify every lead on your pickups against the source's colours.
• Main Switch = 3 Way; Rear DPDT Switch = On/On/On; Front DPDT Switch = On/On.
• Three-way switch for Tele (EP1105): 1 = rear single, 2 = neck, 3 = bridge.
• Front DPDT mini switch, 2 position (EP1106): down = add bridge.
• Rear DPDT mini switch, 3 position (EP1108): up = middle single only; mid = 3 way + middle single; down = 3 way.
• On the rear mini switch each left lug is jumpered to the lug beside it on the right (top, middle and bottom pairs).
• On the neck and bridge humbuckers the black and white leads are joined and insulated.
• The HS-3 is drawn as top coil only with red, bare and black leads: black goes to the Tele switch, red and bare to the volume casing.
• The VS-1's black lead is the signal lead (to the rear mini switch) and its white lead goes to the volume casing.
• The volume's middle lug feeds the jack tip; the tone's middle lug is wired to the volume's input lug and the capacitor sits on the tone's end lug.
• The thin black lines drawn inside the Tele switch body are read as the switch outline, not as jumpers: a jumper there would contradict the sheet's 2 = neck, 3 = bridge legend.
• The switch tags are not labelled in the source, so they are mapped by what each does.
• Use a small amount of solder, heat both surfaces, and hold the joint still as it cools. Lead-free solder may have a matte finish.

Ticks are kept in this browser only, as a reminder. They are not a check of your joints. New to soldering? Read the soldering cheat sheet.

Check before plugging in

• Rear mini up: the meter across the jack reads only the VS-1, whatever the Tele switch does.
• Rear mini down, front mini up: Tele switch 1, 2 and 3 read the HS-3, the neck humbucker and the bridge humbucker in turn.
• Front mini down: the bridge humbucker is added in parallel in Tele switch positions 1 and 2.
• Each taped black–white joint should read open to ground.

Measure across the output jack with a multimeter on its resistance range. No exact readings are given where the source does not specify the pickups.