Pickups dying?

[RideTheCrash]

I have a Austin strat copy lying around my house I hardly play. I picked it up last night and plugged it into the cheap Crate amp and I got some weird results from some PUP combos.

You know how normally the pup by the bridge is 'brighter' and the neck is 'darker'? Well At the bridge position -- it's normal...then the next 3 sound like mud and are very quiet (the bridge+middle, middle, and middle+neck selections). Then the neck pup sounds brighter than normal (then again it's been a while so maybe I'm remembering wrong).

So those 3 pickup selections (the middle three) just sound like mud and very quiet. Like, there is no highs whatsoever, it's like turning the low and mid knobs up and taking the highs way down. I'm assuming it has to do witht he guitar? I don't have any other electrics around to compare at the moment.

[2lim]

Call me crazy but i am guessing there is either a wiring issue with your middle pup(a wire corroded or broke) or your middle pup is busted(corroded or broken wires)



Simon

[olfunk]

im guessing there is a tone control for the mid pickup...
if there is, that being turned all the way down would contribute to those 3 being muddy. seems obvious now but ive not noticed obviouser things.

[RideTheCrash]

Ahh, yes, thank you, it was in fact the tone knob. I never knew it was for the middle pup...it never seemed to have an effect on anything.

[olfunk]

you're welcome, i only this because it happened to me once, it wasnt my guitar - it was a friends, and i thought i had broke it or something. luckily it was just the middle tone control turned down.