Pickup Question

asimmd

I have an original 88 USA Standard Strat but I can't find the pickups.

The original pickups have flush pole pieces and I wondered what would the effect be if i
 fitted a set with staggered poles.

richardhomer

Strictly speaking, pick-ups with the traditional ‘vintage’ stagger are designed for 7.25” radius fretboards - your guitar will be 9.5”. The impact of this is that the centre pair is strings might be slightly louder when played through a very clean amp. Driven - the signal will be compressed, so the imbalance will be less noticeable.

Its more a ‘theoretical’ - rather than a ‘real’ - issue.

asimmd

Thanks Richard
i suppose if it was a problem I could always make the centre pair
a bit higher to compensate.

asimmd

Just found the original pickups.
Problem is they have coloured wire so don't yet know how to connect them up.

Funkfingers

Offer up the original pickups to each other, top to top.

One of the three will be magnetically attracted to the other two. This is the original centre position pickup.

The two that magnetically repel each other are the bridge and neck position pickups. On these two, the output wires are insulated in white or black plastic. In a straightforward Stratocaster circuit, the black insulated wire should be soldered to the chassis of the volume pot. The white insulated wire goes to the selector switch.

The conductor wire colour codes for the centre pickup may be combinations other than black and white. I am reluctant to offer guidance on how to connect your middle pickup without seeing photographs of it.

If you are not confident about matching pickup output conductors to the correct terminals on the selector switch, change out one at a time.

asimmd

Wow many thanks for that.
If I remember correctly one of the pickups has a Yellow wire.
All wires will need lengthening as I cut them too short but I have cloth covered
wire for that.

asimmd

I have now sorted out the Middle Pickup and marked it.

The wires are Red and White Middle Pickup

All Pickups measure 4K and  the two that are left both have Blue and White wires.

I am presuming that as they are both 4K it won't matter which is Bridge and Neck.

OilCityPickups

asimmd said:

I have now sorted out the Middle Pickup and marked it.

The wires are Red and White Middle Pickup

All Pickups measure 4K and  the two that are left both have Blue and White wires.

I am presuming that as they are both 4K it won't matter which is Bridge and Neck.

4k is dreadfully low, even for an underwound Strat pickup ... are you sure your meter is okay?

asimmd

Hi Ash

I took the pickups to my local store when I was having some work done on another guitar and I asked the Luthier to measure them.

I have just found the pickups and they all have sticky tape on them that says 4k.

asimmd

Here is a Picture of the pickups.

asimmd

[IMG]http://i63.tinypic.com/2mzkspi.jpg[/IMG]

asimmd

Just measured the pickups they are 6.4K

Funkfingers

6.4k is about right for the old American Standard Stratocaster flush poles single coils. (Possibly, a tad high, TBH.) 

asimmd said:

I have an original 88 USA Standard Strat. The original pickups have flush pole pieces and I wondered what would the effect be if I fitted a set with staggered poles.

This OP is a bit vague. The back story is unclear.

Did you remove the original 1988 pickups, try a set with the vintage pole "stagger", dislike them and are now reverting to stock? 

Are you refurbishing an incomplete 1988 guitar and trying to decide what pickups to fit?

Are you removing upgrades from the guitar and reverting it to stock with a view to selling?

asimmd

The guitar is completely stock.
The only thing I did was swop the pickups out to try some others trying to improve the sound.
I then lost the original pickups but now I have them I want to return them to the guitar.

The guitar will never be sold my wife bought it for me and she walked 2 miles in a thunderstorm to get the cash out of the bank to buy the guitar so it's more to me than just a guitar.

Also it was the first USA Strat I ever had.

I have measured the pickups myself and they are 6.24K.
Hope this clarifies it.

Funkfingers

asimmd said:

I ... lost the original pickups but, now I have them, I want to return them to the guitar. The guitar will never be sold.

This is the bit with which I am struggling.

I do not rate those old Am Std pickups very highly - especially not in the bridge/Treble position. (My preferred application for them is as the centre pickup in a HSH pickguard and electronics assembly.) Part of what I dislike about the sound might be due to the loading effects of the TBX tone control. Some users report an improved sound after adding a metal baseplate to these pickups.

Never mind what I think. It's your guitar and funds.  

asimmd

Thanks for the comments.
Some people don't like the pickups but some do.
Its such a long time since I heard them I have forgotten how they sound.

I only play clean stuff so they may do for me.

If I am not happy with them I will ask Oil City Pickups if they can help with something more suitable but at least I have the originals back.

ICBM

You’d be amazed how these pickups come alive if you ditch the TBX tone control.

If you don’t want to remove it completely, simply snip one lead of the 82K resistor on it (the small stripy component). If you cut right in the middle of the wire you can re-solder it if you ever want to put it back to stock.

With that done it will behave like a traditional tone control from 0 to 5, and get a bit brighter above that, which will open up the tone quite noticeably.

asimmd

Thanks ICBM I will definately be doing that.

impmann

ICBM said:

You’d be amazed how these pickups come alive if you ditch the TBX tone control.

If you don’t want to remove it completely, simply snip one lead of the 82K resistor on it (the small stripy component). If you cut right in the middle of the wire you can re-solder it if you ever want to put it back to stock.

With that done it will behave like a traditional tone control from 0 to 5, and get a bit brighter above that, which will open up the tone quite noticeably.

+1

I didn't believe this until I did it... much more 'Stratty' and less of that cloudy midrange that the 90s US Standards seem to suffer from