Can a PU with reversed phase impact the tone of the other PU played alone?

[freefrog]

Hi everybody,

I've mounted a phase inverter in a 2 PU's guitar: the switch reverses the wiring of the neck pickup.

We all know how the PU with its phase reversed sounds slightly different... Nothing special here.

But to my surprise, I notice a difference as well when I play the bridge pickup ALONE while the neck one has its phase reversed...

Has anyone else noticed the same thing? Or must I reach the closest psychiatric hospital?

Thx in advance for any input about this stupid question...

[Chuck H]

It's a stretch for me. If it's just the wires that are swapped and not the magnetic polarity then when the pickup is not part of a completed circuit it has no phase. And therefor no ability to affect the tone of any other pickup.

But before you check in, maybe post a wiring diagram just in case there's some difference in your guitar that might cause a difference when the phase switch is flipped.

[freefrog]

It's a stretch for me. If it's just the wires that are swapped and not the magnetic polarity then when the pickup is not part of a completed circuit it has no phase. And therefor no ability to affect the tone of any other pickup.

But before you check in, maybe post a wiring diagram just in case there's some difference in your guitar that might cause a difference when the phase switch is flipped.

Thx for your answer . I understand what you say and tend to agree but that's precisely why I'm stuck.

The guitar is not mine: it includes a std Les Paul wiring that I've mounted a few days ago.

I had never noticed what I describe before but the 2d hand PU's that I've put in this axe are special (really bright and clear), so it's as if they were "revealing" something that the average muddy HB usually hides (?). IDK. Psycho-acoustic, maybe...

[David Schwab]

The pickup's phase does impact which way the speaker cone is moving, and some people can hear that. I have noticed a very slight difference in tone years ago when reversing a single pickup's polarity.

[Chuck H]

David,
Are you sating that when the bridge pickup is being used by itself that reversing the phase on the neck pickup (while not in use) will change the phase of the speaker movement?

Inverting speaker phase will change tone because you;ve inverted all the harmonics. On one of my builds I had an effects loop that was audibly transparent but did invrt phase. If you hung a note and it bloomed into a sustained harmonic, then flip the effects loop in, the harmonic would fade and re bloom as a different harmonic. Of course I had to change that.

[jrfrond]

It all depends on what amp you are playing it through i.e. whether it is a "forward-playing" amp or not. "Forward-playing" simply means that the output is in phase with the input, and there is a slight difference in the apparent loudness and tone. However, if you were to reverse the pickup phase and play it through a backward-playing amp, the signal phase would be reverse again at the speaker. Get it?