Bad humbucker question.

[the great waldo]

Hi mcgruff

Can you please tell me what the arrows are supposed to signify in the diagram.

Cheers
Andrew

Yeah sounds a bit like they're out of phase.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]26187[/ATTACH]

[jack briggs]

Hi mcgruff

Can you please tell me what the arrows are supposed to signify in the diagram.

Cheers
Andrew

Looks like magnetic polarity.

Cheers,

[Justwannano]

Don't know what color 28 ga wire you have for start and finish leads.
I like to use black for starts and white for finish.
Tie the the two white finish leads together.
That only leaves the two black leads to connect if your using the braided push back wire.
T

I used all 4 colors but I'm going to use black and white on the new pup.

I'll try to take a picture and post it Terry when I get there.

[big_teee]

I used all 4 colors but I'm going to use black and white on the new pup.

I'll try to take a picture and post it Terry when I get there.

I do the 4 colors also at times.
Especially when I use 4 wire with shield cable.
Sounds good.
T

[mcgruff]

Can you please tell me what the arrows are supposed to signify in the diagram.

Yeah magnet direction. There are three things which can flip the phase of the electrical signal generated by the strings: magnet direction, clockwise/anti-clockiwise coil wind (shown in the diagram if you look carefully), and whether you connect finish (red square) to finish or start (blue circle) to finish. I'll update the diagram later to make it clearer.

EM noise captured by the pickup acting as an antenna isn't affected by the magnet polarity - hence we can make a pickup in phase and humbucking.

[mcgruff]

PS: I managed to pick up a cheap LCR meter for about $30. I don't know how accurate it is for measuring inductance. So long as it's consistently inaccurate, it would still be useful for comparing pickups to each other.

[big_teee]

I always liked this diagram, and it helps see what is going on.
https://www.google.com/search?q=humb...tm%3B416%3B420
It is not the only way to wire a humbucker, or the only color code, but It shows what is going on.
T

[Justwannano]

Got it apart but removing tape/wax and the leads broke away from the wire so no pictures needed.
I did wire it wrong because the white and red leads soldered together.
I had G-S/ W-F on screw - R-S/ Blk-F on slug so I know I wrongly put Finish to Start.
The magnet measured the same as the new magnet in kit- 35 on my meter.

Now the polarity...
How I have it that I thought was correct- so curious about that too...
The slugs on both coils are to the "inside"- the screw on the neck is towards neck, the screws on the bridge are by bridge.
So from the bridge; S/screw, N slug...S/slug, N/screw

I'm feeling like maybe I should take up shooting pool or something....but until then I'd appreciate finding out
how far off base I am before I build the replacement...with thanks.

Mike

[mcgruff]

Polarity sounds fine. If you get it wrong, the pickups will still sound fine on their own it's just that they'll be out of phase with each other in the middle position. That can actually be a cool sound and one reason I like Jimmy Page wiring in a dual humbucker guitar.

[Jim Darr]

Mike,

Glad you figured out you had a wiring issue. Don’t give up…we all made simple errors as we learned…some of us, including me still make mistakes today. I try not to make the same mistakes too often. That is the reason that Jason suggested checking all outgoing pickups with a battery of simple tests to compare against our known standard for that model or design (gauss, polarity, dc resistance and inductance). My guess is the pickup will sound just fine once you correct the wiring.

Regarding your polarity question, most traditional HB pickups are South on the “screw” side. The way you mount the pickup in the guitar (ie screw side facing the bridge or the neck) will slightly affect the tone but shouldn’t be a polarity factor. You can get the “Peter Green” sound by flipping one pickup’s magnet to make it North on the screw side. This will only affect the tone when both pickup are used together.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Jim

[big_teee]

Mike,

Glad you figured out you had a wiring issue. Don’t give up…we all made simple errors as we learned…some of us, including me still make mistakes today. I try not to make the same mistakes too often. That is the reason that Jason suggested checking all outgoing pickups with a battery of simple tests to compare against our known standard for that model or design (gauss, polarity, dc resistance and inductance). My guess is the pickup will sound just fine once you correct the wiring.

Regarding your polarity question, most traditional HB pickups are South on the “screw” side. The way you mount the pickup in the guitar (ie screw side facing the bridge or the neck) will slightly affect the tone but shouldn’t be a polarity factor. You can get the “Peter Green” sound by flipping one pickup’s magnet to make it North on the screw side. This will only affect the tone when both pickup are used together.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Jim

Like Jim said.
Normal is north to the slug on both pickups.
Slugs to the inside like you said.
Output to the slug north side.
Ground the start of the screw bobbin on both neck and bridge pickups.
Just like they show you in the Stewmac Instructions.
STEWMAC.COM : Instructions for Humbucker Kit
If you have a offset on the bridge pickup, most put the most wire on the slug coil.
T

[Justwannano]

Thank you guys. I'm getting a clearer picture about these HB's.

I got the replacement wound and assembled.
I put 5000 on the screw and 5250 on the slug. Got 8.01 - I won't be winding anymore until I get
the inductance meter. (once I guess my way through helping out my friend) I feel like I'm throwing darts with a blind-fold on.
I still have to pot it.

I'm not going to change the magnet of the neck pup. I'm going to tell my friend what's up and let
him decide...I know he likes Page so why not? If he doesn't like it we'll know how the bridge pup sounds too
and may have to drop back and punt.

I was expecting a higher reading though. When I read "add 5%" is that of one coil or both?

Well, hearing it will tell the story. Not sure if that will happen today or not but will keep in touch until
the story is told.
Sure appreciate all the help guys.

Mike

[mcgruff]

5% on both coils. Most people would recommend a small offset of a few hundred turns but there are no rules exactly. Last pickup I made had at least 1,000 extra turns on the slug coil after my counter packed up mid-wind and I decided I could count just fine manually... It's the best I've made yet - out of a very small output, admittedly. It's great as a bridge pickup - 11,100 turns total as best I can tell judging by weight & DCR - and also very good in the neck with the split + tap thing to bring it down to 8,500 turns.

Theory is important but only gets you so far. After that I think you just have to do a bit of experimenting and tweaking - and careful listening. I always make a standardised recording (DI) of each new pickup and keep notes of number of turns, DCR, henries, etc.