Emerson Custom 4-way Prewired Kit for Telecaster Guitars - 250k Pots Reviews

Got my new Emerson 4 way switch yesterday and stuck it in my Tele today. I have Twang king pickups in the guitar so that even made it easier since they have the 2nd ground wire already wired in. I have to say it really does kick my Twang kings up another notch. Once I get to hear them in a real setting instead of turned down so the neibors that still like me don't join up with the ones who hate me. I'm not a humbucker guy but the 4th position is a nice extra bonus,I wasn't really sure the components would really be as good as they claim but I was really surprised that they worked better than any I have used. If you're on the fence about this small up grade don't be because you'll probably find that it will be a big upgrade when it comes to your guitar tone..

Emerson makes top notch stuff.! have 3 guitars with their pre-wired kits in them and the quality is outstanding…!!

I have a Squier Bullet Telecaster and played a pivotal role in making this inexpensive guitar sound amazing. I made two mods to this guitar: First I swapped out the pickups to a pair of Twisted Tele pickups. That made a huge dent. Then a friend recommended trying the Emerson Custom 4-Way switch. This made a huge difference, not just with the tone, but also with giving me additional options due to the 4 way switch.

Although the neck pickup on my American Special Tele was a bit meh on its own I love the way it sounds in combination with the bridge, so the idea of putting a humbucker in the neck wasn't too appealing. Putting both pickups in series gets me the best of both worlds. I still get the snappy chime of both pups in parallel but add an amazing humbucker sound into the mix with this 4-way switch. It was easy to install for anyone familiar with soldering guitar components. One thing that's not in the instructions but super helpful to know is that Texas Special pups already have the separated ground wire, so there's no need to modify it for this to work. Just unsolder existing pickups and then put the wires where the diagram shows. Nothing to it. Great mod. Like having a humbucker and the traditional two single coils in one.

I put this in my MIM Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, and it made a big difference. The stock pots were 1 Meg Ohm and these Emersons are 250k. That probably made a big difference, but there really is a bit more sweetness and boldness to the sound...if that makes any sense. This upgrade took the middle pickup of the Nashville Deluxe Tele out of the picture, but I never really used it much anyway. Also, I find I don't really care for the 4th position of both pickups in series. Sounds fine, but I just don't go there.
Now I have to wait for the Strat version of this to be in stock!

Not only does the added selection sound great, the overall tone of my Telecaster is much better. I have a set of Lollar '52 pickups in my Tele and the difference in sound before and after install is very apparent. If you are hesitating because you think it may not make a difference in sound or may be too difficult to install, its not and your guitar will sound better. Now saving up for a couple other guitars to do the same upgrade to them.

I've used Emerson prewire setups on my Tele's and have been exceedingly happy with the result. So I just got a 17' Elite Tele (FMT) which of course comes with Fender's S1 circuit. I didn't care for the push button and wanted how the Emerson 4 way switch is set up with the cap, treble bleed, plus the switch keeping the Elite's dynamics. Anyhow the system works flawlessly and sounds much better! Emerson does a great job!

Great feeling pots and switch easy to install fit perfect

Who would have thought that a simple switch and mil-spec, laser precision pots, paper and oil cap and output jack with solid wires would change my life so much - WHO? Well it did, has and I'm a different person now. Life with my tele will never be the same and my new tonal heaven is celestial bliss!

I purchased this along with a set of Fender Texas Special Tele Pickups. All of this going onto a Squire Custom Vibe Tele, that I just was never happy with.

I handed the parts over to my favorite guitar tech, and a few days later VOILA! The most amazing Tele I have ever played! I could not be any happier. This is the most versatile tonal guitar now - it's happy clean, crunchy, dirty, brown, gnarly, fuzzy and everything in between. I've never had tone or volume pots which let me fine tune my sound to such an amazing degree. The pots turn like you always imagined they should :D Noise or hum is not an issue - aside from the usual single coilness. I've had a few other guitarists come try it, and all are equally amazed.

I took an expensive gamble, and it worked out beyond what I imagined. It's like MY perfect Tele. I can't imagine finding a guitar off the rack, under $1500, anywhere near as nice or as versitle as this. This is my new go-to guitar.

I just purchased a new Telecaster Professional, and before shipping, I had the techs at Sweetwater install this kit for me. Excellent service. This 4 way switch, opens up a great new tone in the Tele, and delivers a fat humbucker-esque sound without any significant mods or change of the pickups. I can't say enough good things about Sweetwater and my rep Aaron who handled the processing for me.

Well made kit, easy to install, sounds and functions great. Best upgrade to do on a telecaster. The four position on the Tele is amazing, it’s like having a SG build in that position.

The difference between this kit and stock, well i can't put my finger on it. But i can tell you that is super super clear perfect sound that comes out. The setup comes in nice already put together and I have to say it looks like really nice components. Now the awesome part is that 4th position. It adds just a nice addition to my tone on my tele. Just do you self the favor of going ahead and spend that money it is totally worth it.

I was perfectly content with the stock 3 way selector that came in my tele. I knew I wanted to upgrade to a tele kit and I thought I would give the 4 way switch a try since it I could always swap back the 3 way. Wow, what can I say other than I am a believer in the 4 way switch. The usual suspect sound great, but that 4th position is the icing on the cake. Give it a try if your looking to add a little something different to the norm.

