2 humbuckers one reversed?

[888guitars]

How important is it to have the neck humbucker reverse wound? or is magnet polarity the one to reverse? or are they far enough apart that it may not matter?

[Bill M]

What are you trying to accomplish? In a 2 humbucker guitar usually both humbuckers are wound in the same direction with the same magnet polarity. Now if you are going for the Peter Green sound just flip the magnet in one of the pickups.

[big_teee]

I agree with Bill.
Both wound the same, and same polarity.
Which way you turn them in the Pickup Adjustment ring doesn't matter.
Which way you turn the Magnet does.
If you want to change the Phasing, you can add a push pull Pot, or mini switch for that.
If you do the Phase changing you need a 4 wire cable on the Pickup you change the Phase on.
Good Luck,
T

[David Schwab]

Generally all the coils in a humbucker are wound the same direction. So the neck and bridge pickups will be the same in that regard.

[888guitars]

Ok, I am having some phasey sounding middle positions with 2 very similar pickups. I was hoping for a similar output when switched back and forth. or at least begin comming up with a good formula to build good matching neck pickups to the bridge pickups I like.

[big_teee]

Take one humbucker and turn the magnet over and see if that cures it.
You can always change it back.
T

[David Schwab]

Take one humbucker and turn the magnet over and see if that cures it.
You can always change it back.
T

Yep, that's the way to fix it if the pickup has single conductor/shield wiring. Otherwise just flip the hot and ground leads if it's 3 or 4 conductor wiring.

[big_teee]

Yep, that's the way to fix it if the pickup has single conductor/shield wiring. Otherwise just flip the hot and ground leads if it's 3 or 4 conductor wiring.

Because of the polarity issue I love the Mojo 2 Wire with shield.
It is less trouble than 4 wire, and much quieter than the braid push back wire.
I hook the white to start of one bobbin, and black to start of the other bobbin, and ground the braid.
That way you can feed either the white or black, and ground the other one, along with the shield.
AWG 28-Ga 2-Conductor Shielded Guitar Pickup Wire
It works great for rewinds too.
Since I bought the 2 Wire with ground, I hardly use the 4 wire.
The 4-wire on a humbucker is still an option, but I charge more money if I use it!
Good Luck,
Terry

[walcen]

Hi Guys, at the risk of copping a Gibbs head slap, and this may be completely off topic but it may help.On my LP build I used 4 wire modem cable as I have it in abundance. It's well shielded, thin, easy to thread through small cavities, strong and easy to solder. I hooked mine up as four wire to the pickups but only two at the control cavity, leaving me the option to play with it later.

regards

Walt

[888guitars]

I usually use wire similar to the mojo stuff. Im not sure whats going on here. i did flip the magnet around and now its really "out of phase" I put it back to the way I had it. I guess my question is now. what do you guys feel is a good match for your bridge pickups? do you like them to have the same kind of magnet and a bit less resistance? Im going for the good ol combination of a Jb bridge and 59 neck. They work well together.(not that i want to copy those pickups but their relationship together0 I am trying to figure a formula to match my bridge pickups with varying outputs.

[big_teee]

I usually use wire similar to the mojo stuff. Im not sure whats going on here. i did flip the magnet around and now its really "out of phase" I put it back to the way I had it. I guess my question is now. what do you guys feel is a good match for your bridge pickups? do you like them to have the same kind of magnet and a bit less resistance? Im going for the good ol combination of a Jb bridge and 59 neck. They work well together.(not that i want to copy those pickups but their relationship together0 I am trying to figure a formula to match my bridge pickups with varying outputs.

I just sell a few pickups, but the most popular I sell is!
A2 Set, Neck is 7.2-7.4k, bridge is 9.1-9.4k DCR.
Wind the neck coils symmetrical (both the same).
Wind the Bridge slightly asymmetrical a little more on the slug bobbin.
I usually charge the A2s to full Charge.
Mounted in the guitar, the bridge will end up mounted a little higher than the neck.
I never cared much for a JB, biut that is just Me.
Good Luck,
Terry

[888guitars]

I agree the JB is ok that is why we wind our own right! Are you winding the slug bobbin more because its a bit farther away from the bridge and it balances the brightness? How much more a few hundred winds or as much as 1k dcr more? not sure i could tell if it were any less ???

[big_teee]

I agree the JB is ok that is why we wind our own right! Are you winding the slug bobbin more because its a bit farther away from the bridge and it balances the brightness? How much more a few hundred winds or as much as 1k dcr more? not sure i could tell if it were any less ???

yes about .2-.3k on the slug.
IMO it makes the pickup less bright because it is further from the bridge.
If you want it brighter do it the other way.
You can actually tune to an individual guitar.
I have a LP that is so bright, that I have it quite a bit more on the slug coil.
Experiment and have fun.
Good Luck,
Terry

[David Schwab]

Remember though that unbalancing a humbucker makes it brighter because there is less high frequency cancelation going on.