4 guitars and a pile of pickups - hum-cancelling?

[genmce]

Please relocate if necessary.

My recent exploits with JohnH's SSM2 wiring diagram - lead me to some important questions bouncing about in my mind.

The situation -
I have 4 electric guitars to play with 3 strat style (one of which is nice)and the electric 12 string.

I have before me a pile of pickups - Some hb, some noise cancelling, some sc - alnico some ... the other kind.
So on my sc some with black and white wires - some with black and yellow - one black and red. Some of these are from cheepo strat copies some from mexi strats and some from american strats.




Questions -
1. How to wire them all up? From a basic standpoint I know how to solder and am getting faster with each connection.
I troll about this great board finding all sorts of very interesting things that wake me up early to try before my children wake up.
I have tried several - including the 3 toggle switch strat - I think it has another name... tho it escapes me. I have done 4real's mod of MR with hb spin select as well as the most recent SSM2.

The initial question above (How to wire them up)- I thought had a simple and straight forward answer... Pick a diagram or schematic {I can read them - however translating them into something that is wired is problematic for me (this is not the issue I am thinking about)} and solder it up - rock on dude! However - My tastes and ears are developing - I find myself looking at more complex wiring - in search of the illusive sound I think that I want... This question is not even about that. There are different ways to wire tone controls or volume controls - yada yada...
So - I want, whatever I concoction I choose to settle on (don't laugh because you know I will never settle... I clear my throat trying to start again) - I want hum cancelling - I have found that hum really bothers me - particularly if there is a way to get ride of it - with careful planning and knowledge.
I live in the US so 60hz is pretty easy to come by - if I really want it. But if I don't want it, and I don't, I need a method for how to approach my parts in a logical manor and how to assemble them in a best practice sort of way. I can slap pickups in a guitar thinking of how cool they will sound just based on resistances and how nice they look. They may sound great individually - and, if I get lucky, they may sound great together... However, I have found that I really need to take into consideration - polarity - wind and how they will interact together.

How do I know which pickup combinations will hum cancel?
I need a method - testing method with lo tech tools - i have a meter but no oscope.
Polarity - wiring direction.
SC interaction with humbucker - which hb coils to match with which single coils - if I split them the hb.
So use a compass to test polarity? I have done that - but does it tell me what I need to know for hum cancelling?
Should pairs of pickups that I will use together be the same polarity or different?
Visual inspection to determine winding direction? How does winding come back into the picture for hum-cancelling with relation the polarity.
My head starts to spin because I don't really know the answers to these questions.
This stops me in my tracks to try to assemble some rules of thumb as I consider different assemblies.
I stare longingly at the pile - trying to come to terms with the best way to use the parts.

[JohnH]

That's a good question, and not really too hard.

Winding directions, polarities, connections etc boil down to just this:
For simple single coils, you can find a hum cancelling in phase sound if they have different magnetic polarities, ie they attract face to face. Combining them will either hum and be out of phase or, swap the wires on one of them for in phase, low hum.

The same is true of the coils from a humbucker, which is how the ssm2 design works when a hb coil is combined with a single.

Different types of pickup may not fully cancell hum.

Noiseless singles should be combined with other noiseless singles, or full humbucker a unless you accept a bit of noise.

To check phase, see the screwdriver pulloff test in the reference section, and a multimeter or a PC is all you need, and a screwdriver.

J

[genmce]

So in phase - opposite polarity = low hum.
I can manage that, I think.

Point taken on noiseless pickups with a humbucker - thanks.