Fender Telecaster-style controlsThe original Telecaster models had odd control functions that seemed to intentionally skirt around the obvious, giving a preset bassy sound from the neck pickup position and no combination of the two pickups together.Many players rewired their guitar to a more conventional arrangement, though, which also became standard from Fender after 1967: one master volume control, one master tone control, and a three-way switch to give you neck, bridge, or both pickups. This arrangement appears on many, many guitars with two pickups where the maker wants to keep things simple. Fender Stratocaster-style controls and variationsWith three pickups, the Strat had a lot of potential sonic versatility right out of the box, which wasn’t entirely tapped with the three-position switch originally used (giving just each pickup individually). Many players learned to balance this switch between the neck-and-middle and middle-and-bridge position to yield funky in-between tones.In the ’70s, a replacement five-way switch became commonly available.
![Guitar Guitar](https://cdn.instructables.com/FRH/ME9N/J6QQTW0K/FRHME9NJ6QQTW0K.LARGE.jpg)
The original had control layout of master volume and an individual tone control for neck and middle pickups, but none for the bridge, which was also a little odd, because the bright bridge pickup is likely to need taming more than the others.
I recently purchased an Epi Les Paul and have just noticed something odd. When in middle pickup position, one tone pot controls tone for BOTH pickups; and using one volume pot adjusts volume for BOTH pickups. I always thought you could choose to have full tone on one pickup and tone rolled off on the other, using whatever combinations you like?