Pickup orientation in a 2 humbucker guitar

  • Thread starter Thread starter blackba
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blackba

blackba

Well-known member
I got a magnet polarity tester since I was replacing the magnet in my BBpro pickup for another project. This site was really useful for that. http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/barmagswap.htm

Anyway, on my Fender contemporary Tele, I have an Anderson H1- in the neck and an H2+ in the bridge. When I did the polarity check on it (neither pickups has screws) I found that if the Anderson's did have screws, than I would have the neck pickup in backwards. In les pauls you see the screws on the neck pickup face the neck and the bridge pickup screws face the bridge. How critical is this? Should I switch the neck pickup around in my tele, so it follows what I see in Les Pauls?

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I could be way off and have no idea what I am talking about, I always thought the side of the pickup with the screws was the brighter side of it. For example, if you have a bridge pickup with the screws facing the bridge, and you find the pickup is too bright, then you could flip the pickup around in the bridge position? Not sure if this is true, or if I am mixing this up with something else.

Not sure if it truly is the pickup, or just the position of the pickup poles under the string which would be moved by about an inch if the pickup is flipped that alters the sound or a combination of both.
 
I have a set of PRS dragon II in a strat that are like that. The neck PU's screw are towards the middle. I first had them facing the neck and it sounded like ass so I flipped it around and it sounds much clearer and better.
 
I have the neck pickup in my LP backwards. I think it sounds better that way. I'll admit it does look funny though.

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So what did you guys notice when you flipped the neck pickup exactly? Was the change with the neck pickup only or when both the neck/bridge pickup are used together?

I should mention too that my contemporary tele also has a coil split for each humbucker, so I know changing the humbucker around will change what where on the guitar the active coil is.
 
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