Hey Guys, I was wondering if you had any insight to what my problem is. Back in december I installed Texas Specials in my strat. A month later the middle pickup stopped working. I brought it in and the tech said the switch was shot and he replaced it. Since then I swapped the bridge pickup for a hotrails and then back to the TS bridge. All worked fine for a few weeks and now the middle pickup is out again. I checked the wires and they're all still connected. Is it possible I fried the switch while soldering? But why would it work for a few weeks then stop?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Mike,

With the pickguard fastened in place, oftentimes, the middle pickup's terminal on the switch and/or the pickup's hot wire itself touches the guitar's body directly underneath. This common situation can happen right away or 'down the road', brought on by even just regular use of the switch. Now, as you may or may not know, the body has a coating of shielding paint underneath its finish coat. So, if either the terminal or the hot wire eats through the finish coat and comes in contact with the conductive shielding paint, it will short out your pickup as it is a positive touching a negative. I'd look into this as your culprit. Either rewire the pickup at that terminal in such a way that you increase distance from the body wood beneath or insulate the body wood underneath with say, a few layers of electrical tape. And no, this condition will not fry your pickup.

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Thanks Martian! I'll check my wires and make sure they're not coming into contact with anything they're not supposed to.

Glad to help!

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You dig?