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Post subject: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 6:06 am
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I have recently purchased and installed a brand new set of Custom Shop 69 Strat pickups. At time of installation i also fitted 3 brand new CTS pots and capacitor as supplied and a USA 5-way selector switch, all genuine Fender parts.

My wiring job is impeccable and very neatly done. However, upon testing i have noticed that the neck position sounds very dull and muddy and the tone controls do not appear to work on this pickup. The middle and bridge pickups sounds bright and quackey, and the tone controls work fine for the middle position as they should. I know the neck position is meant to be bassier but this just doesn't sound right at all!!!

I have checked and re-checked my wiring over and over again and everything is correctly positioned as to the supplied wiring diagram. I have studied many strat installations on the internet of original vintage pickguard assemblies, and mine is wired identical.

Please help, as i am baffled as to why the neck position sounds dull (it just sounds like the other positions with the tone knobs turned right down, very flat and muddy sounding!), i am left feeling disappointed. I even went to a Fender dealer and tried 2 Custom Shop 69 strats, which have the same pickups installed, and they sound bright in the neck position. What could be wrong with mine??? :(


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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 8:23 am
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Welcome to the Forum.

Normally on a Strat only 2 of the pickups work on the tone controls, depending on the wiring diagram. Which wiring diagram are you using?
Pickup height may be part of the tone you are getting. How close to the strings is the pickup? To check this Fret your low E at the last fret and measure the distance between the bottom of the string and the top of the pole piece.

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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 2:39 pm
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I have already tried changing the pickup heights and set them initially to 2.4mm on bass side and 2.0mm on treble side, but this has not made any difference. The wiring diagram that i used was the one that came with the pickups. I'm beginning to worry that maby there is a fault with the pickup, but i have no idea!


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Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 1:56 pm
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PLEASE, has any of you strat brothers got any suggestions for me.

If there was a problem with the neck pickup, then surely it wouldn't work right?

I know that the CTS pots are fine cause tone knob 1 works for the middle position when tone knob 2 is turned right down to 1, and vice versa!

The capacitor obviously works cause me tone works on the other positions. So i am only left with 1 posibility, it might be a cold solder join, even tho everything looks perfect.

This is just doing my head in, please anyone???

:cry:


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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:50 pm
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BigFenderBoy! wrote:
My wiring job is impeccable and very neatly done. However, upon testing i have noticed that the neck position sounds very dull and muddy and the tone controls do not appear to work on this pickup.


That sounds like something is not wired properly. Check out the wiring diagrams available under the "Support" link at the top of these pages.

If the pickup were faulty, there would be little or no output from it.

It sounds like you need someone with a fresh set of eyes to look it over.

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Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 5:29 pm
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It is possible that a "partial" short could lower the output of the pickup. I've seen this before. But how do you find it? I would get a DC resistance reading and see if it compares to the other two pickups (~5.5k to 5.8k) and if it doesn't match, just replace the pickup.

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Last edited by SMark on Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: DULL SOUNDING 69 NECK PICKUP SOLVED AT LAST!!!!!!!
Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:02 pm
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I've since had another good examination of me wiring of my newly installed custom shop 69s, and have found that i had indeed made a very tiny but obviousely big mistake in the wiring to me new CTS pots.

The problem was the small leg of the resistor on the 1st tone knob (neck tone) was accidently soldered to the 2nd lug of that pot instead of the 3rd lug (the one with that tiny wire join to the 2nd lug of the 2nd tone knob (the middle pickup tone). I only noticed this because i have looked over all the other vintage wiring diagrams for strats supplied on the fender support site.

NOW, why didn't Fender make the CS 69 diagram as clearly as every other strat diagram wiring diragram they supply???

The diagram was so bad, my father who had done such a impeccable soldering and wiring job for me, wouldn't have got that wrong if it were clearer. Afterall it was no rush job, we sat up all night making such a perfect job of it, checking and rechecking the joins. My dad is such a perfecttionist with that kind of thing.

Anyway, it works perfect now, got me nice bright neck position tone now, and all other positions are working as they should. And you know what?
When i tried it out, the whole guitar came alive, i mean before when it was wired wrong, yeah it sounded okay, but i wasn't overly impressed with the big hype of the 69s, BUT NOW, MAN!!! that 1 wire fix has just made the pickups sound so full of tone and lovely bell like, quacky sounds! I love it now, and i'm well relieved that it was a simple fix and nothing wrong with me neck pickup after all.

Thankyou everyone for your support tho. Lesson learnt!! Check and recheck those wiring diagrams. :wink: :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D


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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:39 pm
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If you put custom 69 pickups in an american strat, but leave all the standard american strat pots and electronics in it, is it going to effect your tone with all knobs on 10? This is what I've used for the passed year and everything sounds great to me. I'm just wondering if something is different than it should be.


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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 2:00 pm
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Yes the lesson is check, re check and re check.


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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:45 pm
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I was going to mention the capacitor but I see you found it out for yourself.

All's well that ends well!

Enjoy!!

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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:49 pm
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Rossfloss wrote:
If you put custom 69 pickups in an american strat, but leave all the standard american strat pots and electronics in it, is it going to effect your tone with all knobs on 10? This is what I've used for the passed year and everything sounds great to me. I'm just wondering if something is different than it should be.


Welcome!

Any pot load on a pickup will affect its tonality. However, in your context there is nothing wrong with your circuit nor is anything different than it should be. So, simply continue to enjoy your guitar. :D

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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:56 am
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Martian wrote:
Rossfloss wrote:
If you put custom 69 pickups in an american strat, but leave all the standard american strat pots and electronics in it, is it going to effect your tone with all knobs on 10? This is what I've used for the passed year and everything sounds great to me. I'm just wondering if something is different than it should be.


Welcome!

Any pot load on a pickup will affect its tonality. However, in your context there is nothing wrong with your circuit nor is anything different than it should be. So, simply continue to enjoy your guitar. :D


Thank you much Martian! I have wondered this for the longest time but never put forth a tremendous amount of effort to find out, because again, the guitar sounds great to me! Don't fix what isn't broken!


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Post subject: Re: Dull sounding 69 pickup in neck position. Help!!!
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:00 am
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Rossfloss wrote:
Martian wrote:
Rossfloss wrote:
If you put custom 69 pickups in an american strat, but leave all the standard american strat pots and electronics in it, is it going to effect your tone with all knobs on 10? This is what I've used for the passed year and everything sounds great to me. I'm just wondering if something is different than it should be.


Welcome!

Any pot load on a pickup will affect its tonality. However, in your context there is nothing wrong with your circuit nor is anything different than it should be. So, simply continue to enjoy your guitar. :D


Thank you much Martian! I have wondered this for the longest time but never put forth a tremendous amount of effort to find out, because again, the guitar sounds great to me! Don't fix what isn't broken!


You're quite welcome and I couldn't have said it better myself! :wink:

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