• From: kentucky
  • Registered: 2008-03-06
  • Posts: 304

Topic: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

wasnt sure  where to post this but here goes......

hey guys i have a fender highway strat HSS.  a few days ago I upgraded the pickups to some dimarzio stuff.  an andy timmons humbucker for the bridge and a cruiser neck and bridge for the neck and middle positions.

i must admit that I am not real comfortable re-wiring this stuff but i managed to get thru it.....however, i think i may have a couple of small issues that I cannot figure out.

issue #1 is that it seems i no longer have tone control over the middle pickup.

       #2  is that pickup selection 4 seems to sound exactly the same as selection 5......there is no difference between the positions.  i got concerned and went back and rewired in the original single coils in the middle and neck positions and i have same problems....i'm even more sure of it now as the original pickups are not noiseless so when i switch to the neck position it's quiet as a mouse and should be buzzing like in position three.

i swear i have looked at this thing a thousand times and I cant see where I have done anything wrong.....any advice from you guys that may have done the same thing at one point?

masque's Website

  • From: Atlanta
  • Registered: 2010-07-14
  • Posts: 24

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

This may not be extremely helpful for your current situation, but have you seen the Tone Shaper from Acme Guitar Works?

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/ToneShap … 2C218.aspx

It is SUPER easy to install, no soldering, and provides tons of tonal options via multiple capacitor dip switches and built-in, switchable tone pot blender or Billy mods.  Did I mention no soldering?  I installed this on my strat and I can modify capacitor values on the fly and change my tone controls all around for a multitude of tonal and switching options.

As mentioned, this may not be what you are looking for but it has turned my strat into a tone monster and I can get super clear clean tones by rolling off my volume control like never before.  A great product nonetheless.

Guitar: Schecter Solo 6 Limited (p90's), Fender Strat
Amp: Blues Deluxe Reissue, Fender Twin Reverb
Effects:  Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah --> Korg Pitchblack --> BBE Soul Vibe -->  Ethos TLE--> Jetter GS3 --> MXR Carbon Copy
  • Registered: 2010-07-09
  • Posts: 122

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

You've mis-wired something even though you're "sure" you traced out the wires and it all seems correct.  It happens all the time, so no worries.  Pics would help though.

My recommendation is to walk away from it for awhile (a day or two).  Come back with a fresh mind and start from scratch using the wiring scheme you had with your orig. pickups.  Here are a couple of helpful links to get you started...

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Electronics.html
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/pickups/  Don't worry about the forum name.  Do a search on strat wiring; you'll find plenty of topics.  Also, look in their wiring library.

Don't forget YouTube.  Lots of guitar tech and wiring videos out there.

Guitars: '79 LP Custom, '01 Dickey Betts Goldie - 80 of 114, '00 Chandler Lectraslide
Amps: '00 Marshall 1987x, '70 Marshall 1959 SL, 4x12 JBL D120s
'64 Vibroverb - JBL D130, '66 Super Reverb - CTS Alnicos
'77 Peavey Deuce (great for melting stubborn ear wax)
  • From: Lancashire
  • Registered: 2008-02-26
  • Posts: 700

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

Sods law dictates that a small bit of solder is probably jumping some connections together :s double check that switch.

  • From: kentucky
  • Registered: 2008-03-06
  • Posts: 304

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

problem solved!!!! i opened it back up and checked the switch real good and noticed that i had allowed a bit of solder to get down where the slider moves along and touches the leads.....so as a result the slider was getting stuck in the 4th position.....that's why there was no difference in sound between the 4th and 5th position.

so i had wired everything right just screwed up on one of my soldering jobs. whew.....glad it's over.....the pickups sounds freaking incredible now!

masque's Website

  • From: Lancashire
  • Registered: 2008-02-26
  • Posts: 700

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

Sods law strikes again then lol!!

  • From: Burlington, Ont Canada
  • Registered: 2010-04-01
  • Posts: 365

Re: for those of you who are experts at wiring pickups...help please!

I was looking to p/u a Strat like yours and do the exact same thing with the Timmons' pups! Was it worth the $??

masque wrote:

problem solved!!!! i opened it back up and checked the switch real good and noticed that i had allowed a bit of solder to get down where the slider moves along and touches the leads.....so as a result the slider was getting stuck in the 4th position.....that's why there was no difference in sound between the 4th and 5th position.

so i had wired everything right just screwed up on one of my soldering jobs. whew.....glad it's over.....the pickups sounds freaking incredible now!

Gits: '03 Gibson Historic R7 Goldtop, '06 Gibson R8 Plaintop, MIJ '62 RI Strat,  and others...
Amps: '99 Marshall 1987x Plexi RI, 1969 Fender Super Reverb

My band: www.meanbones.com