Out of phase series problem

[ronh]

I am posting this question here because I would like some help from experts. I wired my two humbucker pickups to a 5 way switch with the following:
1- bass
2- bass and treble, parallel in phase
3- treble
4- bass and treble, series out of phase
5- bass and treble, parallel out of phase
My problem is with position number 4. If I tap the slugs on the bass pickup, I get no pop. I tap the treble pickup on the slugs, I get a pop. This position is wired as follows: Bass hot lead to ground, Bass ground lead to ground lead of treble. treble hot to switch out. Bass pickup reads 7.8k, treble reads 8.9 k. Resistance from switch out to ground reads 16.7K. It seems for some reason, only the treble pickup works in position 4. I have checked the wiring again and again. All the other positions work as intended. I hear no difference in sound between position 3 and 4. What have I done wrong? Thanks in advance for your help.

[David Schwab]

Do these pickups have separate shields, i.e., 3 or four conductor wiring? You can't wire them up that way if they use the vintage style 2 conductor wiring.

[ronh]

Yes, but

Yes, these pickups do have the 2 wire conductor. Hot and shield, but I covered the shield with heat shrink tubing all the way to the pickup. They dont short to anything. I dont see why they wont work like this. Can you explain? Thanks.

[David Schwab]

Because the shield of the one pickup becomes hot when you have them in series. Then when you flip one out of phase you are putting the hot to ground. Then you get no sound.

You have to rewire the bass pickup with a separate ground, and then (+) and (-).

[ronh]

I see now. Thanks for the explanation.