STK-S4 wiring issue?

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ancient_owl

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Hello!

I've just installed STK-S4 in the neck position of my partcaster. I was ready that it's a low-output pickup, but I have a weird issue with harmonics - it's exremely hard to get them and, moreover, it's completely impossible to get natural harmonics at the 5-th fret. I had Dimarzio Injector in my previous guitar and it worked fine. So, I guess, something is wrong with the wiring, although I used the wiring diagrams from the pickup box.

Does anyone have similar issues with their S-4 in the neck position?

Thanks in advance!
P.S. I may upload a video or wiring photos if necessary
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

The STK-S4 is not that low of output. It is lower output but it still puts out a bit more than most vintage Strat singles. Perhaps you have it wired wrong, perhaps it is a height adjustment issue. It's tough to say without having the guitar or at least a really high quality photo of the wiring in front of me.

I use a STK-S4 in the middle position of a HSH. It's a great pickup.
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

I've got STK-S4's in all three positions of one of my Strats, and I get decent pinch harmonics in all positions. But I'm an amateur and my ph's are subtle. YMMV. ;)
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

DSC_0130.jpg

Here's the basic picture. Neck SD pickup is wired this way: red isolated, black and bare (yellowish) - grounded, white - to the 3-way switch. I hope this will clear the situation...
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

It looks like you have it wired right? You have the red wire tubed off all by itself right, not with the red & white wires from the other pickup? I'm not 100% on this but if all 3 of them were stuck together it could create some kind of strange loop situation which would most likely result in some loss of output & sensitivity? It's hard to tell from the picture but if it's shrink tubed by itself you should be good??? It could just be a combination of the fact stacked singles aren't quite as good at picking up pinch harmonics & that the further up the neck you go the harder you have to work to get them? I don't mean you shouldn't be getting them, I just mean it could be the pickup isn't picking up? Try setting the pickup a bit closer to the strings & see if that helps any, if not then unsolder it & just start over, you'd be surprised how often that works???
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

Nostalgic Distortion, the red wire is left by itself, not soldered with any other wires - according to the wiring diagram. Well, I have a stacked single coil in another guitar and it works fine. Not being able to pick natural harmonics at the 5-th fret is quite odd for me, that's why I thought it's a wiring problem. Pickup is set at the same height as the bridge humbucker (medium output), so it can't affect the harmonics thing.
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

Does the pickup sound strange or does it seem okay aside from not being able to pick up the 5th fret harmonics? I'm asking because I've got the same pickup in the neck of one of my Strat's and a Custom Stack in the neck of another, when I use harmonics to tune I typically have to switch to the bridge because the neck pickup doesn't pick up the harmonic sound very well? My Custom Stack has almost nothing at the 5th fret, @ least not without a bunch of gain & even then it's not good? It gets a little better @ the 7th but you still have to work pretty hard to get it to ring out loud? Maybe it's just the pickup? Hum cancellation in singles almost always comes @ some cost, this just may be your compromise? But as far as I can tell from your pic it's wired correctly....
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

That effect is what I often find from the neck position pickup of electric guitars with with two-point vibrato bridges. That position of the pickup is a node, exactly one quarter of the length of the open string. So is the harmonic above the fifth fret.

I have a Fender AVRI '62 Stratocaster with the traditional six wood screw mount fulcrum vibrato bridge. I have a Fender Deluxe American Stratocaster with the deluxe two-point vibrato with stainless steel saddles. Through the AVRI's neck position pickup, the harmonics above the fifth fret ring true. The Deluxe American (and several American Standards that I have known) fails to amplify that set of harmonics. As a consequence, my Am Dlx has long since been single humbucker and two good A500k pots à la Allan Holdsworth.
 
Re: STK-S4 wiring issue?

Funkfingers, wow, didn't know that. So it's not the pickup, it's the physics - hard to beat that...
BTW, it's not a vibrato - it's Hipshot fixed bridge.
 
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