How do you recognise pickup phase

[David Schwab]

I know what are magnetic poles. But how do you relate them to the wires from the pickup?

You don't. if it's a humbucker one coil will be North and the other is South. You wire the coils up start to start or finish to finish, assuming they were wound in the same direction. If you have the coils the wrong way the pickup will hum, and will sound very thin. It's easy to spot. \

Typically the screw coil is South:



The only time you have to worry about the magnet is if you are out-of-phase with another pickup. If that's the case, you can either flip the magnet around, or just reverse the electrical polarity of the other pickup. If the pickup only has 2 conductor cable, flipping the magnet is easier.

[oc disorder]

The Rolls PT 102 Phase Checker
This "phase tester" polarity checker really is meant for quickly checking the polarity of speakers in a pa but in addition to the line out it has a miniature speaker which puts out a positive pulse.
Its good to check mics with but has the added bonus as you can hold the speaker over the pickup and connect the output to the receiver which has an in phase and a reverse phase led.
You can pick these up for about $140 new or if so inclined build the circuit in the manual.The receiver has a built in electret mic and a line in.
I used a French SCV one years ago they used to cost more than $300 as I recall.It may be necessary to use/build a simple pre-amp to bring the p/u up to line level.

Here's the manual complete with schematic !

http://www.rolls.com/pdf/M_PT102.pdf

[David King]

I think the Rolls is a great but it needs to test two coils simultaneously and give magnetic polarity. We can easily design a gadget that does what we need and I'm sure it will cost less than the Rolls or the SVC. Am I the only person who would use this?

[RedHouse]

...We can easily design a gadget that does what we need...

We?

[rhgwynn]

We?

You know man - your attitude really isnt conducive to the friendly atmosphere we have here in the Pickup Makers Forum.

YES - WE. WE work together to help each other. WE come up with ways to make our jobs and hobbies easier. WE share that information and ideas with the others here. Then WE work together to make them a reality. Case in point - CNC Winder, Gauss Meter, and now possibly a phase/polarity tester. WE dont make sly and backhanded comments towards other members. WE respect each other because WE ALL have at least one thing in common - and it's all WE need.

-Rob

[eschertron]

Just to recap what exactly is the problem.
There are actually three problems:
1. You have unknown humbacker with two coils and you need to connect them properly.
2. You have two humbackers from two different manufacturers and you need to connect them properly.
3. You have two humbackers and one single pickup (from unknown manufacturer) and you need to connect them properly.
They are not exactly the same problem.

And the problem I had was the problem #3 listed above. I think in the future I will use the method mentioned by Steve (unless it is also possible with a compass - I'm waiting for an answer from Rob).

Mark

If the humbuckers that you are using are only two-wire units, the solution is relatively simple. Forget about the multimeter or magnet and use your ears. If all your pickups have two wires available per coil, then...

The concept that seems to have been danced around is that there are TWO components in a pickup: coil and magnet. EACH ONE has a direction (polarity or phase), so any given pickup can be classified by how its wired into the circuit with TWO descriptors. "Normal polarity, normal phase" is a typical descriptor. you test the polarity of the magnet with the compass, and you test the phase of the coil with the multimeter to get these two parameters. Note that for my description, a humbucker counts as 2 pickups. Each pickup (once a wire has been tagged as 'ground', or perhaps 'south') can be described as NN NS SS or SN; also known as "Normal polarity, normal phase", "Normal polarity, reverse phase", and so on. While you choose which way to connect the wires (Normal or reverse), you cannot easily reverse the polarity of the pickup's magnet. You must work with that constraint.

edit: D'oh! I just saw that kayakerca said this with a much clearer explanation...

[David King]

Rob, if stick around here a little longer you'll understand that Brad pretty much never says anything to be taken seriously anymore. He also has a point in that I'm probably the only person here who thinks this gadget would be useful enough to bother with. You probably just made his day by responding in such a fervent, non-ironic way.

[David Schwab]

We?

David means YOU Brad. We know you have all that mad scientist gear and all.

Keep us informed on your progress.

[MarkusBass]

Thanks everyone for the input. Actually I did it using my ears (as it was advised by some of you). It is not that difficult if you do it in little steps; first one humbacker, then the other humbacker, then two humbackers, and finally the last pickup. What caused some problems was the fact that the guitar had so called Floyd Rose bridge and in order to get access to pickups, I had to remove strings. In this case testing each pickup wasn't that easy.

Mark

[RedHouse]

You know man - your attitude really isnt conducive to the friendly atmosphere we have here in the Pickup Makers Forum.

YES - WE. WE work together to help each other. WE come up with ways to make our jobs and hobbies easier. WE share that information and ideas with the others here. Then WE work together to make them a reality. Case in point - CNC Winder, Gauss Meter, and now possibly a phase/polarity tester. WE dont make sly and backhanded comments towards other members. WE respect each other because WE ALL have at least one thing in common - and it's all WE need.

-Rob

Oh c'mon now Rob, isn't that a bit over-the-top?.
(speaking of attitude)

I'm curious why my reply to David seemed as some kind of personal offense to you?

If a simple "We?" post can set you off so easily, what are ya gonna do when you get involved in some of the real intense debates that come-n-go around here. You'll have to put on a thicker skin if you intend to hang here.

It's all good though, I know you weren't around back when "we" did the Gauss Meter and CNC stuff (in which I did a fair part of the "we" work) but just to let you know ...I was just kidding with David(K).

You'll find that David is a great guy, and tends to "stir the pot" as we all do now-n-then. I sometimes elbow him in the rib when he's standing up there on the bar waving his beer mug in one hand, and that darn stir-stick in the other.

Of course in turn, he likes to seminally dismiss my no-offense-intended quips as water off a duck's back. It's all good AFAIC
(or would that be AFLAC)

Rob, if stick around here a little longer you'll understand that Brad pretty much never says anything to be taken seriously anymore. He also has a point in that I'm probably the only person here who thinks this gadget would be useful enough to bother with. You probably just made his day by responding in such a fervent, non-ironic way.

I'm making a concerted effort to avoid being taken seriously, is it working?.

Really it is a good idea, and though I probably wouldn't front-burner a project like this at this time, being a gadget-oriented kind'a guy it will be interesting to watch this development and see if it goes anywhere.

There is always a place for purpose-specific tools in one's tool box IMHO. Last time I tried to get a "we" project/development thing going on it didn't go anywhere (recall the pickup profiling device?) now IMHO that would have been a really handy piece-o-gear in the 'ol toolbox.

David means YOU Brad. We know you have all that mad scientist gear and all.

Keep us informed on your progress.

Muahahahahaha

[davos]

This guy has a decent video explaining everything and showing the screwdriver trick - Identifying Pickup Wires & Polarities - Humbucker - YouTube