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@Dooks-Fatberg
Turns out the "slight" buzzing when using the bridge PU was pretty much deafening when strung up and playing with overdrive. Balls.
So I had had to get under the bridge again to fix this morning's cock up. To avoid binning a third set of strings in two days I went drastic and removed the neck. Bit scary but it did the trick. Fiddled about with the thing in bits but plugged in until the penny finally dropped as to which wires i'd got the wrong way round. Had to bodge a couple of bits with scraps of electrical tape and add two extra bits of wire but got there in the end. Boom.
I'd already bypassed the tone control for the neck bucker in this morning's fiddlings but this time I managed to eliminate any ground hum and get the middle position in phase. It's sounding fantastic. Neck is perfect 60s jazzy pop. Very early George Harrison and it sounds massive with various combination of fuzz and overdrive. The middle position is beautiful for big strumming and country pickin' and the bridge is still a super bright tele bridge. Too bright really.
The only thing I would say is that hearing how nice the neck PU sounds has made me realise how ice-pick sharp the bridge is. I've always known is was bright and have compensated by rolling off tone (something I can do with the tone on the bridge only wiring I have now) but yeah, having started down this path of pickup tinkering has given me confidence to keep playing with it. Given the difference you can get in the sound of a guitar for the sake of £100 or so I'm definitely going to keep it up.
I can see lots fo fun to be had picking up cheapo squires and sticking decent PUs in them. I'd really like another Esquier with a Bigsby at some point. No reason I can't build one up from parts now I've got the confidence to tackle simple wire jobs.
Well chuffed