donaldr
Well-known member
I just grabbed an LTD ST-213 in natural Ash with rosewood fingerboard for cheap. What an amazing guitar!!!
Stock pickups (vintage output) are good enough for me as they sound very open, clear and not muddy. One of the first strat sound I liked playing clean and crunch (Matchless DC30), she even handles distortion well ('80s hair rock on a Plexi), but I rewired one of the tone pot to bridge pickup.
Only problem is bridge pickup is a bit quieter than neck and middle. I tried lowering neck and middle pickups but I'm loosing their sweet spot and they become dull. I tried raising the bridge but still not a bit quieter.
When I rewired one of the tone pot to the bridge pickup I noticed that each pickup has different wire color, so likely each one was design for their specific location: neck, middle, bridge. I suspect that previous owner interchanged them when swapping pickup covers as the DC resistance is (measured using all pots on full and 3' cable): neck=5.75, middle=5.70, bridge=5.5. I know the DC resistance is not accurate 100% but since they are the same design alnico 5 pickups in the same guitar I'm comparing apples to apples. I find it a bit weird that bridge is lower DC than neck/middle.
So owners, what wire color do you have for neck, middle and bridge please?
If they are installed properly, and as I usually prefer a tiny bit louder bridge pickup, I will try an STK-S7 I have in neck poisition of another strat to see how it sounds in the bridge position of the ST-213. If still not on par I would look for Duncan/Dimarzio offering ;-)
Stock pickups (vintage output) are good enough for me as they sound very open, clear and not muddy. One of the first strat sound I liked playing clean and crunch (Matchless DC30), she even handles distortion well ('80s hair rock on a Plexi), but I rewired one of the tone pot to bridge pickup.
Only problem is bridge pickup is a bit quieter than neck and middle. I tried lowering neck and middle pickups but I'm loosing their sweet spot and they become dull. I tried raising the bridge but still not a bit quieter.
When I rewired one of the tone pot to the bridge pickup I noticed that each pickup has different wire color, so likely each one was design for their specific location: neck, middle, bridge. I suspect that previous owner interchanged them when swapping pickup covers as the DC resistance is (measured using all pots on full and 3' cable): neck=5.75, middle=5.70, bridge=5.5. I know the DC resistance is not accurate 100% but since they are the same design alnico 5 pickups in the same guitar I'm comparing apples to apples. I find it a bit weird that bridge is lower DC than neck/middle.
So owners, what wire color do you have for neck, middle and bridge please?
If they are installed properly, and as I usually prefer a tiny bit louder bridge pickup, I will try an STK-S7 I have in neck poisition of another strat to see how it sounds in the bridge position of the ST-213. If still not on par I would look for Duncan/Dimarzio offering ;-)
