New used strat w/ Seymour Duncans - nonworking - repair and ID help needed.

[Standalone]

The sorry:
I picked up this MIK Samick strat type with a case “as is / untested” which usually means “tested, but there is a wiring issue” in my experience with these. Anyway I haven’t opened her up yet, but the jack is loose and wonky and I got nothing but ground buzz for a while until some back and forth with the 5-way and fomzareli magic with the jack. Even then only the bridge pickup passed sound.


I labeled this photo to show my friend what I’d gotten.

Anyway, the questions:
1. Can I reliably identify the little
Humbucker to be sure it is intended for Bridge use? I will assume it is since we have two SD pickups installed that the previous owner knew what they were doing, but one never knows.

2. Is this setup going to work harmoniously? Would it be strongly preferable to get a Little ‘59 in the Neck position?

3. Is the HSH wiring diagram on the SD site the one to follow?

Other recommendations and thoughts are welcome. I am a bassist who dabbles with guitar. I have a whole collection of vintage Ibanez guitars but for a few bucks, an experimentation platform seemed cool. I’m a jam band fan so of course I’d love to make a stealth Jerry Garcia oriented build of some kind (yes I know his later guitars used DiMarIos) but that’s probably too involved. I’m mainly just looking to get Thai running and hear what these pickips are about.

Skills dosclosure: My soldering iron skills are mid but passable, and I can use a multimeter if I’m told what to set it to and what to look for.

Thanks.

 

[Mincer]

Look at the back of the pickups for an ID label.

 

[jeremy]

the hsh diagram should be fine, and like dave said, check the labels on the back of the pups once you open it up. duck, single, lil59 should be a fine setup once working correctly

 

[Standalone]

Look at the back of the pickups for an ID label.

Thanks. Good to know that they should have labels.

 

[Standalone]

the hsh diagram should be fine, and like dave said, check the labels on the back of the pups once you open it up. duck, single, lil59 should be a fine setup once working correctly

Right on. Thanks — it’s helpful to know that knowledgeable folks consider it a good setup before I put the work in to getting it sorted.

 

[Artie]

Note that the Duckbucker in the neck, sounds best when wired in parallel. If it's 4-cond, (and it almost certainly will be), it will be black & red tied together to the switch, and green, white, and bare, all tied together, (and soldered), to ground.

BTW, what the heck is "fomzareli magic?" Even Google simply referenced this thread.

 

[magillver]

I think it's a misspelling of 'Fonzarelli', i.e. 'The Fonz' whacking the jukebox to make it work ...

 

[Standalone]

Note that the Duckbucker in the neck, sounds best when wired in parallel. If it's 4-cond, (and it almost certainly will be), it will be black & red tied together to the switch, and green, white, and bare, all tied together, (and soldered), to ground.

BTW, what the heck is "fomzareli magic?" Even Google simply referenced this thread.

I exist outside the boundaries of Google.

Ayyyyy

And thank you — for some reason, I do sort of understand series vs parallel and am generally a good visual thinker but wiring is always counterintuitive to me.

But I’ll explain. There was a TV show back in the day called “Happy Days” — film director Ron Howard was in it.

Anyway, the sitcom family rented out the garage to a local “Teen” played by Henry Winkley who was probably 35. He rode a motorcycle and was named Arthur Fonzarelli. As a cool revel dude he was known as “The Fonz”

He had a knack for getting the jukebox at the diner to work by bumping it. To us, we know he was probably just jarring loose some corrosion on some contact somewhere in the Seeburg. To the poodle skirted and letter sweatered diners, he was magic.

 

[Artie]

Yup. I know who "Fonzy" was. Just the typo through me off. Here's a simple way to help understand series / split / parallel. Works the same for a pickup.