Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

awakeontheinside

awakeontheinside

New member
Alright, my understanding is to replace all the 250k pots with 500k pots (3) and wire everything exactly the same, and where the lead went from the stock bridge single coil, solder the black from the duncan JB there, tape off the red and white wires, and ground the green and bare to the volume pot correct? And, do I leave the capicitor on the bottom tone pot since I switched to 500k pots or remove that and solder a wire from the post it was on to the bottom of the tone pot?

I love the instructions they give with the duncan pickups, good if you are wiring les pauls only.

Thanks for any help or suggestions, I can not get this working correctly.
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

awakeontheinside said:
Alright, my understanding is to replace all the 250k pots with 500k pots (3) and wire everything exactly the same, and where the lead went from the stock bridge single coil, solder the black from the duncan JB there, tape off the red and white wires, and ground the green and bare to the volume pot correct? And, do I leave the capicitor on the bottom tone pot since I switched to 500k pots or remove that and solder a wire from the post it was on to the bottom of the tone pot?

I love the instructions they give with the duncan pickups, good if you are wiring les pauls only.

Thanks for any help or suggestions, I can not get this working correctly.
Click to expand...

I used the original 250K pots when I put a JB in my Strat with a SSL-1 neck and middle. The JB sounded flat and muffled so I switched all the pots over to 500K and replaced the .047 tone cap with a .02 Orange Drop. Much better, though it did make the single coils a little brighter too. Just copy your old wiring and you should be fine. The way you are describing wiring your JB is correct...but if you combine it with your middle pickup and the resulting tone is thin and nasal and out of phase then you're going to want to make the green hot and black ground to correct it. While you're doing all this wiring, you might want to move the connection on your 5 way switch that connects the second tone control to the middle pickup to the bridge pickup instead - I WOULD! Good luck! Lew
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

Lewguitar said:
I used the original 250K pots when I put a JB in my Strat with a SSL-1 neck and middle. The JB sounded flat and muffled so I switched all the pots over to 500K and replaced the .047 tone cap with a .02 Orange Drop. Much better, though it did make the single coils a little brighter too.
Click to expand...

Huh? I always thought a higher pot value would cut off more of the higher Frequencies and make it less bright...
And what excactly does the cap do with the sound.. I still don't get it... :smack:
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

***The JB sounded flat and muffled so I switched all the pots over to 500K and replaced the .047 tone cap with a .02 Orange Drop.***

what happens if i dont put a tone cap in? on the wiring diagram for a standard strat it shows a .022k wired to the far right post on the pot (bottom tone pot) and the other end soldered to the tone pot bottom.
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

alright, i have everything wired up EXACTLY the same as the fender wiring diagram, just put the hot from the JB to where the hot from the original bridge pickup was. The pickup works and sounds good, but there is a buzzing when i stop playing and it doesnt go away if i touch the bridge or pots. what could be causing this?
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

I had also questions and problems about Jb Jr and Pots.. Once i have written an email to Duncan and it was suggested to me maybe i should connect a 047 cap between the hot wire of my neck (single STR-1) and the switch.. i think 500K pots make the single ones brighter and in order to take them to their normal value, a 047 cap is needed between hot wire of single and the switch..

can that be?... what makes a cap when you connect it between hot wire of a pup and switch?..

Does anyone have an idea?
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

i am using a jb humbucker, not a jr jb, i replaced the 250ks with 500ks and wired EVERYTHING exactly the same. I had the green and bare wires grounded from the JB and then i tried grounding the black and bare and using the green as the hot and the pickup is less noisy, but stil more noisy then any of my other guitars, something must be messed up, but i checked the wiring like 20 times!!!

They are brand new 500K pots that i just put it, I was carefull not to heat any of them up too long, think that may be a problem?

I took out the .022 capicitor from the bottom tone pot and wired it like this....... (see my wiring.jpg attachment) and compare to the stock wiring of the bottom tone (see stocktone.jpg) attachment.

would THIS tone thing have anything to do with the annoying HISS/BUZZING I am hearing on all pickups??? (the only setting where there is not noise is when the switch is on the neck/middle switch position)
 
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Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

I put the .022 capacitor back in and it didn't change the amount of hiss or noise from the pickup. I guess I should try putting in ANOTHER brand new 500k volume pot? (since that one gets the most soldering).
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

the black and bare wires are grounded to the bottom of the volume pot, i originally had the green and bare wires grounded to the volume pot, but the green wire being the "hot" wire is less noisy than the black, but it's still TOO noisy.

All I did was replace the 250k pots with 500k pots and wired everything exactly the same as the stock standard stratocaster (the way it came from the factory) and put the JB humbucker green wire to where the original bridge pickup lead wire went to (which is the last post on the selector switch) and it's noisy as hell.
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

Are the shells of your pots well grounded? What type of pots did you use?

Luke
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

I bought brand new ALLPARTS 500k short post pots (the are about the size of a quarter). The 2 tone pots are grounded to the volume pot and I put in a larger ground wire to the claw on the back of the guitar hoping that would fix it but it didnt. I guess I should try another new volume pot? what would you recommend? all the wiring is solid!
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

All parts huh, it should be CTS, which is good stuff, I'll email your problem to JacksonMIA, he's an EE and can take a look at it. Are your body grounds still connected well?
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

Try this. Disconnect the black/plain and green lead and bridge ground from the guitar. Wire the green to the tip connection of your jack and the black, plain and bridge ground to your sleeve connection of your output jack. If the noise is still present you have a problem with the pickup though in my experience thats usually not the case. If it is there are a couple of things you can check with an ohm meter.

If the noise does go away you have either a wiring or a component problem. Disconnect everything from the volume pot. Attach the JBs green to the #3 terminal of the volume pot (outer/non-grounded lug). Connect the output jack tip terminal to the #2 terminal of the volume pot and connect the bridge ground and output jack sleeve terminal to the volume pot chassis. If the noise returns then you have a bad volume pot. If it doesn't you need to add the switch back into the circuit and then the tone pots until you find the problem.

I know it sounds like a hassle and it is, but there is not easy way to test for noisey components. Be sure to double check the volume pots #1 terminal (grounded to chassis). That connection can also cause problems if it isn't solid.

Good luck. i'm pretty good at digging out noise in guitars but I didn't get good on the first one, it takes time to learn what to look for.
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

luke, the body grounds are solid, i even put in a little thicker wiring for the grounds to see if that would help.

Robert, I will try connecting the pickup to the input jack and work through it like you suggested, sounds like that should work through process of elimination. I will add an update once i get that far.

Thanks for all the suggestions, hopefully we get through this one!
 
Re: Stratocaster SSS to HSS with JB

awakeontheinside said:
luke, the body grounds are solid, i even put in a little thicker wiring for the grounds to see if that would help.

Robert, I will try connecting the pickup to the input jack and work through it like you suggested, sounds like that should work through process of elimination. I will add an update once i get that far.

Thanks for all the suggestions, hopefully we get through this one!
Click to expand...

It's all about patience.........................unfortunately.
 
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