Custom Universal for Tele®

Took a minute to figure out the correct wiring.
Customer service was great.
Fast response to my questions.
I could install another 1 in no time.
So far I like it. Seems to be high quality.
I usually solder.
I see the benefits of a quick pup swap.

A very quality product, very well packaged. I'm not a handy man or fix-it guy. Having said that, instructions left me a little dazed. Emailed Obsidian and the owner of the company got me sorted out, talk about customer service! Thanks for the help dude.

This was a great upgrade for a basic Tele I built from a kit from StewMac with only basic (alpha pots) components. It has increased the punch, volume and clarity that the guitar had. I will be using Obsidian wiring kits on ALL my builds going forward. My only suggestion would be to improve the clarity of the install instructions as the "universal" version is very different from the vintage version.

I bought the tele universal and installed on my G&L Asat Bluesboy Tribute, had to open the routing up about 3/16 ass shaver the pickguard back just a hair. The screw holes lined up perfectly with the Obsidian control plate, Sissy bought the knobs for the plate. What a huge difference in volume and tonal control. I put in aTonerider alnico II classic HB in the neck and a TR alnico II tele in the bridge.. solderless wiring and the universal selector for pick up combinations is a great thing to have. When I can afford to I will be doing my HSS strat next.

I have installed 4 of these Obsidian harnesses now for several different types of guitars. I'm fine at soldering and sometimes I really enjoy that, but I also really enjoy getting one of these in the mail and doing a pickup swap in minutes. The pots feel and sound great, the switch is consistent and has a solid click to it. The instructions are easy to follow. There's lots of configuration options if you decide to change your mind later. I always find these well worth it and this model was no exception.

Custom Universal for Tele®

I used the Obsidian Wire Universal 3-Way switch to upgrade a Squier Affinity Telecaster, and it turned out better than I anticipated. I put a Fender '62 single coil pick up in the bridge position and a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover 4-wire humbucker in the neck position.

The tone is unbelievable, clean and clear. The bridge pickup is bright without any hum at all. The humbucker is deep and rich. With the coil split I can get either the traditional Tele neck tone or the bridge and neck tone without any hum.

Wire install is about as straightforward as possible.
Suggest the if your pickup wire has the flexible metal insulation, skinny that rascal as much as you can.

Also, found out for my application, the washerw needed to be on the backside of the control plate.

I've got ObsidianWire harnesses in 5 or 6 of my guitars now and I LOVE them! I swap pups a lot and this makes it a breeze...love the universal with the 250k/500k switch. Thanks y'all!

This is my first build using top shelf components and I could not be more pleased with this quality product. Professionally boxed and well packaged the postage was also amazingly fast. I will be a return customer.

Super easy to install with vast array of tonal options .

Super easy to hook up. A little tricksy with the push-button thing and getting the wire in there correctly but it works out. Biggest problem with it being "difficult" is wires that are perhaps a tad too short. But overall - not very difficult. I took it super slow and got everything right the first time. I'm psyched now because I can swap in different pickups pretty easily. I got the Universal because I initially had a humbucker on it, but ended up going back to a normal SS config. Super flexible. Love it.

Only weird thing with Youtube videos is that I only found examples from Landon Bailey (which ARE great) but he always uses the Vintage 3-Way and I had the Custom. Just a bit different but nothing to worry about.

What a well-designed piece of kit! Gives you a lot of versatility for experimenting with different pickup combinations.

I wanted to try assembling some parts I had into an offset tele-style guitar with neck humbucker, but I didn't know anything about electronics or have soldering equipment. The Obsidian was the cleanest no-solder solution I found. I bought one with the push-pull tone pot for coil splitting a humbucker pickup and found it very easy to install. The Wago push-button terminal block on the board is perfect for guitar wiring, and less fussy than screw terminals.

If you've got a Lawing Zexcoil pickup with six individual coils, the push-pull switch as configured won't enable their "silent split". With a normal coil split, one of the coils is just sent to ground when splitting. The Zexcoil needs to be switched from series to parallel instead, which requires different wiring. If you split the Zexcoil with this configuration, you only get sound from three strings, but it works fine in non-split mode.

I emailed Obsidian with questions about the configuration and got a reply directly from the founder!

This was really a no brainer install, like 15-20 mins from start to playing again. I've had a few similar harnesses in the past, but this one seems built like a tank. It will outlive the guitar, surely.

First time I’ve tried any sort of upgrade. The wiring system makes it super easy

The kit worked well with single coil pickups, but not with two humbuckers. Yes, I did turn the switch to HH. Overall, I love the kit.

The controls/selector came beautifully boxed and looks wonderful. However, it doesn't fit in my G&L Tribute ASAT Classic, which the website stated wouldn't fit. I should have listened....however, I just picked up a CNC Router and plan on cutting out and making my own T-style body and I will use the Obsidian Wire control set on it.

I'm really happy with this upgrade. After I watched some videos, I was able to install with minimal difficulty. Great product!

Obsidian made it easy to pair the neck humbucker with the single coil on my telecaster. And can also pull on the tone knob for single coil neck tones. The assembly is compact and easy to install.

The product itself deserves 5 stars. The build quality, the sound—everything about the physical product is excellent. However, as a company producing solderless hardware, the audience you’re naturally appealing to may have less technical knowledge, and this is where the experience starts to falter.

The documentation, while praised as “very clear” by experienced YouTubers, isn’t as helpful for those new to guitar electronics. If you’re replacing electronics for the first or second time, you might find the instructions lacking in detail or clarity.

Additionally, my experience with customer support was disappointing. I reached out for assistance and, after over a week, never received a response. This contrasts starkly with my experience with other similar-sized companies, like Fralin Pickups, where I got a reply within a day and even had someone walk me through the process over the phone.

In short, while the product quality is fantastic, if you’re buying a solderless kit because you’re unfamiliar with installing electronics, this kit might not offer the support you’re looking for. After hours of research, I was eventually able to figure things out, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the results for years to come. Still, the lackluster service experience left a bad impression that could have been easily avoided.

I'm very pleased with my Custom Universal for Tele purchase. Installation was very straight forward, though I wish the included instructions had been updated with the current shipping product. No bother though as I figured it out easily. The unit was installed in a Fender Telecaster Professional II with a TV Jones Powertron neck pickup and the original single coil bridge pickup. The results exceeded my expectations. The pot smoothness were superior to another brand of prewired solderless control harness I previously bought for another Telecaster. I'm very happy with my purchase!

Obsisian is the BEST in solderless electronics for upgrading and modifying guitars!!

After the second delivery by Thomann i have had hopes to plug and play.
However:
It will take you hours to get the wires into the miniportals! And once stuck, they simple unlock themselves!
Then i extended the wires to work more easely! Same problem with the portals.
The irritation is overwhelming….
So back goes the second unit!