HSS strat wiring question

[rick13]

I just wired my strat with a new 5 way switch, and notice a small volume drop in the second position when it's on Humbucker and middle combination. Is this common? Do I have a phase issue on the middle pickup?
Thanks,
Rick

[rick13]

any takers?

[stevel]

I just wired my strat with a new 5 way switch, and notice a small volume drop in the second position when it's on Humbucker and middle combination. Is this common? Do I have a phase issue on the middle pickup?
Thanks,
Rick

Hey Rick,

Mine is HSS, and both positions 2 and 4 are quieter. I've always assumed this is just typical of having two pickups running together.

I has one set with RV/RP in the middle, which gave me hum cancelling in 2 and 4, but, it was always still quieter in those positions.

I had new Singles put in, and this time the middle was not RW/RP but, it's still quieter in 2 and 4.

The way it is now, the HB taps in the Bridge/Middle position because that coil (the front coil) is RW/RP to the middle, so I have hum cancelling in the humbucker itself, and the bridge/middle position.

What I used to do - because I never used the middle pup "stock", was to raise it higher than the neck and bridge so it would be "too loud" by itself. This made positions 2 and 4 equal in volume to the neck and bridge.

Now I've got it set up to get lots of "quack" from position 2 and 4, so the middle is basically balanced with the neck and bridge - and 2 and 4 are quieter again - but that's OK by me.

But as far as I know, if 1 3 5 are relatively equal in volume, 2 and 4 are typically quieter. I would assume this is due to phasing since you are sending the same signal - with slightly different harmonic characteristics to the same destination.

If your Neck, N/M and Middle are OK, you could just raise the bridge and get the M/B where you want it. The bridge (HB) will likely be louder than the rest, but some people like that because they'll always kick back to that position for leads.

The closest I had to balanced in all positions was when I wired the middle pup to its own tone pot, and then raised it higher than the others. I could balance 1,2, 4, and 5, and the middle, though louder, was tamed by a rolled-off tone control, bringing it in line and gave me a nice jazzy sound.

Now I have nicer pups though, and the middle is actually usable!

Other options would be to wire a volume pot to the middle pup only (or which ever pick needs to be raised to make everything equal - so you can turn only that position down) or to use some outboard device (volume pedal, booster, etc.) to equalize the volume between positions.

Good Luck,
Steve

[stevel]

I just wired my strat with a new 5 way switch, and notice a small volume drop in the second position when it's on Humbucker and middle combination. Is this common? Do I have a phase issue on the middle pickup?
Thanks,
Rick

Where are you in VA Rick?

Steve

[Shredcow]

If its a phase "issue" (some people like that out of phase thingy...) then you'd have quite a big volume drop, not a small one. I had my guitar wired like that before too...

It could just be the volume balance between pickups... perhaps adjusting your pup heights will solve it?

[RvChevron]

Any time you have two or more coils/pickups connected together, most of the time they are wired in parallel.

Whenever you have two coils in parallel, the output will likely to drop cuz the impedence is now only about a quarter of the sum of the two coils. The output in millivolt will then drop.

Some pickups combo do this more so than the other.

Now if the sound is thin and weak and nasally, just reverse the hot and ground of either pickup.

[rick13]

Steve: I am in Loudoun County.
I probably need to do some tweaking with pup heights etc before I throw in the towel and rewire. I am trying a different setup with this strat to include a tonestyler. I have a 1 meg volume pot with treble bleed circuit, 25K tone depth control w/push pull for the humbucker, and a smooth rotation tonestyler. The pickups are a custom wind using vintage wire.
In the final analysis, the 1 meg pot has brightened up the neck pup so that it sounds really good to my ear. I have installed a 120K resistor off the hot lead from the bridge pickup switch lug to ground, to make the humbucker think it has a different load than 1 meg.....hopefully that will warm up the humbucker without having to rewire with a 500K or 250K volume pot.
Thanks for the advice guys.
Rick