Partial pickup installation worries

admiralbob77 · July 10th, 2008, 10:44 AM

I decided to swap out the stock pickups on my standard Telecaster and drop in some Samarium Cobalt Noiseless ones. I liked the ceramic stock pickups' tone, but not the hum.

Unfortunately, the new Fender SCN set had a bad bridge pickup, so the guitar guy who sold em to me only put in the neck pickup, and back-ordered the other. The new neck pickup is great, sounds a lot like the old neck pickup, but no hum!

My old ceramic bridge pickup still sounds good. It is a fair bit hotter than the SCN, which I expected.

Here's the problem. The middle blade position no longer sounds like a Telecaster should. It is shrill, has no bottom, and is quiet. I'm really worried about this, as this is my favourite blade position.

Will it go away, do you think, when the other SCN goes in? Or did my guitar guy do something wrong?

Scotland · July 10th, 2008, 10:51 AM

No problem, all you need to do is swap the soldered positions of the black and the white wires of the bridge pickup. The pickups have different polarities, that's all. A two minute fix.

admiralbob77 · July 10th, 2008, 10:55 AM

I assume the polarity of the other SCN will be the same? If so, I can probably wait out the two weeks or so.

Should he have caught this?

Scotland · July 10th, 2008, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by admiralbob77

Should he have caught this?

Without question, he obviously didn't test it when he finished.

July 10th, 2008, 10:44 AM	#1 (permalink)
admiralbob77 NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Ottawa Age: 42 Posts: 4	Partial pickup installation worries I decided to swap out the stock pickups on my standard Telecaster and drop in some Samarium Cobalt Noiseless ones. I liked the ceramic stock pickups' tone, but not the hum. Unfortunately, the new Fender SCN set had a bad bridge pickup, so the guitar guy who sold em to me only put in the neck pickup, and back-ordered the other. The new neck pickup is great, sounds a lot like the old neck pickup, but no hum! My old ceramic bridge pickup still sounds good. It is a fair bit hotter than the SCN, which I expected. Here's the problem. The middle blade position no longer sounds like a Telecaster should. It is shrill, has no bottom, and is quiet. I'm really worried about this, as this is my favourite blade position. Will it go away, do you think, when the other SCN goes in? Or did my guitar guy do something wrong?

July 10th, 2008, 10:51 AM	#2 (permalink)
Scotland Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Aberdeen, Scotland, Yewrup Age: 54 Posts: 6,377 3 Photos	No problem, all you need to do is swap the soldered positions of the black and the white wires of the bridge pickup. The pickups have different polarities, that's all. A two minute fix. __________________ All those who believe in psycho-kinesis, raise my hand !

July 10th, 2008, 10:55 AM	#3 (permalink)
admiralbob77 NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Ottawa Age: 42 Posts: 4	I assume the polarity of the other SCN will be the same? If so, I can probably wait out the two weeks or so. Should he have caught this?