Out of phase wiring question

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Molly
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Out of phase wiring question

Post by Molly »

My 335 has had the hot and ground wires of the neck pickup reversed to, presumably, create an out of phase tone when both pickups are on. Haven't checked but assume this was done by flipping the ground and hot wires at the point where they reach the neck pickup's volume pot.

When I got it the neck pickup had been reversed Peter Green style so the slug side was closest to the neck. I wondered if this was an attempt to reverse the changes made at the volume pot but the mid position still sounds out of phase to me. It was suggested to me that I could rotate the neck pickup's magnet through 180 degrees to counteract the problem (thanks Steve) but haven't tried that yet.

Anyway, slug coil to the neck or screw coil to the neck it doesn't seem to make any difference. Am I mixing up two different modifications here? Is reversing the pickup and reversing the wiring two ways of achieving the same thing or are they completely different?

Thanks.

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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by Bg »

two ways of achieving roughly the same thing. The reversed pickup makes no difference - purely aesthetic. If the wiring is reversed, just swap them back.
Greenys magnet was rotated. I've done it myself and I prefer it to the wiring mod.
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by Conway »

Dunno. But middle position out of phase is not to my liking. jvpp rewired my Duesenberg to fix that - it required resoldering wires the other way around.
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by Bg »

You actually get an incredible difference in tonal range by balancing the two volumes
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by mrmofo »

am I right by saying the Ground and Hot wires on a pick up are relative in phase to the opposing pick ups phase relationship.
so in theory, any two humbuckers can be wired "in phase" and still be out of phase with each other. Depending on the original phase relationship between the two.
There are still some that think the neck PU is moved to accommodate the extra frets which only proves they cannot detect the difference in length of each.

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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by sizzlingbadger »

mrmofo wrote:am I right by saying the Ground and Hot wires on a pick up are relative in phase to the opposing pick ups phase relationship.
so in theory, any two humbuckers can be wired "in phase" and still be out of phase with each other. Depending on the original phase relationship between the two.
Most manufacturers pickups are wound so they are all in phase with each other. Its possible if you used two pickups from different manufacturers that were out of phase.
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by sizzlingbadger »

Molly wrote:My 335 has had the hot and ground wires of the neck pickup reversed
can you actually see if the wires have been swapped ? Its a pain in the asss to do that on a 335.

Its also hard to swap them if the pickups are the single conductor type because the outer braided screen will become the signal path for that pickup and will probably short out on the other pickup lead if it is not insulated with something.

The magnet switch is actually pretty easy and would be the way I would go on a 335. You just push the magnet out of the pickup keeping it flat and then spin it around end to end and put it back in. ie don't turn the magnet over keep it the same face up.
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by Molly »

sizzlingbadger wrote:
Molly wrote:My 335 has had the hot and ground wires of the neck pickup reversed
can you actually see they have been swapped ? Its a pain in the asss to do that on a 335.

Its hard to swap them if the pickups are the single conductor type because the outer screen will become the signal path for that pickup and will probably short out on the other pickup lead if it is not insulated with something.

The magnet switch is actually pretty easy and would be the way I would go on a 335. You just push the magnet out of the pickup keeping it flat and then spin it around end to end and put it back in. ie don't turn the magnet over keep the same face up.
Hmmm. That makes sense. I've assumed he had it done by reversing the wires because he told me he'd had it wired out of phase and there was a guitar tech's business card in the case. But, as you say, that'd make the braided wire hot and would be asking for all sorts of problems.

I'll dig out my wee inspection mirror later and see for sure if that's how it was done. Front pickup cover didn't look like it'd been unsoldered so I assumed the magnet was in its original position.

The two humbucker sound on my LP is just beautiful. Shit on the 335 at present. Looking forward to putting it right.

Thanks for the replies.

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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by sizzlingbadger »

Bridge pickup cover been removed ? you can swap either for the same effect and that one often has more slack in the wire so is easier to manipulate.
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Re: Out of phase wiring question

Post by Molly »

Upon comparison of the underside of both pickups I noticed the neck one had been scratched to aid the re-soldering of the cover. I had a look around the inside of the guitar with a torch and dental mirror and all looked 'factory' as best I could tell so I flipped the magnet as y'good selves and Steve in Dunners had advised I do and, f'k me sideways if it's not now as it should be! Sounds great with both pickups on now.

Thanks chaps.

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