North up vs. South up - Does it matter?

[rhgwynn]

What are your thoughts? Why did Fender make a permanent switch?

-Rob

[David Schwab]

It doesn't matter, but if you want your replacements to be in phase, you have to do them the same way.

Why did they change? Who knows.

[ken]

That is one of the great mysteries of pickup making, just like why Fender put 1meg pots in teles or why they quit potting pickups in wax

[rhgwynn]

I'd love to see some frequency curves of the same pickup charged both ways. Charge North, test, degauss, charge South, test. Then it wouldnt be such a mystery anymore...

-Rob

[David Schwab]

I'd love to see some frequency curves of the same pickup charged both ways. Charge North, test, degauss, charge South, test. Then it wouldnt be such a mystery anymore...

Well don't forget that on some instruments, like the Jazz bass and Mustang, they have one of each. They don't sound any different.

[big_teee]

I've wired and polarized them difference ways.
I can't tell any difference.
There seems to be no standard way how everyone does single coils.
Bobbin height, coil diameter, total turns, tension, wire size, & winding patterns, IMO are the most important factors.
I always do RWRP in the middle unless told otherwise.
I've never had a vintage Strat player complain about RWRP, after playing them.
I wind most of my pickups on the right side Facing, Top going, or CCW.
T

[Jim Shine]

My theory on the change is it coincided with a change in the tool that magnetized the pickups. Usually these types of changes happen when tools and manufacturing change. I believe wax potting was dropped to standardize potting. They didn't use wax on ALL pickups in the pre-CBS era. Usually PE wound pickups were dipped and Formvar were wax potted. Later they switched to one wire type and one potting system across the board.

[Stratz]

Today's Strat style pickups seem to have pretty much been designated to CW/ south up. Tele pickups on the other hand can be a crap shoot.



Fun, ain't it

[big_teee]

Today's Strat style pickups seem to have pretty much been designated to CW/ south up. Tele pickups on the other hand can be a crap shoot.
Fun, ain't it

That works good.
With one exception.
Most commercial Humbuckers are wound CCW/North.
for a HSS guitar I like the middle to be CCW/S-up.
Neck N/CW. Or a Neck blade CCW/N, for HSH.
I'm sure that can be done differently.
Then if You split the H, You have RWRP, between bridge and middle.
I do that with my mini blades combined with SC middle.

[David Schwab]

Most commercial Humbuckers are wound CCW/North.

Humbuckers have a North and South coil.

for a HSS guitar I like the middle to be CCW/S-up. Neck N/CW. Or a Neck blade CCW/N, for HSH. I'm sure that can be done differently. Then if You split the H, You have RWRP, between bridge and middle. I do that with my mini blades combined with SC middle.

If you are talking about slitting to just get the screw coils, just make your middle pickup CC/South up, or flip the magnets around in the humbuckers. As long as you give people at least 3 conductor wiring, it doesn't matter. If they are combining it with another pickup and it's out of phase, they can change the polarity.

[big_teee]

Agreed there are all different ways to do it.
with a HSH, My way I can wind all coils CCW, my standard way of winding.
On a Split Bridge H, I feed the Slug coil, it is further from the bridge.
Like I say, this is all just individual preference.
I've tried it all different ways, that's my Pick.
I try to always feed the finish on SCs, to stay away from possible magnet shorting, and magnet noise when touching the pickup.

[David Schwab]

I wind most of my pickups all in the same direction. When I do single coils, like Jazz bass pickups, I wind them opposite. This keeps the start of the coil at ground so they don't make noise if you touch the magnets.

I tried doing my humbuckers opposite for a short while, but it was a headache.

[ken]

My theory on the change is it coincided with a change in the tool that magnetized the pickups. Usually these types of changes happen when tools and manufacturing change. I believe wax potting was dropped to standardize potting. They didn't use wax on ALL pickups in the pre-CBS era. Usually PE wound pickups were dipped and Formvar were wax potted. Later they switched to one wire type and one potting system across the board.

I had a mental picture of somebody burning themselves on a wax pot, so ever after everybody took turns deep breathing around the nitro potting can.

Check this out... a photo I found of a 1966 Tele lead with no potting of any kind at all! The string looks like it needs a shave. I also have an original 1960's Tele rhythm pickup here that was dunked in red lacquer. I used to think it was a victim of a really messy refin until I saw a much cleaner one just like it on Ebay.

ken

[ken]

Sorry about that... here are photos. My computer's cell connection is going nuts right now for some reason.

The 1966 Tele pickup has the white string.

The other one is a photo I found of a 1975 pickup with black string (!)

ken