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I don't know if this is a wiring fault or the pickup itself was faulty, but I've just reassembled a customer's Fender Stratocaster I refinished for him (he wanted to go from black to sunburst), and as I was wiring the thing back together the bridge pickup had very bad output that would cut in and out especially when installed. So I took the pickguard off again and discovered one solder was poorly done (I think the customer changed pickup by himself and did a poor job of soldering), so I reflowed the bad solder and the output is good. However I've noticed the pickup sounded rather thin compared to the other pickups, yet the wiring isn't wrong or out of phase.

Could this be a sign of faulty pickup?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

If you're asking that by correcting a bad connection you hurt the pickup- I'd say no.

Correcting a bad soldering connection will not change the characteristics of the pickup.
Overheating can "kill" it by melting a coil connection or ruin a component in the chain but
it won't change the pickups properties.

If you removed the pickup from the pickguard then you may have changed the sound by not adjusting it properly.
(height adjustment in relation to strings)
Magnets can lose magnetism in numerous ways so you may want to varify each is magnetized.

Ever figure this one out?

Unless it is a humbucker, wired out of phase with itself, I would think the next thing to check is the magnetism.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

The customer said that the pickup sounded like that before, so it was probably a bad pickup. It was a single coil.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com