Middle Position Humbuckers out of phase wiring question

[pontiacpete]

I acquired an 70's Ibanez hollow body with 2 humbucker pickups and have been using it for about 15 years. It's a really nice guitar, the L-5 law suit model I believe. The neck pickup had been replaced by some previous owner. The problem is that the middle switch position is out of phase. I put up with it all these years until last week when I decided to try and wire it in phase. The easiest solution was to reverse 2 wires coming out of the replaced pickup, which is a shielded wire. This solved the out of phase issue but now I have a ground problem with that pickup.

How do I wire these 2 humbuckers in phase, in all switching positions and have them grounded? Both pickups have the same 2 wire(shield encasing a single wire)
Thanks in advance
pete

edit: the original is a super 70, not sure what the other is but, I should probably try to get 2 matching pups.

[big_teee]

It might be as easy as flipping the magnet over on one of them.
Plus it may need the cable reversed at the pickup.
As you figured out, you can't just flip the braid and output over at the pot on a braided ground cable.
It would have to be rewired in the pickup.
GL,
T

[pontiacpete]

Thanks T, if I get an old super 70 from say ebay, would that, more than likely, be compatible with the original in this guitar since they would be from the same manufacturer? Or do I have to get them as a pair?

[Mark Hammer]

Technically, and in theory, you should get a fuller sound by simply turning down one or the other pickup's volume, when in the middle position. Maximum cancellation occurs with opposite-phase PUs when the signals are of equal amplitude, make one of them lower than the other, and the cancellation is reduced considerably.

A nuisance to have to twiddle the knobs, yes, but less nuiosance than installing pickups in a hollow-body.

[Tony Bones]

As big_teee said, if you can open either one of the pickups and flip the magnet around that will reverse the phase of that pickup.

[Mick Bailey]

Anyone tried a small 1:1 transformer in this situation? Never tried this myself.

[dwmorrin]

Anyone tried a small 1:1 transformer in this situation? Never tried this myself.

While creative, it doesn't seem like a simpler solution than either opening the offending pickup or replacing 1 or both.
Not sure how a cheap transformer would do, sonically, and a good transformer would cost the same as new humbuckers.
Either way, you've got to mount the thing, which sounds like a chore in a hollowbody.