Upcoming NGD and Beginning of Project thread - Blacktop HH Strat

[duhvoodooman***]

For the problem with the inner/outer coils at positions 2 & 4, I would just turn the neck pickup 180 degrees. The other issue with the one coil missing at position 3 sounds like there may be an unwanted connection/short between a couple of adjacent lugs on the outboard side of the switch.

EDIT: See photo attached--is that a solder bridge between the two adjacent lugs?

switch_solder_bridge.jpg

[sunvalleylaw]

For the problem with the inner/outer coils at positions 2 & 4, I would just turn the neck pickup 180 degrees. The other issue with the one coil missing at position 3 sounds like there may be an unwanted connection/short between a couple of adjacent lugs on the outboard side of the switch.

Thanks DVM. That sounds like a possible solution on the coils. I had set them so both sets of wires came off toward the pots. Hmm. Maybe it will work the other way on the neck. It is a swimming pool route. For the other stuff, I may just redo that entire side. I have to re-do the hot wire for the bridge too, as I don't like the joint. The insulation is stripped too far back, and there is no slack.

[duhvoodooman***]

That sounds like a possible solution on the coils. I had set them so both sets of wires came off toward the pots. Hmm. Maybe it will work the other way on the neck.

It'll work unless you have unusually short wires on the neck p/u. You want to keep the connections at the switch the same or run the risk of (a) wiring the two humbuckers out of phase, (b) wiring them so that they hum in combination, or (c) worst of all, both! The inside/outside coil thing is purely to get the added effect of varying physical separation between the active coils of each humbucker when in the 2 or 4 switch positions, so it has nothing to do with the wire connections. When the two inner coils are active, their closer proximity will give rise to greater magnetic filed-induced frequency cancellation than you'd get from the combination of the two outside coils, hence a noticeably different tone. Right now, I'd guess that the tone of those two positions is probably pretty much indistinguishable except for one being a bit more trebly than the other..

For the other stuff, I may just redo that entire side. I have to re-do the hot wire for the bridge too, as I don't like the joint. The insulation is stripped too far back, and there is no slack.

Do you have a solder sucker and/or de-soldering braid to clean up the joints after you de-solder the existing connections? Makes a big difference in keeping things neat.