Ibanez wiring neck pickup magnet.

[Toe-Knee]

I was wondering the magnet in BKP neck pickups has to be flipped in order for the wiring to work correctly.

is this actually flipping the magnet from end to end? Or just turning it over horizontally?

[Philly Q]

If it's an HH guitar with a five-way switch, the magnet probably does need to be flipped - if you're using (say) the inside coils of the two humbuckers and you want it to be hum-cancelling.

If it's HSH it probably doesn't need to be flipped because you're only using the split humbuckers in conjunction with the middle pickup.

It's flipped in the sense of turning the magnet 180 degrees (without moving the pickup, of course) - so the end of the magnet which was pointing north (or east) is now pointing south (or west!)

[Philly Q]

I should mention, you can achieve the same thing (with "normal" BKP pickups) by physically rotating the neck pickup - so both screw coils are facing towards the guitar's bridge - AND ALSO swapping around the neck pickup's black and red wires.

Then the "2 inside coils" position gives you bridge (slug coil) plus neck (screw coil), which is humcancelling.

[Toe-Knee]

I should mention, you can achieve the same thing (with "normal" BKP pickups) by physically rotating the neck pickup - so both screw coils are facing towards the guitar's bridge - AND ALSO swapping around the neck pickup's black and red wires.

Then the "2 inside coils" position gives you bridge (slug coil) plus neck (screw coil), which is humcancelling.

It seems on the BKP wiring diagram that the black and red wires have already been swapped but it still mentions flipping the magnet. So in theory you could just wire them normally and not swap the wires?

I figured it would be flipping the magnet lengthways but i wasnt 100% sure.

Cheers Philly

[Philly Q]

It seems on the BKP wiring diagram that the black and red wires have already been swapped but it still mentions flipping the magnet. So in theory you could just wire them normally and not swap the wires?

Is that the diagram called "2 Humbuckers, Ibanez Style In-line 5 Way Switch"?

You're right, it does seem odd.  I guess it may be something to do with the fact that you're getting the parallel wiring in the 4th position (...or maybe not  :? ).  And I can't pretend to understand the workings of the Ibanez five-way switch.  :oops:

Thinking about it, I think this wiring needs the magnet flip AND the wiring swap because otherwise the third position (both humbuckers) would be out of phase.

[Toe-Knee]

That's the one i was referring to. The third position thing makes perfect sense. I love this wiring combination but i hate those cr@ppy switches. I'll probably swap it for a strat style 5 way at some point. It makes wiring far easier when it's not all bunched together with tiny tabs.

Thanks again Philly!