How to tell on a for-sale strat if the guy installed the hot rail correctly?

[Pacolyptic]

I'm considering a used Fender American Standard Strat where the bridge pickup (originally Custom Shop Fat 50s) was replaced with a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail. It's one of the things that initially got me interested, but when I checked out the guitar in person, I was disappointed by the output I was getting in the bridge position. Tone was fine but it really didn't seem significantly hotter than the middle pickup (e.g. the little difference in output I noticed was within the range of just doing a height adjustment). Not at all like the HSS fat strat I used to have.

So I tell that to the guy and he swears it's working just as it should. I'm wondering if he wired it correctly (I've read these forums enough to know there's a hundred ways to screw that up), but he's not going to take the strings off and remove the pickguard for me.

Are there ways of diagnosing whether its installed correctly without looking under the hood? Appreciate any and all help!

 

[Chistopher]

Re: How to tell on a for-sale strat if the guy installed the hot rail correctly?

Touch both rails with something metal (screwdriver) then touch both rails at the same time. If touching both rails is significantly louder than touching just one, it's wired in series, if they are the same volume then it is parallel. If one coil doesn't make noise, its wired split.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: How to tell on a for-sale strat if the guy installed the hot rail correctly?

A tech would hook up a multimeter, set it on kohms and select the bridge pickup, double check that all pots are full on. Then compare the given value with the Duncan spec site.

 

[Mincer]

Re: How to tell on a for-sale strat if the guy installed the hot rail correctly?

Hopefully he will let you do these things, as it certainly seems like something is a bit off here. Hot Rails should be at least twice as loud as stock singles, and with a much different EQ.

 

[jeremy]

Re: How to tell on a for-sale strat if the guy installed the hot rail correctly?

if its a bridge model hot rail, there should be a good amount of output. if its a neck version then it wouldnt be much hotter than the other pups in there