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Post subject: SCN Pickup Cutting Out
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 5:19 am
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I don't know if this has been covered before.

The SCN neck pickup on my Strat has an intermittent problem. It cuts out and then stays dead until you tap the pickup. Then it bursts back into life.

It will go off two or three times in a playing session. I am entirely confident that it is not an issue with the wiring on the guitar, and had this problem before when the same pickup was in another of my Strats. It wasn't resolved at that time because I replaced the whole set with a set of SDs and didn't therefore have to deal with it. Now I'm using the pickup set again, the problem is back.

I'm suspecting a fault with the pickup itself, but as you know the SCN p/up is an enclosed unit. Has anybody else had this problem with a SCN? If so, were you able to resolve it?

I would add that the pickup came in a brand new set of 3, from the Fender Modshop.

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Post subject: Re: SCN Pickup Cutting Out
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 6:53 am
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adey wrote:
I don't know if this has been covered before.

The SCN neck pickup on my Strat has an intermittent problem. It cuts out and then stays dead until you tap the pickup. Then it bursts back into life.

It will go off two or three times in a playing session. I am entirely confident that it is not an issue with the wiring on the guitar, and had this problem before when the same pickup was in another of my Strats. It wasn't resolved at that time because I replaced the whole set with a set of SDs and didn't therefore have to deal with it. Now I'm using the pickup set again, the problem is back.

I'm suspecting a fault with the pickup itself, but as you know the SCN p/up is an enclosed unit. Has anybody else had this problem with a SCN? If so, were you able to resolve it?

I would add that the pickup came in a brand new set of 3, from the Fender Modshop.


From what I deal with constantly, the Noiseless line of pickups are of somewhat frail construction. If you are lucky, one of the leads which go to one of the pickup's eyelets (where the color coded lead wires mate with them) has snapped off and is just flapping over the eyelet, making intermittent contact where it can GENTLY be resoldered into the eyelet. :D If this is not the case, well, unfortunately, you know the rest. :cry:

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Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:25 am
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Thanks Martian.. I can indeed guess the rest! I'll take a look and see..

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Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2010 8:31 am
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adey wrote:
Thanks Martian.. I can indeed guess the rest! I'll take a look and see..


Good luck and hopefully, good news!

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Posted: Fri Sep 03, 2010 5:30 am
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My very skillful tech now has the guitar.

He advises (and it makes perfect sense) that if it's a problem with the lead in wire to the coil, then he may struggle to sort it. If it's the lead OUT wire from the coil, then no problem, as it would need just one wind taken off to give him sufficient to work with.

I mentioned that it was a sealed unit, but his view is that if someone could make the p/up, then he could un-make it!

I'm not confident, but if it can be done - thats preferable, as it's a matched p/up set. If he can't do it, or if the pickup is 'killed' during his endeavours, I've given him a Seymour Duncan to replace it with.

I'll let you know..

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 5:43 am
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Quick follow up..

The Tech was unable to repair the SCN pickup. The problem itself (lead out coil wire joint) sholud have been fixable, but the sealed unit pickup couldn't be disassembled to allow a single winding to be undone to allow a decent length to resolder. When he tried to undo the casing around the coil, it fractured and fell to bits.

So there we are - the SCN is essentially unrepairable for all but the simplest of faults.

He replaced it with a Seymour Duncan SSL1 (I had it laying around) and all is fine. Except I now have a guitar that is only 2/3 noiseless!

Actually, as I consider the neck p/up to be the most important p/up on a Strat, the option to be specific about a replacement is more than welcome..

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 7:37 am
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adey wrote:
Quick follow up..

The Tech was unable to repair the SCN pickup. The problem itself (lead out coil wire joint) sholud have been fixable, but the sealed unit pickup couldn't be disassembled to allow a single winding to be undone to allow a decent length to resolder. When he tried to undo the casing around the coil, it fractured and fell to bits.

So there we are - the SCN is essentially unrepairable for all but the simplest of faults.

He replaced it with a Seymour Duncan SSL1 (I had it laying around) and all is fine. Except I now have a guitar that is only 2/3 noiseless!

Actually, as I consider the neck p/up to be the most important p/up on a Strat, the option to be specific about a replacement is more than welcome..


I didn't want to jinx it but I presumed this overwhelmingly to be the outcome.

Replace the pickup with a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Area 67 or 58.

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:03 am
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Martian wrote:
I didn't want to jinx it but I presumed this overwhelmingly to be the outcome.

Replace the pickup with a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Area 67 or 58.


Interesting.. I'm a Seymour Duncan guy really so I don't know much about DiMarzio pickups. Are those noiseless?

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Post subject:
Posted: Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:51 am
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adey wrote:
Martian wrote:
I didn't want to jinx it but I presumed this overwhelmingly to be the outcome.

Replace the pickup with a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Area 67 or 58.


Interesting.. I'm a Seymour Duncan guy really so I don't know much about DiMarzio pickups. Are those noiseless?


They are humbucking. "Noiseless" is a term Fender came up with for their humbucking pickups. So in this context, yes, they are noiseless.

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Post subject:
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2010 4:06 am
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The pairing of the SSL1 neck and SCN middle and bridge pickups in a Classic 60s Strat has turned out to be a very happy accident for me.I had the SSL1 put in as an interim measure, just to get the guitar working. I did not expect it to be a good match for the SCNs.

But now I've lived with it for a while, I have become a very happy chap indeed. The combination makes for an extremely flexible strat, with a wide range of lovely tones. Vintage and modern together and a real quack factory in position 4. Clean or overdriven, it's becoming the first Strat I reach for.

As for the SCNs, I never liked them in my Highway Strat where I originally put them. I agonised over whether or not to fit 500k pots as this is what many SCN owners recommend, but never did. In the Classic 60s they sound superb. Possibly, as I discovered, because the 60s Strat (which I bought 2nd hand originally) had been modded at some stage in it's past with 500k pots..

So if anybody out there is following the 500/250k pots for SCN debate (as I was) I say go for it. It really does make these pick ups sound fantastic.

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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:57 am
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which pot is this the volume or the tone?


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Post subject:
Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 5:33 pm
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Sorry eleloy, just seen this.

Tone Pots.

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