1966 Starfire IV 'dark' and out of phase?

[utlucas]

Hi guys, relatively new around here, but I had a question about the 1966 Guild Starfire IV that I picked up off ebay recently. I believe it is all original. It plays really well, and is in fantastic shape, but the pickups sound strange. In the bridge position, I think it sounds great. A bright but full sound. In the neck position, it sounds quite a bit darker, and almost muted (although not any quieter) compared to the bridge. In the middle position, it is a decent sound, but it sounds to me like they are out of phase. Its a thinner sound than either of the two pickups alone and is less full on the low end.

If I play any one of the positions for a while I get used to it, but its such a drastic change from one to the other. Is this common, or does it sound like the wiring/pickups have been changed? Thanks for any feedback you might have.

Here's a picture (sorry for the size):

 

[Walter Broes]

If you get a considerable volume drop, and all the low end dissappears in the middle position, but comes back dramatically when you turn one pickup down even a little bit, they're out of phase. Take the pickups out and look for evidence of the covers having been off (at the solder joints for the pickup covers), maybe someone flipped the magnets in one of the pickups to get that sound, some people love it.

 

[utlucas]

I'll try checking pickups... I actually don't mind the sound of the middle position, it's just not what you'd expect when combining the neck and bridge sounds. I have a Guild S-100 (with the phase switch), so I'd expect it to be fairly similar in terms of the combination of the tone and the volume with the phase switch set to keeping them in phase.

Can anyone with a 60's SF4 validate the neck pickup sounding very dark?

 

[adorshki]

Can anyone with a 60's SF4 validate the neck pickup sounding very dark?

I think either John Kidder or founder Don (aka "dklsplace") commented on this phenomenon recently. IIRC it was that the selector is only 2-way but it'll do that in "the middle".
Walter's suggestion is also possible, if not probable, in your case..

 

[GAD]

More than likely that one of the pickups is just wired backwards, which has a very similar (though technically not the same) effect as reversing one of the magnets.

 

[AfterGlo]

Hi. I have a 66 SF V and I would say that the neck pick up does sound dark, as compared to my 97 BBird. In fact, when I first got it, I tended to play much more in the middle and bridge positions, with both pickups volumes rolled back a bit. This was somewhat new to me, as I've always spent more time in the neck position.

But, as time went on, I found my way to the sweet spots for the neck pick-up and I love it now. The difference is that I think a bit more about my amp settings than I used to. I roll off the bass a little and goose the mids and treble. I also find that I play differently on this guitar - and it's opened me to new styles and approaches to playing. In a sense, I feel like I needed to lean how to play THIS guitar before I really felt gratified by the purchase and I've learned a lot about how to find my sound on all my guitars as a result of working to find my sound on the SF V. And I love this guitar now!

IDK if this is helpful to you or not, but I wish you the best of luck - Steve