replaced the pickups in my son's SX "junior" strat.....

Discussion in 'Luthier's Guitar & Bass Technical Discussion' started by rick66, Aug 8, 2004.


  1. Aug 8, 2004 #1
    rick66

    rick66 Supporting Member

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    i had 3 spare single coils lying around and frankly, i was bored. i just finished resealing the driveway and came in the house and got the bug to swap the pickups. individually, the pickups work fine. the neck/middle position sounds way thin; like it loses power when both are engaged. the resistance readings are:

    neck - 'bout 6.75k middle - 'bout 5.35k bridge - 'bout 5.37k

    what did i do wrong? i'm guessing the neck pup has too much juice?? thanks.
     
    rick66, Aug 8, 2004
    rick66, Aug 8, 2004
    #1
  2. Aug 8, 2004 #2
    Jim Collins

    Jim Collins Member

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    It could be that the neck pickup is wired out of phase. If the middle/bridge pickup combination sounds okay, then that is the problem.
     
    Jim Collins, Aug 8, 2004
    Jim Collins, Aug 8, 2004
    #2
  3. Aug 9, 2004 #3
    rick66

    rick66 Supporting Member

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    thanks jim. i'll have a looksee sometime this week. but, i ran the white cloth wire to the switch and the black cloth wire to ground on all three pickups. could it be that the neck pickup's white lead go to ground and the black lead go to the switch? i've never seen that before?
     
    rick66, Aug 9, 2004
    rick66, Aug 9, 2004
    #3
  4. Aug 9, 2004 #4
    Jim Collins

    Jim Collins Member

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    Are the pickups from the same manufacturer?

    There is no industry standard on either color coding or magnetic polarity. If the pickups are from different manufacturers, they very well could be out of phase with each other. Usually, a manufacturer will use the same polarity and color among his pickups, unless a pickup was built to be RWRP.

    Two single coils in parallel will be a bit weaker, in output, than one single coil, but it usually isn't enough to make someone complain. The complaints usually arise when the sound is weak, thin, and nasally. That is an out of phase condition.
     
    Jim Collins, Aug 9, 2004
    Jim Collins, Aug 9, 2004
    #4
  5. Aug 9, 2004 #5
    rick66

    rick66 Supporting Member

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    thank you, thank you :dude the neck pup is a SD i believe and the middle/bridge are both from a fender strat. i'll reverse the wires and see if that makes a difference. :D
     
    rick66, Aug 9, 2004
    rick66, Aug 9, 2004
    #5
  6. Aug 10, 2004 #6
    rick66

    rick66 Supporting Member

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    it worked!!! thanks again.
     
    rick66, Aug 10, 2004
    rick66, Aug 10, 2004
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