Hey guys I installed a Seymour Duncan-Duncan Distortion in my MIM Lonestar. I wanted to increase the output so I replaced the SD Pearly Gates that was in it. After I got past the FENDER wiring scheme (which is green and black are reversed as per Fender specs) I installed the pickup correctly and everything works fine. BUT last night when I finally got around to putting the rest of the strings on, I noticed in the second position on the 5 way that position 2 which is supposed to be bridge and middle, there was a considerable drop in volume and it almost sounds as if there is a wah or a phasing effect. The mid pickup in the mid position works fine and full output, only when mixed with the bridge humbucker do I get this. This never happened before with the Pearly Gates.

I actually like the sound of it I am just wondering if something happened.

Ian

OK..so if you only switched pick ups you should have just rewired like the Pearly Gates...
Unless..the Pearly Gates has a different wiring color code than the Distortion....
Meaning that the wires are different colors.....

(1) Go to Seymour Duncan's website and look up both of the pickups schematics and compare the wiring and the difference if any..

(2) it sounds like you reversed the wiring and now your HB is out of phase when in position 2.

There is not just one way to wire up pickups, depending on what effect you are seeking..

I'm going to look up to confirm what I think....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

http://support.fender.com/service_diagr ... B_SISD.pdf

Here is your Fender service / electronic schematic for that guitar's HB....
See where the red+white wires are hooked up...these may be the issue...

Here is the Seymour Duncan wiring diagram for all their HB's

http://www.seymourduncan.com/images/pro ... 05-110.pdf

Print the two and compare what is different take it wire by wire.
Be sure to pay attention to wire colors, especially with Fender who has often mixed colors so a hot in this color is actually a ground in this other color...

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Thanks guys but when I first installed the Duncan Distortion and I had a loud hum and everything I touched on the guitar reacted to a louder hum or a grounding problem. I contacted Seymour Duncan and they told me that when they designed the Pearly Gates Plus for Fender, Fender requested that Seymour used the Fender wiring codes and schematic. This was the problem! I wired it initially the same way the Pearly Gates was wired and this was the problem. Seymour Duncan's wiring is reversed to what Fender uses the black and green wires from an SD pickup need to be reversed if installing into a Fender, the green becomes the ground and the black is hot.

But anyway like I said I actually like the tinny industrious sound I get from position 2 so I am not all that worried about it. Who knows maybe the Duncan Distortion isn't meant to be paired or split with a single coil lol. Anyway guys thanks for your help

Ian

Look up the signal strength of the two SD's, Bear in mind that the Texas Specials are usually 3 single coils and matched to NMB set up and I think they are also at times reverse wound...

Some pickups are not compatible with others due to the signal strength being weaker or stronger and it throws off the balance..
You really cannot throw in any pickup as mismatched for those reasons..

Personally you had a set of pups designed for RB, Blues, but the Duncan Distortion is for Metal, which the other;s were for a warm sound that breaks up but stays warm..

Depending on your amp you may find that a reversal will be in order....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Before I even bought another pickup I contacted Seymour Duncan and asked them personally what would be the best pickup to use for metal. That is what I generally play and the Pearly Gates doesn't have enough drive to push the amp. This is what I was after! I already had the Duncan Distortion in mind and their recommendations to pair up with the Texas Specials were the Duncan Distortion, The JB, the new Custom Custom, Custom 5 or Custom 59' Hybrid. They said all would work really well with the Texas Specials.

I already knew that the Pearly Gates was paired with the Texas Specials because of it's warmth, don't get me wrong it is a great pickup and it is going into another Fender Strat that I have. But your suggestion of the mid pickup being reverse wound interests me, and if it is then the question will be, How do I reverse that pickups polarity? If it is in fact the polarity that has to be reversed. Good stuff, I came back to the right place lol. For the record I have been playing guitar for 34 years and currently own 10 guitars with 11 and 12 soon to be on the wall lol.

Ian

The new Duncan is out of phase with the Fenders. As you've been directed, simply reverse the Duncan's black and green wires.

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You dig?

The Duncan Distortion isn't the problem, I had that problem with the wiring the first time I installed it. The person I talked to at Seymour Duncan told me about the wiring and reversing the black and the green, I did that and the pup works fine now, I am having a phasing issue with the middle Texas Special now when in position 2. On position 3 the middle Texas special works and sounds as it should, but not when paired in the second position with the humbucker.

The Duncan Distortion is actually the problem as it is matched up with the Texas Specials...

Texas Specials are usually a set of 3 single coils, calibrated and wired Reverse Wound/Reverse Pole.
What Fender did was to match the Pearly Gates to your neck and middle TS's while still retaining the RW/RP.

But as I alluded to before, your pups must be within a certain range of resistance or they will cancel each other out when switched to a 2 and 4 position...Here is why...

Texas Specials are 6.2k for the Neck and 6.5k for the Mid (in resistance)
Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates is 8.35k

Seymour Duncan Duncan Distortion is a whopping 16.6k thus when paired with the TS's at half the resistance, the DD overpowers the circuit thus rendering the TS's anemic ( layman's terminology)

Also the Texas Specials are Alnico magnets whereas the DD is Ceramic..
All that makes a difference in output and sound..

I believe you are going to have issues with the Texas Specials which are really not Metal oriented. They are being asked to put out.. far beyond their capabilities..

Anyhow...Martian and Andy Big Hair are two foraging Forumites that know electronics far better than I. They would be the one's to ask what remedy/solution for your quest...
Give me wood and that is my forte, building bodies and soon my own necks...
Electronics and pickups are always a challenge....

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

I pick #2 .

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-T

"You can't spend what you ain't got, you can't lose what you ain't never had" ~ McKinley Morganfield

Again, if you are getting that hollow, nasal sound with a volume drop when combining the Duncan with the middle position TS, reverse the black and green wires of the Duncan.

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You dig?

Thanks for your help guys, I have already explained on how the pickup was installed incorrectly and then installed correctly. It makes sense that the Texas Special don't match up with the Distortion, so I may just throw a JB Jr in the neck and a Lil' 59' in the mid , that was also a suggestion from Seymour Duncan, I could always throw in a coil tap as well.

Do you mean a Coil Switch or a Coil Tap....

Coil switch is where you separate a Humbuckers coils to either single or dual by eliminating one coil from the circuit.

Coil tap is where you are wired mid point in the pick ups coil and thereby you are tapping on 50% of that pickups potential.....

I have actually gotten a set of Texas Specials which will go in my Telepartster Build but unfortunately that will not be for quite a few weeks yet as I'm still building the bodies ( also a stratopartster ) and finishing will take quite some time to cure......

Go to this website you might find some fun.....

http://www.guitarnuts.com/index.php

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"C'est parti mon Kiki "

You can exchange the neck and middle pickup and wire them accordingly.
That way they are hum cancelling on the 2nd position but the middle doesn´t interfere with the bridge pickup anymore on the 4th position.

Cheers,
Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Sorry Coil Split lol, Coil tapping and splitting always meant 2 different things and I always used the term tapped when that isn`t the case for humbuckers. I would throw in a coil split mini toggle.