Author Topic: Polarity and Wiring (Read 4566 times)

Fikealox · « **on:** May 24, 2008, 07:41:44 AM »

Hey guys,

I have a strat I'm converting to HSH. I have a Trilogy Suite neck for the middle postion, and I'm intending to wire it such that the 2 and 4 positions give me one coil of the bridge and neck humbuckers (respectively) in series with the middle single. I want the humbucker coils in question to be RWRP relative to the single, so that I effectively end up with two new humbuckers in those positions.

To that end, I have a couple of questions:

Which coil of BKP humbuckers would be RWRP relative to a normal BKP single?

Are BKP pickups wound with the same polarity and winding direction as other major companies? (For example, if I wanted to use a Seymour Duncan RWRP single with a BKP single, would the Duncan still be RWRP relative to the BKP?)

The latter question is because I'm wanting to try the Bareknuckle single with some of my other favourite pickups while I wait (and save) for Cold Sweats... or painkillers.

Cheers,
-Liam

FELINEGUITARS · « **Reply #1 on:** May 25, 2008, 01:02:10 PM »

Tricky to answer for sure
We may need Tim's input on this

Fikealox · « **Reply #2 on:** May 25, 2008, 01:08:27 PM »

Thanks for your reply man :)

I just got a nailbomb neck for it, and I'm looking for the bridge pickup now :) I'll probably wait till I get all three pickups to do anything, so that simplifies things a bit.

I guess all I need to know now is which coil of each humbucker I'd need to wire to the stock polarity single in order to make it humbucking and not out of phase. I'm assuming the South coils, but who knows... :-\

Philly Q · « **Reply #3 on:** May 25, 2008, 05:19:23 PM »

Apologies for stating the obvious (or missing the point completely :oops: ), but if you put the single coil face to face with the humbucker you can figure out the polarity - N and S will attract each other, N and N (or S and S) will reject each other.

I have no idea about the winding direction though.

FELINEGUITARS · « **Reply #4 on:** May 25, 2008, 05:32:41 PM »

Quote from: Philly Q

I have no idea about the winding direction though.

That is the tricky bit that someone like Tim would know

As long as you have 4 con wire you can get a result between a humbucker and a single but add a third pickup and it all gets a bit more complex

Philly Q · « **Reply #5 on:** May 25, 2008, 05:41:14 PM »

It's certainly tricky when mixing and matching different brands.

I suppose I've always assumed there's a "conventional" direction for winding pickups, but there's no reason why there should be, I guess.

I've just been experimenting with wiring a 5-way superswitch to give me Strat/Tele like "in-between" sounds with a pair of humbuckers. I was worried that I might have problems keeping everything hum-cancelling and in-phase, but I think I'm going to use DiMarzios in both positions so it should be fine. :)

(That's assuming they aren't defective like the last DiMarzio I bought...)

Fikealox · « **Reply #6 on:** May 27, 2008, 12:02:26 AM »

Thanks guys! I'm just going to wait till I have all Bareknuckles, and do what you say (match North with South). Presumably Tim would've wound singles and humbuckers in the same way :)