upside down pickups?? backwards? what?

[tmpstrat9]

Alright I have a question for the experts out there. you know who you are. this may be totally irrelevant but whatever. I ordered a set of after market pickups for my strat w/ a HSS config so there is a bucker in the bridge. after trying to install them myself and using 3 different soldering irons i was unable to melt the original solder to remove the origninals so i had to take it to everyone's favorite place to try and hear how a guitar sounds w/ blaring pop rock music in the background, GC! so anyway i actually screwed the new pickups in and cut the wire of the old ones to just take em out before i brought my axe to them(dont ask why thats just how far i got before i gave up). i think i might have put the humbucker in upside down because the middle pickup is RWRP and position 4 is hum canceling and position 2 doesnt seem to be. plus when i use my push pull to split it to a single coil there's a pretty dramatic volume drop. i think it may be due to the fact that the side of the pickup that stays active is closest to the bridge and there is less string vibration there. does anyone ever experiment with upside down pickups? what do you notice about it? are my presumptions correct about it being upside down? do you care? any feedback is appreciated.....even if your just gonna make a mockery of this thread... which is encouraged as far as im concerned. thanks guys

 

[Mor Paul]

Okay, the humbucker has no hum.

The middle pickup does.
The neck pickup does.

The hum of the neck and middle pickup cancel each other out.
The middle and humbucker will not, as there are an odd number of coils. Since the humbucker... bucks hum, the middle pickup's hum has nothing to counteract it.

EDIT: Humbuckers are the only pickups that will change if they are upside down, because the screw lug is in a different place. No effect electronically, though. Strat pickups won't fit backwards.

 

[tmpstrat9]

oooo yeahh.. thanks for the feedback. you think it makes a difference otherwise if its upside down?
and do you think it should buck that hum if the humbucker is split to a single coil and im in position 2?

 

[tmpstrat9]

when you say change... what do you mean? effect tone?

 

[Mor Paul]

If the humbucker is split, and you have hum when combined with another single coil, you have the wrong coil on the humbucker activated.
I think the humbucker will change tone slightly when reversed. Not much. The screws moving closer or further from the bridge is the reason.

 

[tmpstrat9]

alright i think its safe to say i put it in upside down. thanks a bunch for your help max. appreciate it.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

When splitting coils of a humbucker, there is always a drop in volume.  Humbuckers have more output than a single coil.  As far as upside down or backwards, I'm guessing you mean it's bolted in and rotated 180 degrees?  This has no effect on the pickup as a single humbucker.  When used with the middle pickup, whichever split coil of the humbucker is used is obviously further or closer depending which way it's screwed in.  As far as hum cancelling abilities of the hum and the middle, the hum's pickup winding and magnet polarity doesn't change, whether sideways, backwards, upside down, whatever.

 

[Mor Paul]

Basically, if the wire is wound clockwise, it will be clockwise no matter how far you turn it.

 

[tmpstrat9]

lol that makes sense. and yes super turbo im saying i think its rotated 180. just to clarify though, shouldnt the active coil in a humbucker be the one closest to the middle when you split it?............... well i guess ultimately its not a quesion of which way its supposed to be. but i mean normally isnt it that way?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

No idea which one.  I've seen schematics using inner coils and outer coils.

 

[tmpstrat9]

thanks for your help guys. and quick too! sitting at work bored like me too?

 

[Mor Paul]

You should have 4 conductor wire. Simply use the other 2 wires.
Rotating the pickup won't help. When split, if the active coil is closer to the bridge, it will have a sharper attack, I guess.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

thanks for your help guys. and quick too! sitting at work bored like me too?

Nope.  Unemployed currently, except for gigging.  If i don't leave the house, I don't spend money.

 

[Mor Paul]

thanks for your help guys. and quick too! sitting at work bored like me too?

Nope.  Unemployed currently, except for gigging.  If i don't leave the house, I don't spend money.

Nope. Unemployed currently.

 

[tmpstrat9]

oh how envious i am of you guys. ever since i started working 55hours a week band practice has suffered

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

oh how envious i am of you guys. ever since i started working 55hours a week band practice has suffered

It's not exactly stress free.  You still worry about the same things, but you get more sleep.

 

[Mor Paul]

oh how envious i am of you guys. ever since i started working 55hours a week band practice has suffered

I've got no band.

 

[tmpstrat9]

+1 on sleep. i know i should feel lucky to have a job but i hate it. and i hate not playing as much and not being able to practice as much with the fellas. before i felt like this arty07: and now i feel like this   :sad1: