Seymour Duncan JB Jr - Strat Bridge Postion - Wiring Question

[jasongins]

I installed a Seymour JB Jr in the bridge position of my strat. Initially, the volume seemed low on the pickup relative to the middle and neck single coils. According to Seymour Duncan's instructions, which are AVAILABLE HERE (http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/stratocaster/high-output/jb_jr_sjbj1/) by clicking on "wiring instructions," I needed to reverse two wires to rectify this (black goes to ground, green goes to switch terminal). I did that, and now the output seems to be where it should be. This install seems to have cost me the quack tone when using the bridge/middle together. I am not sure if I made a mistake or if this is comes as a consequence of having a humbucker in the bridge now. Fortunately, I still have it with the neck & middle. Just hoping somebody has some experience with this... Not sure if it matters, my strat is a little different. It is an FSR model with body mounted pickups (no pickguard) and one volume, one tone (bridge is wired to tone knob).

[groverj3]

Yes, as far as I know this will take away some of the "quack." That isn't really my thing, but if want the option still you could think about a super switch. You can wire it up so that the inbetween position have coil splits. I'm sure that there's a way to wire it up so that your bridge + middle position gives you the middle single and one coil of the bridge. Thereby giving you that same stratty tone :socool.

How's it sound in there? I know that the JB can be a really shrill pickup in some applications (or so they say). Jackson goes as far as to pair it with 250k tone pots to tame the high end.

[jasongins]

Thanks for letting me know. There is a set of wires, red and white, that are tied together right now but can be hooked to a switch for coil splitting, so maybe I'll look into that. It Is hard to really judge how it sounds since most of my playing is with headphones due to my living circumstances right now. Thicker sounding with distortion and definitely reduced the hum.

[markb]

SD pickups are electrically out of phase with Fenders. You always have to wire the Duncan up "backwards" when mixing those particular brands.

[t_ross33]

I have a GFS Lil' Killer in the bridge position of my Strat. I wired it up using Fenders "Standard Fat Stratocaster HSS" (http://www.fender.com/support/articles/stratocaster-service-diagrams) wiring schematic which works really well (keeping in mind the SD out of phase wiring as mentioned above). In the 2 position the bridge p'up is split and retains the "quack" in combo with the middle p'up. Also, I would suggest moving the middle tone control to the bridge p'up for more versatility if you hang in the 1 position as much as I do - a very easy modification. Move the white wire "to tone pot (middle)" over one to the post with the post with "green wire from bridge pickup".

[t_ross33]

oops, disregard my comments re: bridge tone control.... I see you have that covered LOL :thwap

[jasongins]

Well... this takes in interesting turn due to GAS. I liked the noiseless aspect so much that I took out the SD and installed a set of Lace Sensor Blue/Silver/Red. I just finished the install minutes ago and will be testing them out. The good news is that they work and sound correct, so my wiring and soldering is ok. I've got the quack back, which is a plus, and they are a much better match cosmetically and fit-wise. (the SD was a tight fit). My strat is a little different, it is a Mexican FSR with direct mounted pickups (no pickguard), black body, maple neck/fretboard, and cream knobs and pickup covers. The SD JB was black and really broke up the look. The sensors are a cream set and match perfectly. I'll either sell/trade the SD, or just hang onto it for another project.