Just to remov the setup out of the box is like taking a gem from a jewelry box. I've soldered a fare share pots, wires and components together, and could have never performed such a perfect assembly myself, in that respect it was well worth the sale price I paid of around 65 dollars, of even the regular price of 75 for that matter.
After some desoldering and soldering the pickups using well explained diagrams, I was in buisiness with a rich new sound, and one extra pickup positing, the infamous 4th, parallel , pickup, wiring. I'm sure the Emerson Paper in Oil tone capacitor plays a big role in the mix, not to mention, the treble bleed capacutor wich faithfully preserves your highs when the volume is backed off. Call me a happy Tele camper

installed this in a 2015 mim tele.the.guitar sounded very good stock, better than I expected,but bought it to exsperiment on so I installed this wiring kit in it and couldn't believe the difference.so much more clarity.i wish I hadn't bought different pickups after playing it but I had so then I installed the pickups I bought from a place in Texas and this guitar twangs like you wouldn't believe.. the volume is so even and the tone control doesn't get muddy..this kit is so easy to install and workmanship is top notch..

Installed this in my American Special Tele to get the 4 way switching option. This is the one Tele upgrade that adds an additional sound without taking away any of the original functionality of the instrument. Top quality components throughout and excellent build quality makes Emerson the top choice for guitar control upgrades. You might have to file the switch slot a little bit to make room for the 4 way switch but other than that everything just drops right in to the original places.

This wiring kit really opened up the pickups in my tele. It made them overall a little brighter sounding and gave them more clarity. The volume pot is a lot more useful now, as it has a wider range where it just affects the gain and doesn't really lose any volume. Also, the tone and clarity are retained when the volume is rolled off with the treble bleed mod. The extra "in series" selection adds a lot of thickness and is very useful. The components and solder work are high quality. This was a great upgrade to my tele.

Put this kit in your Fender Telecaster and prepare to be blown away! No kidding. I thought I had a fair sounding stock Telecaster I bought just for fun. Well... I put this mod kit in from Emerson Custom and I swear I've got one of the best sounding Tele's at any price, anywhere! I mean the tone is just absolutely amazing. I always bought into the old school of thought that you had to have expensive "hot" pickups to get great sound on a stock instrument. I was proven wrong! The quality and design of the Emerson Custom Tele 4-way electronics makes it a game-changing must-have for outstandingly pristine sound and tone at every switch setting. The super-smooth transitions as you rotate the knobs is golden. The Emerson Custom mod is that magic combination of electronics, and it's really quite easy to install if you can wield a soldering iron. If you never do anything else for your Telecaster, install this mod! You may never have to do anything else to have the Telecaster you've always dreamed of owning!

I bought this to do a side by side test on nearly identical Fender MIN Telecaster FSR. Both already have a .047 cap and treble bleed circuit so there wasn't any difference in the tone circuit. The amp was a Fender Deluxe, volume set at 11.

My real test is for the Emerson Custom volume pot.

Turning the stock volume pot from 0 to 2 will get the first bit of signal. At 3 the stock pot volume jumps up, which is what we're all familiar with. From 3 to 10 we get the typical volume increase.

Turning the Emerson Custom pot from 0 to 1 produces the first tone signal. From 1 up there is a steady volume increase. No volume jump.

Comparing the tone from both Teles, at about 3 and up, the Emerson Custom circuit provided slightly better tone. About the only way I can describe it is clearer, almost if a bit of compression was applied. Amp harmonics started a little earlier and sounded a little there was more depth.

Other than the smoother volume increase, you may not hear the improvement without doing a side be side test.

The fourth position Bridge + Neck in Series is nice. Louder and Blusey.

I had an output jack failure on my 1990 Telecaster so (while I'm already going into surgery) for a few bucks and a few additional de-soldering/soldering points, I elected to swap out the 28 yr. old, 3 position wiring harness with the Emerson 4 position harness.
Inspiration comes from my investigations into Page's "guitar tones" and how I can modify my Telecaster and Les Paul via the wiring harness which will have an effect from the Volume, Tone, Caps, Pots, on the Pickups.
The instructions were clear and straight forward and after soldering everything up it functioned as advertised.
I've had the new harness in for about a week now and I observe/hear four differences from the 1990 Tele OEM harness.
1.) The overall pickup tones now have more high end.
2.) Better definition and easy to achieve a desired balance between the neck pickup to the bridge pickup, (I.e. With the neck and bridge pickups both "On" I would first lower the bridge pickup and then; adjust the bridge pickup "Up" until it blends to my liking, with the neck pickup.)
3.) The Emerson volume and tone pots turn much easier. Like this it or not, only I will know the difference from the original 1990 pots.
4.) Obviously, I now have the additional tone in the 4th. position and it is different (heavier) than the 2nd. position.
So, now i have a Tele that sounds much different than the original.
It seems to have gotten more presence in the tones. I'm curious to see how it records as it competes with the Strat and Les Paul for time, which is a good problem to have.

I bought this and had it installed by my local guy. With all of the positive reviews I was so disappointed to discover how cheap and scratchy the knobs feel when turned. They turn so easily and the shaft doesn't feel secure as it moves up and down (everything has been checked to ensure proper hardware placement). I reached out to Sweetwater and my sales rep got me in touch with tech support. I learned this is how the knobs do feel on this particular harness, and, was given a possible solution that may help. It didn't. I've just decided to swap this out for another brand that is known to have knobs that have better turning resistance. I have to say though, everything else about this harness seems to be top notch.