Problem with Seymour Duncan JB

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Hi guys,

I recently installed a JB (SH-4) in my MIM fat strat, and upon hearing it, I felt something was wrong. I thought I'd touch a screwdriver off each pickup and see if they were all wired correctly, and when I got to the JB, I noticed that each coil gave a different output level - the back one (with the words 'Seymour Duncan' nearest) sounded much louder.

Does anyone know off hand what's wrong?

Cheers.

Paolo_M

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Hi guys,

I recently installed a JB (SH-4) in my MIM fat strat, and upon hearing it, I felt something was wrong. I thought I'd touch a screwdriver off each pickup and see if they were all wired correctly, and when I got to the JB, I noticed that each coil gave a different output level - the back one (with the words 'Seymour Duncan' nearest) sounded much louder.

Does anyone know off hand what's wrong?

Cheers.

If this is a joke then ha, ha.
Otherwise congratulations, you've installed it correctly!!
The SH-4 is a humbucker and is supposed to have a considerably higher output level and "thicker" tone than standard strat single coils. It's DC resitance is just over 16k, whereas typicaly strat pickups have a DC res of about 7-8k.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough - I meant that one half of the JB is louder than the other half.

deaddonkey

is this with the bucker in split single coil mode or in full bucker mode?

SirLemonhead

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough - I meant that one half of the JB is louder than the other half.

You did make it clear enough

But yeah, check the wiring..make sure its not wired as a single coil by accident

Doctor J

Sounds like you've wired it incorrectly. Double check it.

If not it might be dodgy. I had a SD Jazz pickup with one coil much louder than the other. T'was ****ed.

Check your wiring first though, if it's hard wired as a humbucker make sure you've connected the white and red wires together, green to earth and black to your signal.

If you just want to check the pickup, the coils are black input and white output for one - red input and green output for the other, test the output of each one to make sure everything is as it should be.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Thanks guys, I managed to solve it by rewiring it (pretty much how Doctor J) described.

There's one more issue, and this occurs no matter what pickup is in it:

I'm getting this sort of 'broken glass' sound when on dirty settings. It sounds like a crackling, clipping signal. I thought it was just the crap stock pickups, but I was wrong. I suppose it could just be the volume/tone pots, or some combination. Any thoughts?

feylya

Does the sound only appear when you adjust your volume/tone?

OK-Cancel-Apply

No no.. it's a constant 'broken glass' tone. I know what you're getting at though (dirt in pots?), but what I'm referring to it actually part of the constant sound. It's the kind of thing one mightn't notice straight away, but I've compared other guitars, and they sound much smoother.

feylya

Easy way to figure out if it's the pots is to drop a wire from the selector switch to the output jack.

OK-Cancel-Apply

feylya wrote: »

Easy way to figure out if it's the pots is to drop a wire from the selector switch to the output jack.

Yeah, good idea. I'll have to secure it though and put the pick guard and strings back on and give it a blast. I'm not optimistic though, because it's not the sort of sound that would qualify so much as a fault... I have a feeling that the strat just isn't designed to produce the sort of sound I'm after. It sounds great on bluesy amp settings, but not so much on high gain. I know if I run the JB straight to the jack, it SHOULD sound fine, but like I said, not holding my breath.

Another good way of describing this annoying tone is sort of like a 'shouting' tone...or a dog barking.

feylya

A JB should be fine for your higher gain sound. Don't forget what the guys in Iron Maiden play

Paolo_M

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough - I meant that one half of the JB is louder than the other half.

Sorry dude, my bad, picked you up completely wrong.
Must make a note to re-read posts a few times before replying!!