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Richard wrote:
> The traditional surf tone comes from
> the neck and bridge pickups together, which is an
> option you don't have, but by taking off the pickgaurd
> and simply swapping the positions of the middle and
> neck pickup, you can do it without having to rewire
> anything.
Here is my understanding of whats going on here...please someone with more
knowledge chime in (Mel...Roland???):
The original Strats had 3 pickups and a 3-way switch. All 3 pickups were
identical.
Some smart guy figures out that if he balances the 3-way switch "in-between"
positions, he can get 2 pickups on at the same time. This is because Fender
was using "make before break" type switches. This catches on and soon people
are doing things to their switches to make this easier to do.
Fender, responding to their customers, later introduces the 5-way switch to
get these in-between sounds. However, at some point, Fender changes the
middle pickup to be reverse wound, reverse polarity compared to the neck and
bridge pickups. This is because those damn single coils are like antennas,
and having two identical pickups on at the same time just produces more
noise. So now with the middle one different the in-between positions have a
hum cancelling effect.
The Jaguar and Jazzmaster have 2 pickups, and each pickup has always been
reverse wound, reverse polarity compared to each other. The classic surf
sound lots of people talk about is a Jazzmaster or Jag with both pickups
on - with hum cancelling effect.
So how do you get this on a modern Strat? Well the in-between positions give
you two pickups on, with each pickup being reverse wound, reverse polarity
compared to each other. Cool, except the middle pickup, isn't in the sweet
spot in the neck position. No problem, just swap positions with the neck
pickup. Now you get the pickups at the neck and bridge positions on at the
same time, with hum cancelling, when the switch is in the next to the last
position. No wiring changes needed.
Now I have also heard about people swapping the neck and middle pickups AND
swapping the wiring to the switch. I'm not sure what this accomplishes
except giving you the unusual sound of having 2 identical single coil
pickups on at the same time (with the additional noise - no hum cancelling
this time).
It is also interesting to note that the Japanese Jaguars and Jazzmasters, at
least the ones from the mid-80's to early 90's had identical pickups; same
wiring + same polarity = no hum cancelling. This is not like the vintage
instruments! Another reason to change those pickups out!
Did I get this right?
BN
PS I've never understood the rationale for the Strats control scheme, 3
pickups, a 5 way switch, 1 volume and 2 tone pots? Huh? Some day I am going
to mod my strat, either by adding a push/pull pot, or by reusing one of
those tone pots to blend in the neck pickup with any other pickup
combination. It just doesn't feel right to me to not be able to control the
pickups in all possible configurations! Maybe thats why I like the Jag's
controls :)
BTW, one extremely kick ass sound I am getting out of my Jag is lead circuit
on, neck pickup only, strangle switch on. Thats a cool sound.
