Help with 1st wind: Split Coil Precision Pickup

[Lucas]

Taken from the Seymour Duncan website:
"Leo’s split pickup was made with one coil magnetized South and the other coil magnetized North. One coil was wound Clockwise and the other wound Counter-Clockwise with both coils were hooked up in series to each other. The combination of opposite magnetic fields and coil direction produced a humbucking effect."

Can you get the same result by reversing connection instead of winding CW/CCW?
Is it better to ground the start or finish?

Lucas

[Lucas]

I have 3 bobbins with A5 rods from Mojo. I was going to wind one to 10k turns, one 5% under and the last one 5% over. I found a document on this site with a vintage fender spec of 10k with A2 rods. That said, would 10k on A5 rods be too over the top? What could I expect? Would fewer turns be recommended? Say 9k and +/-5%?

[big_teee]

I have wound them different ways.
The last one I did I wound both coils the same direction.
tied the starts together and hooked up the other 2.
On the 10k over and under 5%, I liked the less better than the more.
The more got too dark or muddy for my taste, especially on the bass side bobbin.

Good Luck,
T

[Lucas]

So, used one finish for the output, one finish to ground, and the two starts together? That effectively reverses the winding direction of one coil then, right?
Thinking maybe 9k, 9k5, and 10k.

[big_teee]

So, used one finish for the output, one finish to ground, and the two starts together? That effectively reverses the winding direction of one coil then, right?
Thinking maybe 9k, 9k5, and 10k.

Yes, I used the bass bobbin finish for output, and the treble finish to ground.
Be sure one bobbin is north up and the other is south up.
You may prefer 9.5, 10, and 10.5k for your choices.
9k may be a little low.
I wound them up to 11k but getting in the too dark for my taste.
T

[David King]

On a P Bass pickup you don't really care if the two halves of the pickup are in phase or not. All you care about is that you cancel the noise out. You can wind both the same direction or not.
Now if you're going to combine that P with a J you need to think that through if you want all 4 string in phase across both pickups.

[big_teee]

On a P Bass pickup you don't really care if the two halves of the pickup are in phase or not. All you care about is that you cancel the noise out. You can wind both the same direction or not.
Now if you're going to combine that P with a J you need to think that through if you want all 4 string in phase across both pickups.

The humbucker in the bridge solves the J problem.
Never did understand why the mix with the single coil J got so popular?

[Lucas]

On a P Bass pickup you don't really care if the two halves of the pickup are in phase or not. All you care about is that you cancel the noise out. You can wind both the same direction or not.
Now if you're going to combine that P with a J you need to think that through if you want all 4 string in phase across both pickups.

So winding direction or reversing connection has nothing to do with hum canceling?
Yes, I do need to consider combining with a J. Thanks.

[David Schwab]

Can you get the same result by reversing connection instead of winding CW/CCW?

Yes.

Is it better to ground the start or finish?

On the bobbin under the E and A strings, ground the start. That will prevent noise when you touch the magnets.

[David Schwab]

On a P Bass pickup you don't really care if the two halves of the pickup are in phase or not. All you care about is that you cancel the noise out. You can wind both the same direction or not.
Now if you're going to combine that P with a J you need to think that through if you want all 4 string in phase across both pickups.

This is why you want to reverse the electrical polarity of one coil, or reverse the winding direction. Then both halves are in phase. You can do it the other way, and even make it work with same polarity magnets, but that's a bad joke to play on someone down the road if they decide to add a bridge pickup.

[Lucas]

This is why you want to reverse the electrical polarity of one coil, or reverse the winding direction. Then both halves are in phase. You can do it the other way, and even make it work with same polarity magnets, but that's a bad joke to play on someone down the road if they decide to add a bridge pickup.

so then a split P is connected differently when in a PJ setup? They are wired in phase with each other and the J bridge pup is wired out of phase. When Split P by itself, each coil is wired out of phase, or CW/CCW direction.

[David King]

Lucas,
That would be the ideal configuration. Not sure how the switching would go for that but it shouldn't be hard to figure out for a 3 position, 2-3 pole switch.

[Lucas]

Lucas,
That would be the ideal configuration. Not sure how the switching would go for that but it shouldn't be hard to figure out for a 3 position, 2-3 pole switch.

that's what I am thinking.

[David King]

Position one would be P solo with one coil RW.
Position two would switch the phase of 1/2 the P and add in the J
Position 3 would solo the J.

All the P magnets would be S up. All the J magnets would be N up.

[David Schwab]

so then a split P is connected differently when in a PJ setup? They are wired in phase with each other and the J bridge pup is wired out of phase. When Split P by itself, each coil is wired out of phase, or CW/CCW direction.

No, it's a humbucker. The two coils are either wound in opposite directions, are connected electrically in phase, or wound in the same directions and connected electrically out-of-phase, just as with any humbucker. Then the opposite polarity magnets puts both coils in phase with each other in regards to the strings.

So if you add a bridge pickup, the two halves of the P will be in phase.

Regarding winding, doing the standard 10,000 turns per coil should never result in a muddy sounding pickup. P basses are much brighter than a lot of people think.