Socal Evo orientation?

[Zaneus]

I just spent the better half of this night installing a coil split DPDT switch into my So Cal. The tone is wonderful, it all works well. However, when i was doing a quick test to see which coils were active i noticed that the evo appeared to be around the wrong way.

I wired the DPDT switch up so that when it splits the coils, it leaves both inner coils on. Ie, the top coil of the bridge and the bottom coil of the neck. Thing is that the top coil of the neck is the one that is active. Only conclusion that i can come to is that the pickup, from the factory, is built to be put in upside down. Reason is because the dimarzio stamp is still the right way up but it splits as if it is upside down.

Can anyone confirm? I think it sounds great and i'll probably keep it this way even as the middle position sounds amazing and the neck position is great for very warm cleans.

[Grandturk]

Isn't the Evo one of the pickups that Dimarzio says it doesn't matter which way its installed? In that case you can turn it whichever direction you want to orient the split coil how you like.

[Zaneus]

That rings a bell. do you have a link? Only problem is if i turn the pup upside down to have the "correct" coil split, ten the DiMarzio logo will be upside down =\ .

[Grandturk]

From:

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/faq/

Does it matter which direction I install my pickup?
Most humbuckers are symmetrical and their sound does not change at all when installed backwards, but some have a slightly different sound if you install them in the opposite direction from normal. It’s not a matter of right or wrong, but a matter of taste for such a subtle difference, if you can hear the difference at all. Those models include the Air Norton™, Air Zone™, Evolution® neck, bridge and 7-string, FRED®, Humbucker from Hell™, DLX Plus™ neck and bridge models, Virtual P-90™, Blaze™ neck and bridge models and Tone Zone 7™.
The Steve’s Special™, the Bluesbucker® and the MegaDrive™ have distinctly different sounds if you turn them around, and there is no ‘right’ installation direction. The Bluesbucker® is brighter-sounding with the adjustable screw coil towards the bridge, while the MegaDrive™ is brighter-sounding with the adjustable screw coil towards the neck. The Steve’s Special™ is brighter-sounding if the coil on the pickup’s cable exit side is toward the bridge.

But the logo does bring up an interesting connundrum - none of my Dimarzio's have or ever had logos (I guess that's not true - the IBZ USA's in my Ibanez 770DX have logos).

[Zaneus]

That says that the Evo neck is one of the only dimarzio pickups that ARE different sounding when installed backwards.

[Grandturk]

Well it says they might - if you can even hear it.

[6string40]

This really won't help much b/c I can't remember exactly WHY I liked it better that way, but when I had an Evo2/EvoN set, I had the EvoN reversed and I liked the way it sounded better than installed normally.

So, yeah you can reverse it and yeah, it will sound a bit different.

[Zaneus]

But "reversed" is which orientation? when i split the pickup the coil that is on is the opposite of what it should be. So i can guess that dimarzio stamped the pickup 'upside down' on purpose because it sounded better?

[Newc]

Instead of shunting them to ground (as normal split wiring does), wire the switch so that you send the black and white (splits) to the output instead of the red wire (standard pickup hot). That will get the correct coil active.

[Zaneus]

well im not really worried about which coil is hot. I like the sound. I just wanted confirmation that the pickup is upside down by default?

[6string40]

But "reversed" is which orientation? when i split the pickup the coil that is on is the opposite of what it should be. So i can guess that dimarzio stamped the pickup 'upside down' on purpose because it sounded better?

Sorry...I meant that I preferred the tone with it installed upside down, meaning the lead coming from the top rather than the bottom.

[Mr.Shreddy]

What the fuck? ^^^^^

[Newc]

The lead comes from one side of the bottom, generally the treble side. He's saying he prefers the tone of the pickup physically rotated so the lead comes from the bass side (thus the "top").

You must be thinking he means "string side instead of cavity side"

[Zaneus]

What about your evos newc? When split the 'normal' way, is the outside neck coil active?

[Newc]

Mine's wired with the black+white going to a 3-way toggle that then goes to the middle position of a 3-way blade, so I'm splitting to the coil with the logo.