Flipping a Humbucker?

[Carbuff]

Does it matter which way a humbucker is installed in the guitar? Most 2H guitars that Ive seen ( ie pro mod) have the pickups installed opposite of each other with the adjustment pole pieces at the very top and the very bottom. Is this done just for looks or does it change anything electrically. Does it matter?

[Newc]

I've never been one to buy into the thought that the location of the screws matters, but many swear that the miniscule slots in them somehow direct the magnetic field, so aligning them correctly for optimum tone can be done.

Never seen any proof of that, of course, but these guys are of course experts in mojo with super-hearing, and they can hear things on a sub-atomic level we mere mortals cannot.

Which explains why they all have lucrative careers as setup techs.



However, most pickups are built so the north pole is pointed towards the neck and the south pole is located towards the bridge. Flipping the pickups around so they're south-to-south, for example, will leave them out of phase in a polar sense, but should not affect the electrical phase.

If it grieves you to see the screws not in their traditional locations, and you wish to flip the offending pickup, consider flipping the magnet around as well.

[DalyTek]

^^This.^^

[Venomboy]

On some pickups it matters. DiMarzio Crunch Lab sounds different flipped or not.

Someone told me the DiMarzio PAF should be upside down in the neck. I called DiMarzio and they said it makes no difference.

[Carbuff]

The reason I ask is because I put a tone zone in the bridge of my 3a and I noticed that the neck pickup was upside down so the poles would be screws to the neck and the lead was opposite of the hole requiring it to be a couple of inches longer. The sticker on the back specifies that its the neck pickup and yet the sticker would be upside down if installed that way like it should be. It just seemed strange. Also the previous person had the green lead grounded with the bare wire and the black as the hot. That is opposite of all the diagrams Ive seen for jackson pickups. I was just wondering if he had flipped the pickup and needed to reverse the wiring because of that. So, in review, tonezone in bridge with screws to the bridge, wired standard,Jackson pickup in the neck, screws to the neck, wired standard, and all should be right, in phase, and all that good stuff?

[Carbuff]

So, after a bit more searching Ive discovered that the wiring color charts listed all over the net are for newer jackson pickups and list the green as hot and the black as neg. My 86 j80c is opposite. Green is ground and black is hot, just like my pickup was wired.

[devastone]

It only matters if the pickup has asymmetrical coils, which alot of DiMarzios do (and DMZ has the patent on that). The Crunch lab and D-Sonic take it further and have a solid bar on one side and poles on the other. So, it can make a difference for some DMZs. The PAF Pro has matching coils so it doesn't matter. Pretty much doesn't matter on any other brand, even though Dimebag said he flipped his L500s, they have symmetrical coils, so I don't really think it made any difference unless his pickup was a fluke.

[Newc]

Some old Jackson pickups followed Duncan's wiring color scheme, where black is hot, green and bare to ground, and red+white are your splits.

However, in that color scheme black and green are swappable to make it phased with the other pickup(s) of different brands and wiring schemes.
So, if you put the switch in the center/both pickups on position and it sounds thin and nasally, then they're out of phase. Reverse the hot and ground on either pickup to correct that.

[Carbuff]

Thanks guys. You answered my question perfectly.

[Nightbat]

I've never been one to buy into the thought that the location of the screws matters, but many swear that the miniscule slots in them somehow direct the magnetic field, so aligning them correctly for optimum tone can be done.

Never seen any proof of that, of course, but these guys are of course experts in mojo with super-hearing, and they can hear things on a sub-atomic level we mere mortals cannot.

Which explains why they all have lucrative careers as setup techs.

I'm no electric wiz, but if I think a little logical (and pull a lot out of my ass )
it would be better to look at primary/secondary coil of a humbucker (in series)

coil 2 always recieves the signal from coil 1, so coil 2 -I guess- always amplifies what it recieves from #1
(apart from what it recieves from the strings itself), before sending it to the output

So arguably, if #1 (of a bridge HB)is located closer to the neck than #2,
it'll recieve more signal from wider movement of the strings (I am aware a much smaller tonal difference
then that between neck and/or middle and/or bridge P'up)
before being amplified by #2, then it would if it was closer to the bridge

I would tend to think the change in position of the coils would affect the sound, but by how much?
That'll forever be open for debate

[Trussrod]

I saw info about this on--IIRC--the DiMarzio site. It seems there is a difference with a few of their pups.

[DalyTek]

Does it matter which way a humbucker is installed in the guitar? Most 2H guitars that Ive seen ( ie pro mod) have the pickups installed opposite of each other with the adjustment pole pieces at the very top and the very bottom. Is this done just for looks or does it change anything electrically. Does it matter?

For what it's worth, my son's Dean ML came with stock zebra pups that both had the row of adjustable pole pieces on the bridge side of the pup.
As a matter of fact, both of the cream-colored bobbins were on the bridge side too.

It *looked* like they had installed the bridge 'bucker into both positions, but they are stamped bridge and neck on the bottoms and have completely different resistance values so I guess they were correct...

[toejam]

For what it's worth, my son's Dean ML came with stock zebra pups that both had the row of adjustable pole pieces on the bridge side of the pup.
As a matter of fact, both of the cream-colored bobbins were on the bridge side too.

It *looked* like they had installed the bridge 'bucker into both positions, but they are stamped bridge and neck on the bottoms and have completely different resistance values so I guess they were correct...

I had a Kelly XLR that had a J50N neck pickup... the adjustable pole pieces were on the bridge side. Not sure if they were all like that, but here's an example of another one with the poles on the bottom coil.