Lefty or Righty Pickups

[hirsch56]

You all who play righties-strung-lefty are playing with reversed pickups. Do you notice any difference in tone? I sometimes wonder whether the mfrs are using righty pickups in lefty guitars, because the tones sometimes seem off balance. What do you all think?

I'm building a lefty now, but I'm going to route out the single coil pickup cavities upside-down to use a righty pickup set. Do you think this is a good idea, or unneeded?

Cheers, -Hirsch

[AllroyPA]

Pickups

All ideas are good ideas. Here's my two cents of understanding ... if the pole pieces are staggered and you want the guitar to sound normal then go mount them in backwards. If the pole pieses are flat or rails then it does'nt matter right or left. Here's my MIM with E-series MIJ pups and on this the poles are even so no backwards ...

[AllroyPA]

Maybe if you notch a groove on the control side of the pickup routes you could run the wires from the top down the side back to the controls or just loop the wire back down the center. just a thought. Is it a flip righty?

[Buc McMaster]

I know Seymour Duncan makes lefthand-staggered Strat pickups if you want the correct animal. But the difference is negligible, really.

[lostinthemasses]

dont mount staggered pickups backwards, they'll wind up out of phase

[Anthony7]

For single-coil strat pick ups there should be no difference (just mount them with the wires going down.) Think about it.

Humbuckers I mount the same way so the coils are reversed but not the polepieces. Of course I don't use PAF-types where only one coil has adjustable pole-pieces.

[Buc McMaster]

dont mount staggered pickups backwards, they'll wind up out of phase

Huh? Phasing is in the wiring, not the orientation of the pickup. If that were the case, a righthanded guitar strung lefty (strings in reverse order above the pickups) would be out of phase. Not the case. The middle pickup of a strat setup can be wound "reverse" (in the opposite direction) with reverse polarity to deliver that famous Strat "quack" in switch positions 2 & 4. Or you can reverse the two pickup leads from the middle pickup at the switch for the same effect (use white for ground and black for signal). Turning the pickup backwards in the rout just changes which magnet is hearing which string, it doesn't change the polarity of the pickup.

[lostinthemasses]

then why is it that a humbucker flipped around is out of phase?

[AllroyPA]

then why is it that a humbucker flipped around is out of phase?

As Buc says; it's in how you then wire it, the pickup just reads the string vibrating above it.

[lostinthemasses]

ok, if you have a 2 humbucker guitar in the middle position and you have the neck pickup flipped, it'll be out of phase

no mods to the wiring, just physically flipping the pickup

[AllroyPA]

If it was'nt wired out of phase before you flipped it, then why would it be now ? I don't know the answer, I'm just trying to think of it logically.

[Buc McMaster]

Amen. The orientation of the pickup does not change the phasing of the wiring job. If you have the white wire of a two-wire pickup soldered to the pickup switch the signal on that wire is the same regardless of which way you turn the pickup. If you attach the black (ground) wire to the switch you have now reversed the polarity and have an out of phase condition with the other pickup(s) in the circuit. It's the wiring, not the pickup itself.

[lostinthemasses]

that's weird

i mean it makes sense, but i rememer hearing that if you flip the pickup it'll be out of phase with the pickups that arent flipped

guess that wasnt a good source

[AllroyPA]

re: phase

There's so much out there on wiring, just search a few sites, and maybe it will make more sense. What's important is to get it straight in your mind, not what someone claims.

[hirsch56]

Swapping the orientation and swapping the wires will both do the same thing. Either will reverse the phase from the original. I'm getting the understanding that if the pickups have staggered poles, and the stagger is not symmetrical, then they are 'handed'. Most of these I see have the B string pole lowered way down. Anyone know why the B string? -Hirsch