Any Ideas??

[badxmpl]

I completely rewired my 1st year Lone Star Strat because I didn't like the look of the existing soldering at all. I thought it wouldn't change much but it went from being my favorite Strat to only being played to see if it's "Healed itself". In a nutshell, here's what happened (to my ears, anyway). The single coils got less bright; the SD bucker got much brighter. (and goes to "brittle" in the second position) Both symptoms are with the tone pots dimed. Neither symptom was anything I wanted. Anyone have an idea why?

[tele savalas]

Did you replace any components or just re-flow the existing solder joints? If you did not change pots or capacitor, you might have over-heated one. Also, double-check the humbucker and middle pickup leads - a brittle sound in the number 2 position is typical when the polarity of the middle pickup and split coil of the humbucker are reversed.

[badxmpl]

I changed both caps but no pots. The previous assembly was not according to the factory diagram~ reason number II for the job. But since the pots are wide open, the caps don't even come into play, do they?
BTW, I went by the original wiring diagram with SUPPOSEDLY the correct color code wires.... Any chance they might not be "correct"?

ALSO: when you said "overheated one" did you mean caps or pots? I did use cheap caps but am under the impression that unless the pot is dialed back, the cap is bypassed... is that incorrect?

[tele savalas]

You know more than I do about the electronics of pots and caps. I've never fried a cap and I think that if you fry a pot you can feel increased resistance turning the knob. I recently worked on two HSS strats and went through a wide variety of wiring readjustments. Of course, one was using GFS pickups, so I will have to go back to my correspondence with them and will let you know what I came up with. Too tired tonight - just finished working since 8 am. Would be curious about the caps. Anything Orange Drop or better should be beyond question, and again, I don't know about the electronics between the pot and cap. Damn, I got so sick of studying after medical school, residency, countless board exams and continued competency that I'm too damned winded to go back and learn even basic electronics. Gotta say, though, that might just be my number one passion once I retire.

[badxmpl]

I wouldn't say I know more about anything LOL... I just seem to remember that if a pot is wide open, the cap is "out of the loop" so to speak. and I could be wrong about that. The pots feel like they always have and work the same.... I get that you are "caught up" on your studying... Just thinking about it makes my head hurt! Thanks for your thoughts, Mike...

[Srini]

Wow, this is so far above my pay grade, I shouldn't even say anything - but I'll say that I'm befuddled!

Srini

[SAguitar]

Me too, I can't read a schematic much more complicated than wiring up a Strat! I leave the tough stuff to my amp geek friend, he knows that stuff very well, and frequently talks way over my head.

[Joelski144]

It's possible that in restoring the wiring to it's original configuration that you might have removed a mid boost or somesuch modification. What prompted you to get in there?

NM, gray solder. Sounds like a treble bleed mod, but that only makes sense if you roll off the tone some...

[tele savalas]

Gray solder means a cold solder joint, one that was not allowed to cool properly.

[badxmpl]

Gray solder means a cold solder joint, one that was not allowed to cool properly.

That part I get. That's why I re-soldered it. Didn't like the technique the "tech" used. I have a couple ideas but will reserve them until I do some testing..

I still would like to hear any thoughts anyone might have!
thanks, people!