Strat pickups tone question

[stratomaster]

Hi all,

I have '96 MIM Strat. It has the original single coils in the neck and bridge positions and a Fender Lace Sensor Gold in the middle. I pretty much only use the middle pup because it makes virtually no noise and switching to the others was irritating. So, I perfomed the QTB on it and now the neck and bridge are quieter, though not silent like the Lace Sensor. Anyways now that I'm trying to use the other pups, I noticed that when I switch to positions 2 and 4, the tone drops out a little and the volume may drop slightly too. I measured the resistance of the stock pups at 6.7k each, the Lace Sensor is 5.8k, and I get 3.2k when 2 pups are on together.
Is this a problem or a feature?

Thanks again for your help, everybody.

[wolf]

Stratomaster
A Stratocaster In positions 2 and 4 puts the pickups in parallel. This does produce an even thinner sound than the single coil sound, but it is definitely one of the distinctive sounds of a Stratocaster. ( For example, position 4 = "Sultans Of Swing" sound.)¹

As for the DC resistance dropping, the reading you obtained from your meter would be correct. For 2 resistances in parallel, the formula would be (6.7 * 5.8) ÷ (6.7 + 5.8) which reduces to about 3.1 kilohms.
Here's a calculator at my website if you need to calculate any more parallel resistances.
www.1728.com/resistrs.htm

¹ Yes, I know it isn't exactly the "Sultans of Swing" sound but close enough.

[stratomaster]

wolf said:

A Stratocaster In positions 2 and 4 puts the pickups in parallel. This does produce an even thinner sound than the single coil sound, but it is definitely one of the distinctive sounds of a Stratocaster.

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Thanks for the tip, Wolf. I adjusted my pickups so the volumes are equal (middle pickup was too low ). Now it sounds a lot better in positions 2 and 4.

Dear Moderator,
I've realized that I should have started this thread in the "Pickups" forum. Please feel free to move it there.