Hi all -

New member here, though a long time Fender player. I just grabbed a Violet MIM RC Strat off Craigslist, from a guy who never (literally, dead mint and still had PG plastic remnants under the PG screw heads) played it. The thicker neck and hardtail bridge are total heaven. When I got it home though, I noticed the position where the bridge and mid pups are engaged is super thin and quiet. Sounds out of phase to me. In every other position, these pups are living up to the hype - so I don't think the pups themselves are broken.

When I look at the wiring, it seems right - but it obviously doesn't sound right. I'm wondering (a) if it could've been miswired from the factory and (b) if that's true, does anyone think Fender might stand behind it even though I bought it used? This is unfamiliar territory for me because every other piece of Fender gear I've bought has been utterly reliable. I've asked on another forum (the FDP) how I might go about fixing it, and it sounds like it could be a simple lead swap. I can do that, no problem. However, one guy mentioned that my pups might be mis-polarized, miswound, or the colored wires put in the wrong places.

Pics of the guts are below, anyone have any thoughts on what I should do?

Joe

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70891834@N ... 395132476/

Welcome, Joe.

Based on your complaint, your middle pickup may very well be out of phase with the other two. As to where the fault lies, well, the guitar appears to be wired correctly but it clearly doesn't appear (to me, any way) to be OEM. For this reason alone coupled by the fact that you are not the original owner, any claim to a Fender warranty on this issue is moot. All I can say at this point is, try reversing the middle pickup's wires and see what happens.

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You dig?

Martian -

Thanks for your reply. I have a couple followup questions if you have time to respond. First, would you definitely swap leads on the middle pup and not the bridge? Reason I ask is that the position that combines the neck and bridge sounds fine right now - if I switch the middle pup's polarity, won't that position now sound thin?

The thing I really want to know though is about your comment about things not looking OEM. I can spot the different production models of guitars, but I'm not so good at identifying guts, so to speak. As the pups were a main feature of this guitar that I wanted, I learned everything I could to identify them before I bought it - which turned out not to be much. Specifically, my research led me to two conclusions:
1. MIM Cray pups use staggered pole pieces on the mid and neck pups, and flat pole pieces on the bridge pup. This was the only thing I could really check in the parking lot when I bought it.
2. At least some MIM pups use those numbering stickers on the bottoms. So I was encouraged to see those stickers when I removed the loaded guard. I was more encouraged when I noticed that they were sequenced.

So now you've got me curious. Is there anything specific about the pups or the way they're wired that's making you think somebody's been tinkering under the hood? Or worse, is there anything making you think I ended up with a Cray strat with non-Cray pickups?

Thanks again for taking the time to help, I appreciate it.

Joe

Here is the wiring diagram for your guitar:

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

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Bill

Joe,

I read through your complaint quickly as I wanted to get right to eyeballing the wiring. I missed the part about you saying the neck and middle pickups working correctly. So, no, don't reverse the leads on the middle pickup. Rather, reverse the leads on the bridge pickup and see what happens.

Components wise, there's really nothing singular are exclusive to RC pickups.

What caught my eye with the wiring was some resoldered joints. Granted, this could have happened OEM or during the seller's ownership and even at this, we may never know. For all we know, the seller may have tried to address the same problem without success and this may be the reason why he chose to sell the guitar. I doubt there's any larceny on his part though.

My gut of guts says that your trio of pickups are probably original to the guitar and maybe, just maybe that bridge pickup had the polepieces inserted backwards where here too, we may never know.

If I were you, I'd try reversing the bridge pickup's wires and take it from there.

You're quite welcome.

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You dig?

Don't you think the OP should first compare his wiring to the wiring diagram I linked to earlier before breaking out the soldering iron?

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Bill

I already did that for him, it appears to be correct.

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You dig?

You've got better eyes than I do.

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Bill

Hey guys -

I also thought it prudent to check against the wiring diagram (thanks for posting, BTW) and everything looks hooked up correctly. I tried to swap the leads just now and my 40W iron isn't hot enough to reflow the solder pool on the volume pot - even with a fresh tip. I'm going to a buddy's tomorrow - he has a more powerful iron and I'm going to try again at his place. Here's hoping it's a simple lead swap and I'm back in business. I'll report back in either case. Thank you again for sharing your experience and time - we'll get it fixed one way or another.

Joe

A 40 watt iron is more than adequate to solder to the back of a pot. Its what I use all the time. You just need to use a small, flat chisel tip, properly tinned. Only takes a few seconds. Use anything hotter and you risk damage to the pot.

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Bill

Definitely

And it's usually easier to cut the wire from the back of the pot, then solder the new wire on top of, or next to the solder glob. No need to remelt the entire solder glob anyway.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I totally disagree with this. With adequate heat, the existing wire on the back of the pot can easily lifted and replaced with the new wire, soldered in the exact same place.

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You dig?

Gotta agree with Martian. That's exactly how I do it. And a 40 watt iron with a small chisel tip is more than adequate for the job.

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Bill

also if you have enough room you can use the tip on its side for a faster heat transfer.
if that still doesn't work your iron probably isn't actually 40 watts. or a really dirty tip

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Hey all -

Switching the leads worked, so it looks like the leads were attached to the pup backwards from the factory. FWIW, the iron I was using was a 40W radio shack one, and a chisel tip isn't available in store, so it was a pencil tip (brand new, and properly tinned). I tried using the side instead of the tip, to no avail. With a higher wattage iron, it worked well.

Moral of the story is that the guitar now sounds fantastic, the pups work as they should, and I am so psyched to play it! And on that note that's what I'm going to do. Thanks for your help!

Joe