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(@chperrone)
New Member
Joined: 11 years ago
Posts: 1
Topic starter  

I've got a strat. Changed out my pickguard today. Now the neck pickup is noticeably quieter than any of the others. Wires seem to be intact. any know whats up?


   
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(@zincberg)
Eminent Member
Joined: 11 years ago
Posts: 45
 

1.where the wires attach to the pickup, there are two tiny thin copper wires that go into the coil. check them (although if the pickup is still working, but much quieter..im not sure this will be the problem).
2. did you maybe spin the pickup around? that would cause a drop in volume (and a weak/thin tone)

try tapping the top of the pickup with a screwdriver when your amp is on, is the sound that comes out muffled, quiet or not there?


   
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(@s1120)
Prominent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 848
 

Check your pickup hight. Is the one a lot lower then the others??

Paul B


   
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(@ezraplaysezra)
Honorable Member
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 484
 

Oh zincberg, zincberg, zincberg.....

Chperrone, let me start by dismissing some of the earlier advice as no advice is always much better advice then bad advice. The tiny copper wire are, of coarse, part of the coils themselves, there is a term for pickups without those connections intact, broken. So quiet, in fact, they make not a sound at all.

There is a simple way to determine if you "spun your picks around", they would be upside down... the tabs would be at the top not at the bottom. But that wouldn't effect the volume at all, it would reverse the polarity in respect to the middle pickup when used in position two and assuming your middle pickup is most likely RWRP the obvious issue (beside having an upside down pickup and a mess of wires traversing the cavity) would be position two would not cancel hum as effectively.

So lets say you have a pickup that is muffled or too quiet - tap it with a screw driver with your amp on - if its still muffled and quiet when you tap it with a screw driver you'll know you're not nuts and the problem is still there with a screw driver. However, if you tap the pickups with a screw driver and they sound loud and clear you might have to start playing with a screw driver. Strange advice, I usually tap test to make sure the p/u's connected before installing but...

s1120 might be exactly right, but it might be an even simpler answer then that - many modern pickup sets are "calibrated" which is just a fancy way of saying the bridge pickup that sees a tighter freq window than further down the speaking length of the string is overwound "hotter" rolling off more of that frequency. Hotter pickups more out put, more output more volume.


   
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(@s1120)
Prominent Member
Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 848
 

s1120 might be exactly right, but it might be an even simpler answer then that - many modern pickup sets are "calibrated" which is just a fancy way of saying the bridge pickup that sees a tighter freq window than further down the speaking length of the string is overwound "hotter" rolling off more of that frequency. Hotter pickups more out put, more output more volume.

would you be referring to the idea that maybe the neck, and bridge pickups got mixed up? because that would surly have a effect.

Paul B


   
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(@ezraplaysezra)
Honorable Member
Joined: 12 years ago
Posts: 484
 

No, he said the neck was quieter and it would be. I had a guy, the only job I ever really flubbed, bring me a '78 tele. It had a scn tele in the neck and a dimarzio in the bridge and he was concerned that the volume was unbalanced. I should have just said, they is what they is and left but I was trying to be a pro and I tried to help, and didn't. Its like comparing a vette and a pinto and saying there's something wrong with this pinto, it's slower than this vette. The hotter bridge would have a lot more perceived output and softer tone due to the position and possibly the overwinding (if they are calibrated). There is no set number to calibration though the control maybe better with some companies. All that can really be believed from calibration as a loose term is that the neck pickup will have less output then the bridge pickup, the middle may be equal or greater then the neck. It could be a lot different a neck maybe 11k and the neck at 5k ohm and that is pretty drastic and probably not too typical. It would be interesting to know too if the pickups were purchased as a set or individually.


   
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(@moonrider)
Noble Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 1305
 

I've got a strat. Changed out my pickguard today. Now the neck pickup is noticeably quieter than any of the others. Wires seem to be intact. any know whats up?

Do some tweaking of the pickup heights to balance them out a bit. Personally, I'll lower my middle pickup on my Strat to be slightly quieter (barely noticeable) than the bridge pickup after tweaking the heights on the neck and bridge to be about the same volume. There's really no "right" setting, just what you prefer.

Playing guitar and never playing for others is like studying medicine and never working in a clinic.

Moondawgs on Reverbnation


   
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