patrickb
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Post by patrickb on Jan 17, 2008 11:14:01 GMT -5
I'm wiring a Strat from scratch. I bought two American Strat pickups, one from the middle and from the neck position. See the photo of pickups and my wiring schematic: temp.brotherblacksmith.com/Wiring_photo_2.jpgThe 2004 neck pickup has blue and white wires. The 2007 middle pickup has red and white. These are both from American Strats which I'm pretty sure had the middle reverse wound so when in position 2 and 4, one gets hum canceling. For each pickup (neck and middle), which wires do I wire to the 5-way switch? White, Red, Blue? Note: I hope it doesn't matter but I'm actually installing a Dimarzio humbucker in the bridge position, not a single coil as the diagram suggests. Thanks and if I need to supply any more information, please let me know. Patrick
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Post by JohnH on Jan 17, 2008 14:32:31 GMT -5
hi Patrick - welcome to GN2
Id expect the whites would go to ground and the coloured wires go to the switch.
To (mostly) confirm the reverse wound of the two pickups, if you put them together, the tops should atract each other, while with non-reversed pickups such as neck and bridge from the same make, the poles would repel.
There should be no issues with the humbucker, using standard Dimarzio diagrams for wiring colours. The one thing to check when you have it together, is that in the mid/bridge combo setting, the sound is full and not out of phase. Out of phase would sound thinner than either of the seperate pickups. If you suspect that, it can be tested and fixed with the wire colours however.
If you get the bug, that pickup combination, while good on its own, can yeild many more sounds if you are interested in a adding to the switching.
cheers
John
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patrickb
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Post by patrickb on Jan 18, 2008 8:47:39 GMT -5
The one thing to check when you have it together, is that in the mid/bridge combo setting, the sound is full and not out of phase. Out of phase would sound thinner than either of the seperate pickups. If you suspect that, it can be tested and fixed with the wire colours however. John, thanks so much for your reply. I appreciate your time and willingness to help. If I do have the out of phase problem you describe, what would be the fix? Reverse the single coil wiring? Both or just one of them? Thanks again!
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Post by JohnH on Jan 18, 2008 15:09:55 GMT -5
You are welcome.
Here's a brain dump:
Lets suppose you found that your neck and middle were sounding correctly in phase, but the bridge was out of phase with the middle. You'd either reverse the phase of the bridge (swapping ground and hot coloured leads, keeping bare screen to ground as before), or you'd reverse the middle pup leads, and the neck as well so that you didn't change the relative phase of middle and neck. There would be no difference in sound between these two options.
The first option is easier, assuming you have four conductors on your DiMarzio humbucker, as usual.
There are more constraints if you have a vintage style pup with just a single conductor inside a braided screen, in which the braid is both a coil conductor and a ground for the pup case. With those, you'd need to keep it wired as-is, and reverse the other pups if needed.
In all cases, bare screens need to go to ground.
Theres one other way to reverses polarity, and that is to flip the magnets over, pole to pole. That, plus a swap of wires can create an RWRP pup for the middle out of a non RWRP pup.
The objective of all this is to get hum canceling where possible, and in-phase sound (unless you want it out of phase). Reversing coil wires reverses both the hum and the phase of the sound, while reversing the magnet reverses the sound phase but not the hum. Using a mixture of magnet flipping and coil reversal allows most problems to be fixed, to achieve hum-canceling in phase.
Finally. testing for phase:
Other than listening, the best way is with an analog meter (ie with a needle) across the guitar output, on its most sensitive dc voltage setting. Place a screwdriver head on each pup and lift it up quickly. The needle will jump one way, and it should be the same way for all pups if they are sounding in phase.
cheers
John
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patrickb
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Post by patrickb on Jan 22, 2008 15:39:43 GMT -5
John, that's awesome! Thanks for the information!
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