Low Gain Pickup Response

[minions]

I recently added a DiMarzio Area '67 to the middle position of my Strat and changed the wiring to this:

http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=schem&action=display&thread=3144

Whenever I switch to the middle pickup, the volume is really low and the tone is very thin-sounding. I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that I'm using 500k pots, but it might be something else. Is there any reason why this is happening? How can I fix/modify it?

Thanks.

 

[Dan025]

500k pot wouldn't cause low volume.

 

[Dan025]

that wiring is a cluttered mess, i went through a phase where i tried everything out there but learned really quick that simple is better.

it is early (5:50am) and im having difficulty seeing everything that is going on here but since the problem is with the middle pup i assume it lies in the push pull pots wiring. is it anytime the mid pickup is on? or only when it is on alone?
have you tried pulling the phase switch? better? worse?

 

[minions]

I figured it out, well partly at least. I thought that when the push-pull pots were down, the middle pickup was selected on its own, and when they were up, the middle pickup wasn't selected at all, etc. But it's actually the reverse. So, the thin sound is coming from the bridge and neck pickups. The neck pickup is a Vintage Vibe SP-90 and the bridge pickup is a Seymour Duncan P-Rails. I assume my middle pickup is just a naturally hotter pickup, but I may be wrong.

Concerning simplicity vs. complexity of circuits, assuming all my solder joints are solid and correct, would a more complex circuit affect the tone? What I mean is, do more wires mean less tone?

Thanks.

 

[Dan025]

well some of those noiseless singles have surprising output, hell the single(not noisless) in my mim strat were quite loud and the "hot rails" i tried in it barely kept up. i later switched to bill lawrence noiseless pup's

i'm not convinced though that the dimarzio is that much louder and fuller sounding. is there any position that the p-90's sound full? if not i find it odd, if it is only the combined position then i'd say the neck is out of phase, if it were only the bridge i'd say the rail coil and p-90 coil were not in phase, but with all positions not sounding right id carefully inspect all of the wiring.
but maybe "thin" is not what you are hearing, tone is subjective. thin usually describes a lack of mids, alot of highs, fat is usually alot of mids, especially low mids, but we all might describe the same thing differently.

 

[minions]

well some of those noiseless singles have surprising output, hell the single(not noisless) in my mim strat were quite loud and the "hot rails" i tried in it barely kept up. i later switched to bill lawrence noiseless pup's

Yeah, that's what happens with my DiMarzio.

i'm not convinced though that the dimarzio is that much louder and fuller sounding. is there any position that the p-90's sound full? if not i find it odd, if it is only the combined position then i'd say the neck is out of phase, if it were only the bridge i'd say the rail coil and p-90 coil were not in phase, but with all positions not sounding right id carefully inspect all of the wiring.
but maybe "thin" is not what you are hearing, tone is subjective. thin usually describes a lack of mids, alot of highs, fat is usually alot of mids, especially low mids, but we all might describe the same thing differently.

Well it may not be thinness so much as lack of output. For some reason, the DiMarzio just overtakes the other two pickups in sheer volume.

 

[tfarny]

That wiring is too complicated to trace. If the output is really much lower, thin, and nasally sounding, it's because two pickups are parallel out of phase. It could well be that is a feature of the wiring, not a bug.
If I were you, I would play the heck out of the guitar for a month, figure out which 5-8 combos you actually like and will use, then redo the wiring so you can only get those sounds, and are not constantly fumbling with push pots wondering how to get your sound.

 

[drewfx]

If the middle on its own is overpowering each the neck and bridge on their own, it's likely the output of the pickups themselves (try lowering the middle in this case). But DiMarzio doesn't list the '67 as having unusually high output for a SC pickup, so unless it's just so much brighter than the other 2 (particularly during the initial attack)...

If the middle is only overpowering the neck+bridge combinations, it might be N and B are out of phase with each other. Does the series/out-of-phase position have the same problem? Is the output of N and B in combination lower than N or B on their own?

If you had a short to ground (maybe through a tone pot?) somewhere, I'd think M, when in combination with N and/or B, should also lose output.

drewfx