hey guys, bill here. let me preface this by saying that i quadruple checked the wiring diagram and have made sure all connections are soundly soldered together, so odds are this will be human error . on a serious note, i recently acquired a 1982 dimarzio hs 2 from a guy on craigslist for 30 dollars and installed it in the middle pickup position of my strat, which already had a seymour duncan hotrail in the neck and a duncan JB jr in the bridge. theres also a push poll pot which splits the bridge pickup. its a 500 k pot, and the other 2 are the stock tone controls. now, my question: the pickups all sound great alone, couldnt ask for a better tone out of a guitar. but, when im in positions 2 and 4, the tone becomes weak and thin sounding, and there is a noticeable drop in volume. keep in mind that all 3 pickups in my strat are hum cancelling, and operate just like a humbucker but are the size of a regular single coil. is this due to an improper wiring job, or maybe the pots' ohm rating isnt high enough (i think im saying that right )? any help would be appreciated, as i love the sounds of position 2 and 4 and dont want to lose them forever

_________________
Gear:

Heavily Modified Olympic White 2007 MIM Strat (my baby!!)
Fender Showmaster 2003
Bugera V55 HD
Peavey XXX Cab
Vox Satchurator
Ibanez TS-9
Dunlop Crybaby
DeltaLab Digital Delay

It sounds like the DiMarzio is out of phase, relative to the Seymour-Duncans. You might try reversing the leads on the HS2.

HTH

Arjay

_________________
"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Welcome from Old Bridge!

You have three problems here:

1. Duncan and DiMarzio Strat pickups are usually out of phase with each other so you'll have to reverse the red and green wires on the DiMarzio, thus making the red the ground and the green the hot. This should to an extent solve your problem in positions 2 and 4. By this, I mean:

2. Regardless of what the DC resistance is with many of DiMarzio's stacked HBs, they are in fact, extremely low output pickups. So much so that their output is noticeably less than a 'regular' OEM single coil. The HS-2 unfortunately is among this group. You will most assuredly get a volume drop when using this pickup by itself and when teamed with either of the two Duncans you have in the guitar, either will overpower the HS-2.

3. Using a 500K pot with an HS-2 will make it sound most anemic.

_________________
You dig?

I'm going to keep that little fact in mind. Thanks.

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

yeah especially with texas specials......

_________________
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."

oogway, kungfu panda 2008

Especialy with most singlecoils, mate. The difference in perceived output between a 15.4k ohm Fasttrack and a 8k ohm ceramic mexican pickup from a old MIM, was quite remarkable.
I put it down to the initial attack of the note, which singlecoils produce in spades, but humbuckers seem to attenuate a tad.

_________________
No no and no

Glad to help!

_________________
You dig?

oooh ok i get it. i have to switch the red and green wires, ill do that next string change (which is pretty soon). thanks for the replies guys, i appreciate it . also, martian, is there a way i can have the hs 2 work in this guitar? maybe wire it to a different pot or something? as im sure you all can tell, wiring isnt my area of expertise, thankfully i have all the geniuses here to ask for help

_________________
Gear:

Heavily Modified Olympic White 2007 MIM Strat (my baby!!)
Fender Showmaster 2003
Bugera V55 HD
Peavey XXX Cab
Vox Satchurator
Ibanez TS-9
Dunlop Crybaby
DeltaLab Digital Delay

Actually, your best bet is to put it in the neck position simply because it is by far, the weakest pickup of the trio. As you know, even with an identical trio of pickups, the one in the neck position will be the loudest and fullest. Even at this though, don't expect any kind of radical improvement from that pickup; it is what it is.

_________________
You dig?