Series wiring with strat pickups

Just wanted to ask if anybody has done this with strat pickups?  
The guitar in question is a harley benton prince copy- so it's same as a regular tele setup but with strat pickups instead. So I've got a 4 way switch for it but wasn't sure if you have to add another wire to neck pickup like you do with a tele to do the mod?
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Comments

  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    The extra wire on a Telecaster neck pickup is to allow separate grounding for the coil and the metal cover. 

    On a Stratocaster type pickup, the third conductor would only help if the pickup has screening foil tape around the coil.
    Be seeing you.
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  • jimboflojojimboflojo Frets: 122
    Cheers @Funkfingers. So it's just straight forward wiring up. What about if a base plate was added to bridge before doing the series wiring? The reason I ask is I heard the start pickups produce more buzz when in series compared to tele pickups - or is that wrong?
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  • FunkfingersFunkfingers Frets: 14321
    Depends on the order in which the two pickups will be series linked.

    By definition, one pickup will always be hardwired to ground. If that is going to be the bridge position pickup, the metal baseplate can be grounded via a short jumper cable to the same soldering eyelet as the bridge pickup's black output conductor.

    In some respects, it might prove wiser to give the metal baseplate its own separate insulated ground cable. That way, if you change your mind, the baseplate modification would be easy to reverse.
    Be seeing you.
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  • steamabacussteamabacus Frets: 1258
     The reason I ask is I heard the start pickups produce more buzz when in series compared to tele pickups - or is that wrong?
    In series, two normally wound pickups will pick up twice as much noise. But if one of them is RW/RP (Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity) then, effectively, you will have a very wide spaced humbucker. On a Strat, you would have to sacrifice noise cancelling on either position 2 or 4 but with just two pickups you won't have that problem.

    I've used the Neck and Bridge in series mod on a couple of Strats and I think it's a useful sound. Beefed-up output, sounding a bit more like neck pickup than bridge.
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  • jimboflojojimboflojo Frets: 122
    Thanks guys. They aren't rw/rp so probably will be a bit noisy. But if I've understood correctly having a baseplate isn't going to make them hum any less?
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  • OilCityPickupsOilCityPickups Frets: 9982
    edited July 2018 tFB Trader
    Thanks guys. They aren't rw/rp so probably will be a bit noisy. But if I've understood correctly having a baseplate isn't going to make them hum any less?
    A baseplate if added to a strat doesn't do very much to reduce hum ... it alters the pickups inductance (providing it's steel) and thus changes the resonant peak of the pickup to be a bit more mid/bass biased ... thus the reason it's popular for the bridge position. It'll do that grounded or not ... as it's about adding ferrous material in the magnetic field.

    Professional pickup winder, horse-testpilot and recovering Chocolate Hobnob addict.
    Formerly TheGuitarWeasel ... Oil City Pickups  ... Oil City Blog 7 String.org profile and message  

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  • jimboflojojimboflojo Frets: 122
    Thanks mate for confirming that. I'm going to try the mod out and report back. Might put a Base plate on after if I think it needs it.
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