Have You Ever Seen This Wiring/Pickup Negative to Capacitor

[Rocket Roll]

This is a seventies' Strat which should be all stock (though the pickups do seem a bit strange to my unexperienced eye... non-staggered polepieces). But look at this pickup configuration mass / negative pole - all three pickups are going to a 330nF capacitor, and then to ground. The rest of the wiring, upon a brief survey, appears stock.

It should not even work, maybe. But the owner (a great guitar player) swears by it - more sustain and a sort of compression unobtainable in any other way, says he.

What say you? Have you ever seen that kind of wiring?

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[Rocket Roll]

Update - it does seem it's a part of the circuit described here: http://www.singlecoil.com/docs/shielding_strat.pdf

[Cub]

I believe non-staggered magnets became standard somewhere in the second half of the '70s, so that's probably alright then.

A high voltage cap of about .22µF to .47µF is often used to protect you from being zapped by a tube amp that's not working properly. However, one end of the cap is then the star-ground while the other end goes to the sleeve of the jack.

edit: Ah, you posted about that while I was typing. Good show.

[phatt]

Hard to tell but it looks like it's ONLY the PU ground wires are isolated from circuit common.
While the link lifts the whole circuit off circuit Common,,,so they are different ,, I think?
too late now, bedtime here I'll look tomorrow.
Phil.

[John Mackenzie]

Is this not an attempt to make a "treble bleed" circuit on the volume control? The ones I have seen also have a resistor in parallel with the cap. I can't tell from he pics.

[John Mackenzie]

Is this not an attempt to make a "treble bleed" circuit on the volume control? The ones I have seen also have a resistor in parallel with the cap. I can't tell from he pics.

Having looked at this a bit further, I am convinced that I an wrong with my suggestion as above. i think it is a safety feature, as a previous member suggested. The article he posted the link to is very good, and explains everything.