First post - Please help with Strat problem!!

[dj2277]

Hi,
This is my post post on your forum and hope you guys can help with a problem I am having with my 1984 Fender JV series strat...
After buying the guitar recently I noticed that position 4 (or is that 2??) on the 5-way switch (middle and bridge) was really thin and weak sounding compared to all other positions.
I did notice the bridge pickup was not original, so thinking it may be faulty I got hold of a Fender Texas Special bridge pickup and stuck that in the guitar. Unfortunately, this pickup sounds the same, weak and thin!!!
Can anyone shed any light on the problem? I am assuming it's something to do with the 2 bridge pickups I have being reverse polarity or something like that but I haven't got a clue really. Is there anything I can do to solve the problem without having to buy a matched set of pickups or waiting for an original JV pickup to come on ebay!!
Thanks.

[pete12345]

If it's week and thin, the middle and bridge pickups are probably out of phase and so will mostly cancel each other out. Sounds to me like the bridge pickup needs the wires reversing.

Pete

[D2o]

pete12345 said:

If it's week and thin, the middle and bridge pickups are probably out of phase and so will mostly cancel each other out. Sounds to me like the bridge pickup needs the wires reversing.

Pete

Excellent call, Pete.

I no longer need to say this, but since I already wrote it ...

Hi, and welcome to GN2!

You wrote, in part:

Unfortunately, this pickup sounds the same, weak and thin!!!
.....
I am assuming it's something to do with the 2 bridge pickups I have being reverse polarity or something like that but I haven't got a clue really.

Au contraire, mon ami! If I were a betting man, I would put my money on you being correct.

Is there anything I can do to solve the problem without having to buy a matched set of pickups or waiting for an original JV pickup to come on ebay!!

Try reversing the wires on the bridge pickup. This should solve your problem, if your guess is right.

Note that you may not have as much hum cancellation in the middle and bridge position as you do in the middle and neck position after doing this.It won't be noisy, it just may nor be as quiet as you would normally expect.

Good luck!

[dj2277]

Thanks for your help on this guys. Just to clarify.... I solder the white wire of the bridge pickup to the back of the volume pot and the black wire to the switch?

[D2o]

dj2277 said:

Thanks for your help on this guys. Just to clarify.... I solder the white wire of the bridge pickup to the back of the volume pot and the black wire to the switch?

I believe so.

I had a problem like what you have described, and circumstances dictated that I fix mine in a more "roundabout" way.

Ultimately, I think it achieved the same thing as what you describe above, so give it a go.

[pete12345]

'I solder the white wire of the bridge pickup to the back of the volume pot and the black wire to the switch?'

If the white wire originally went to the switch, then yes, do as you've described.

Pete

[dj2277]

ok thanks. I'll give it a go!!

[warmstrat]

Well? Did it work?

[dj2277]

Finally got round to giving the wiring mod a go and it worked perfectly!!
A big thanks to you guys for the workaround and the great thing is there is no added noise in position 4.