Dave Alfstad
From:
Indianola, IA USA
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Posted 5 Aug 2017 2:26 pm |
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I rewired my '55 T8 Stringmaster today and installed 3 spst switches to turn on/off each neck. The previous owner had it wired so that all 3 necks are on all the time, and he had bypassed the volume knob. I put the volume knob back in the circuit with this rewire.
All switches work like they're supposed to, however, all three necks sound different depending on the switch configuration. For example, neck 3 (farthest away) sounds good and rich in all configurations, but sounds best when it's on by itself. Neck 2 has more midrange, unless I use it in conjunction with neck 1, in which case it sounds smoother. Neck 1 is thin and has tons of mids. Neck one doesn't sound good to me in any configuration, but If I switch all three necks on, neck 1 is entire unusable because it is so thin and harsh sounding.
I was hoping that after this rewire, all the necks would sound about the same quality, but, unfortunately, that is not the case.
I have checked all the blend knobs, and all of the pickups are working. I have wired the necks in parallel according to diagrams I have found on this forum and other web resources.
Does anybody have suggestions? |
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Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
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Posted 6 Aug 2017 5:58 am
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1955 was a transitional year, but sounds like you have the newer style Stringmaster with the short scale and individual blend knobs on each neck? I haven't rewired that version but have looked at the diagrams.
I'm wondering if there's maybe something wrong with your neck 1 pickups, can you check them with a meter? Thin tone could be a break or damage in the winding or maybe leads. Also check your grounds are not faulty. Generally you may have a slight output/volume drop as you enable different combinations of more than one neck, but tone quality should remain fairly stable. Could also be old weak magnets, or they've been partially de-gaussed somehow, maybe see what the magnetic pull feels like with a small screw or paperclip, although its harder to be certain, but checking the output with an ohm meter is your best bet. Also did you re-use any old wires, do they check out okay?
Maybe someone else has some ideas. |
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