Hi guys, I've been lurking here for many moons but decided to register and ask for advice. I have a 95 American strat. I bought this guitar without a pickguard or pickup assembly from a friend a number of years ago. I am struggling to find an adequate bridge pickup. Currently I have vintage noiseless, but the bridge pickup is strident and much quieter than the neck. It's not a phase or wiring issue as I bought this as a pre-assembled unit. I play in a blues-rock band and would really like to find something that is louder, but still clean. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance and cheers to you all!

Welcome!

Look into DiMarzio's Virtual Vintage line.

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Will that work well with the vintage noiseless pickups?

The DiMarzio's work their best with 250k pots and I believe the Vintage Noiseless set requires 1M. You might consider replacing all three pickups with the Virtual Vintage types. They're noiseless and have plenty of output for most styles of playing. I have two guitars so equipped and they both see regular stage use.

HTH

Arjay

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"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

Yes. I recommend most strongly though that you change all your pots to 250K.

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Are you absolutely sure they were installed properly? There should not be a drastic imbalance if they are installed properly and adjusted within reason. A little variation can be accounted for by messing with the heights but not a drastic variation. The bridge pup is purposely wound hotter than the neck pup because the string's vibration sweeps a much narrower path at that point. If they installed one of the other two pups at the bridge that would account for a drastic volume imbalance.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

I am fairly certain. I bought the pickguard pre-wired and I took it to my luthier and he said it was correct. I guess saying it is drastic is not fair, it is easily perceptible to my ear, and I guess I am wanting to hear the bridge and neck and the same volume. I also had my luthier move the tone pot from the middle pickup to the bridge which I believe is a fairly common tweek. So is it recommended I change all the pots to 250k and try that before swapping pickups or should I just gut it and start over? ~my wife is going to hate you guys

I wouldn't consider changing the pots, "gutting it" but I would most definitely recommend the pot change as a matter of necessity. Further, while you're at it, why don't you have say, the neck pickup tone control wired so that it controls the middle pickup too? This way, not only will you continue to have a tone pot for that pickup but it will keep it from sounding 'clanky' at the same time.

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When I say gut it, I mean replace everything, pickups, pots and 5 way. I will definitely swap out the pots. What will changing the pots to 250 k do for me and, I'm pretty good at soldering. Do you have a wiring diagram that I could reference to attach the tone to the middle AND bridge? Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it

Take a resistance reading on each pickup and make sure they are approximately the same. Plug a cord in the input jack and measure across the tip and ring on the other end, and switch the 5-way to 1, 3, and 5. Volume and tone at max.

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The design of each element should be thought out in order to be easy to make and easy to repair.
Leo Fender

You're quite welcome.

The 250K pots will get rid of that anemic, sterile tonality your pickups exhibit with pots of a higher resistance resistance.

As to how to wire it, refer to this diagram:

http://www.strat-talk.com/forum/members ... wiring.gif

Notice the top half of the pickup selector switch where the four terminals are. Solder a wire from the unused, second from the left terminal to the terminal next to it on the right. That's it, believe it or not.

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I'm a pretty big fan of the Texas Specials. I own a guitar with them and they are very ballsy.

It is always a great thing where one is truly satisfied with their pickup choice(s).

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I SWAP MINE OUT FOR A HOT RAIL I GOT ONE IF INTRESSED I TRYED TO PUT A PICTURE IN FOR YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DO IT

Welcome, Jay.

All the way to the left on your keyboard, three up from the bottom there's a key which reads, "Caps Lock". On behalf of myself and all the other members here, please disengage said key before posting. We thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

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