Neck Pickup and Middle Pickup are Substantially Louder than Bridge Pickup

[Childeric]

Hello! Would appreciate some advice. I have a strat with new Black Winter humbucker pickups in the bridge and neck. I have an STK-S7 in the middle. Both the neck and middle pickups are substantially louder than the bridge pickup. The height of the bridge and neck are the same height. I have tried raising the bridge pickup - no change. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong? Thanks in advance!!

[Edgecrusher]

Does the bridge pickup sound ok? Might want to check the wiring. It should change volume at least some if you raise or lower it. I would look into that first.

[eclecticsynergy]

Yes,check the wiring.
But neck pickups do generally need to be set quite a bit lower, even in calibrated sets where the bridge pickup is wound more heavily.

It's physics - the vibrations of a string are biggest in the center. The closer you are to one end, the lower the amplitude.
There's less there for a pickup to pick up, so we get reduced output overall and especially less of the lower frequencies.

[Edgecrusher]

Yes,check the wiring.
But neck pickups do generally need to be set quite a bit lower, even in calibrated sets where the bridge pickup is wound more heavily.
.

It might be a difference in guitars but my guitar loaded with black winters the difference in height from neck to bridge is only about 2mm and this is with me preferring the bridge to be a touch louder. He shouldnt need a vast difference to get them to balance.

[Adieu]

Identical pickups (PAFs, vintage strat singles, etc.) will sound louder closer to the neck

Black Winter set isn't an identical set and has a weaker neck pup.

...did you maybe install them backwards, neck in bridge?? OR did you accidentally wire the bridge pup parallel instead of series?

Doing one or both of these things may cause what you complained of

[Wound_Up]

It's the same on my Goldtop. I just lowered the neck pickup until it was close to the same volume. That's with the stock, unknown pickups. I'll be swapping an SD 59 Model SH-1B into the bridge soon, so hopefully that'll fix it somewhat.

[dave74]

If you use the bridge mostly then set it first with the neck waaay down out of the way,,,,,then bring the neck up to match or make a nice blend with the bridge.

[ArtieToo]

...did you maybe install them backwards, neck in bridge?

That was my first thought. Worth double checking.

P.S. How do you like that STK-S7?

[donaldr]

P.S. How do you like that STK-S7?

I have one in the bridge of an LTD Strat (with STK-S4 neck) and I like it A LOT. I had it in the neck but it was too dark with 250k pots (it was also designed as a bridge single-coil pickup). Should work very well in the neck/middle with 500k pots matched to a powerful/dark humbucker bridge.

[ArtieToo]

I have one in the bridge of an LTD Strat (with STK-S4 neck) and I like it A LOT.

I think its the S9 that I have with my S4's. I like it too, but was curious about the S7.

[Childeric]

Thanks everyone!! I'm thinking that it must somehow be the wiring. The neck and bridge pickups are mounted correctly (not installed backwards). I also tried fretting the 22nd fret and plucking the strings. The string travel should be very similar at the neck and bridge in that case. Still, the neck is significantly louder. The bridge pickup sounds fine otherwise, just much lower volume. Also, I really like the STK-S7!! I did put in a Faraday cage. Maybe one of the wires from the pickup that was supposed to be tied off and wrapped in electrical tape is somehow grounding with the Faraday cage? Thanks again, everyone. I truly appreciate your help!!