Neck/Middle troubleshooting advice.

[Jerryatrick]

Installed a new neck HB. A 4-wire single coil-sized dual blade puperoo.

Position 5 sounds great. But had a substantial volume drop in position 4 (neck HB plus middle SC).

So I swapped the hot and the ground leads of the neck pup.

Position 5 sounds great still. Position 4 sounds a tad different but still has very similar substantial volume drop.

Does switching the hot and ground leads mean I have to do something different with the bare ground wire too?

Should I try switching the hot and ground leads back to original spec and swap the series 1 and series 2 finish leads instead?

 

[TBurst Std]

What’s the output of each pups. You’re asking is to diagnose without any true data, only subjective opinion.

 

[Hodgo]

A few things that could be happening:

- Accidentally coil tapping the HB in pos 4
- Neck and mid are out of phase
- The expected result of two pups in parallel

 

[Jerryatrick]

What’s the output of each pups. You’re asking is to diagnose without any true data, only subjective opinion.

Middle is single coil. Alnico v magnets. 6.73ohms resistance. Steel plate affixed to the base.

Neck is Barden s-deluxe. Ceramic magnet. Not sure of the resistance of the wind. I’ve read online it’s 4k-ish but dunno how accurate that is or if it’s a random guess.

The neck pup gets split in pos 4.

HB rails I had in neck previously had manufacturer spec 5.75k ceramic magnet. split / combined with the middle in pos 4 had normal volume.

 

[stratamania]

The bare ground wire must always go to ground, regardless of what the other wires are doing.

 

[TBurst Std]

And the polarities of the Neck and Mid pups?

 

[Jerryatrick]

And the polarities of the Neck and Mid pups?

not sure yet of polarity, Gotta get a compass. Will report back in a bit.

 

[Jerryatrick]

Am still without compass.

In meantime I played some guitar. The volume drop occurs when the neck is split and combined with the middle in pos4. Despite the issue, I really love the tone of this particular combo of pups in pos 4. Looked around online and got a volume knob with assignable detent.

 

[Jerryatrick]

Monday: two pups walk into a bar.
One is split, the other is not.
they sound like they phase cancel a little bit (volume loss and quacky phasey sounding)

Friday: same two pups walk into the bar.
Neither is split.
They do not sound like they phase cancel at all.

Possible, or am I more likely going to be misinterpreting what I hear?

 

[TBurst Std]

Record it both ways. Then objectively listen. What you hear when playing is not always what it sounds like. Especially when it’s in the mix.

 

[Hodgo]

Monday: two pups walk into a bar.
One is split, the other is not.
they sound like they phase cancel a little bit (volume loss and quacky phasey sounding)

Friday: same two pups walk into the bar.
Neither is split.
They do not sound like they phase cancel at all.

Possible, or am I more likely going to be misinterpreting what I hear?

Loosey goosey wiring or exposed wiring flopping around can do strange things, but reverse phase means the ground and the hot wire got completely switched. Can’t figure out how that might happen.

Might be more likely that one of the humbuckers leads that was shorting to ground came loose.

Can you provide some detailed pics of your wiring?

 

[Hodgo]

Oh also, if you also provide whatever diagram you followed in conjunction with pics I bet you we get you fixed before Sunday.

 

[Jerryatrick]

Hodgo, thank you for this!
It seemed to be an issue with splitting the neck, as that was the only time it occurred. Joined the neck series wires and now no splitting but no volume drop.

Oh also, if you also provide whatever diagram you followed in conjunction with pics I bet you we get you fixed before Sunday.