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Post subject: Can I reverse black and white wires on single coil pickup?
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 12:34 pm
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Hi

If two pickups sound out of phase in positions 2&4 on 5 way and position 2 on 3 way switch you can reverse hot and ground wires, but...

I heard that it only can be done on humbuckers for some reason.

Can I do that to single coil pickup? Somebody told me that magnets on single coil pickup are connected with ground so it is not so easy. There can be more hum in even that pickup position if you change black and white. Is it true?


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Post subject: Re: Can I reverse black and white wires on single coil picku
Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 1:06 pm
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Pawelt wrote:
...If two pickups sound out of phase...you can reverse hot and ground wires, but...I heard that it only can be done on humbuckers for some reason...Can I do that to single coil pickup?


This is not true, it can be done with many single coil pickups as well.

Pawelt wrote:
Somebody told me that magnets on single coil pickup are connected with ground so it is not so easy. There can be more hum in even that pickup position if you change black and white. Is it true?


SOME single coils have the magnets connected to the ground, NOT all.

If in fact, the magnets on a particular single coil pickup are connected to the ground, premising the pickup doesn't have a metal cover, by reversing the wires, the hum MAY become more prominent when the pickup is selected and would definitely get louder if you touched one of the magnets.

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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:08 pm
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Is it often on single coil pickups that the magnets are connected to the ground?

For me it is nonsense because wire is insulated. I haven't seen any connections between magnets and coil on any pickup.

But why usually there is a lot of noise when you touch the magnets if they aren't connected to anything.


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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:55 pm
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Pawelt wrote:
Is it often on single coil pickups that the magnets are connected to the ground?

For me it is nonsense because wire is insulated. I haven't seen any connections between magnets and coil on any pickup.

But why usually there is a lot of noise when you touch the magnets if they aren't connected to anything.


To both your first two sentences, on the vintage type, the start and end of the coil wire is stripped of it's insulation, hence, bare wire is what comes in contact with the magnets which you would never see unless you unraveled all the windings.

Modern manufacturing techniques are now fully insulating the coil winding from the magnets where regardless of polarity, touching the magnets will not create noise. Again, this is unless a specific pickup is made to vintage specifications.

As to your last question, per my above statements, the noise from touching the magnets is because the magnets are now part of the 'positive' wire when the leads are reversed. So, touching the magnets is like touching the tip of the plugged in jack from the amp to your guitar.

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Posted: Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:56 pm
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Martian wrote:
To both your first two sentences, on the vintage type, the start and end of the coil wire is stripped of it's insulation, hence, bare wire is what comes in contact with the magnets which you would never see unless you unraveled all the windings.


This has got me curious.

I will check the vintage pickups I have around to see if the magnets are in contact with the circuit and I'll report back.

Okay. Three and a half hours later I have a report. I just checked 3 old Strats (ranging from 35 to 45 years old), 9 pickups. Not a pole piece is in contact with the ground. I guess the insulation of the coil is keeping the copper underneath from contacting the pole pieces.

I'm sure it *can* happen, but it's not a design thing. The only part of the coil wire that's stripped is the bit that's wrapped around the eyelets ....

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