Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

[Bigguy1305]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

Apologies if I used the wrong terminology/vocabulary while I described my issue or explain what I would like to do. Let me try it again.

1. Is my neck humbucker in series or out of phase with itself by swapping the black and green wires?

2. Are both humbuckers individually out of phase in the middle position?

3. By soldering the bridge humbucker as mentioned in the diagram you provided me and having to solder directly to ground the bare wire. Would this put my bridge humbucker out of phase with itself in bridge and middle position, middle position if I activate the toggle switch, middle position with or without the toggle switch activated or in series in bridge position with the toggle switch selected ON/on and out of phase with itself when toggle switch is selected on/ON?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

1 All humbuckers are usually set up for series in phase wiring. The 2 conductor ones are hardwired this way......the 4 conductor ones you solder red and white together to make them that way......this is default for about 90% of people's wiring.
Black and green are just the two ends of this 2-coil arrangement. Convention with Duncan has the Black as hot, and green as ground connection. But you can do it the other way and the sound is 100% identical for that pickup. The only way you can have a humbucker out of phase with itself is if the two coils are wired up in a different way to convention.......say wiring green and white to each other. There you have reversed 1 coil........but in this case you will get almost no sound from the pickup as the 2 coils being to close will almost completely cancel each other's signal......NOBODY does this
2. No, as I said, you can only have 1 humbucker out of phase, as this describes the orientation of 1 signal in relation to another. There are only 2 possible orientations for the signal.......forward and reverse. In the stock middle position in a 2 humbucker guitar, the pickups are in phase and selected in parallel - hence the clucky tone.

3 The base wire is only the chassis ground, it contains no pickup signal. It is connected to ground at all times irrespective of whatever wiring is done.
A phase switch puts 1 pickup out of phase electrically with the other. It only changes the tone with 2 pickups together, as with only 1 pickup activated there is no such thing as 'wrong' phase, or out of phase.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

But that’s the thing. I soldered it the first time, it didn’t work. I then took it off, cleaned everything and re-soldered it (I made sure this time around was better) still nothing. Later I took it off again, cleaned my contact points again and did the same thing but green and black swapped places and it worked. I know the parts I used couldn’t have been because my pots are CTS and my switch is CRL.


The way she is now. Is she in series in neck, both out of phase in middle and in series in bridge?

Yes.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

OK, let me try to clear this up once and for all.

With red and white wires connected your pup is in series, meaning the two coils of the pup are wired in series. It doesn't matter whether you have green or black as ground (or as hot), it doesn't change that the pup is in series. And it doesn't put the pup out of phase with itself.

Phase is a condition that is only relative to two pups being played together (one pup cannot be out of phase, in and of itself). So if you have one pup with the black as hot and the green as ground, and the other pup with green as hot and black as ground, when the two pups are played together (selector switch in the middle position) they will be out of phase with each other. When either pup is played by itself it will sound perfectly normal (series humbucker and in phase with itself).

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

so what you’re saying is that my neck pickup is in series in the neck position. Both hummies are out of phase in middle and my bridge is in series in bridge?

Yes.

 

[Bigguy1305]

Re: Help wiring 2x humbuckers to phase switch

OK, let me try to clear this up once and for all.

With red and white wires connected your pup is in series, meaning the two coils of the pup are wired in series. It doesn't matter whether you have green or black as ground (or as hot), it doesn't change that the pup is in series. And it doesn't put the pup out of phase with itself.

Phase is a condition that is only relative to two pups being played together (one pup cannot be out of phase, in and of itself). So if you have one pup with the black as hot and the green as ground, and the other pup with green as hot and black as ground, when the two pups are played together (selector switch in the middle position) they will be out of phase with each other. When either pup is played by itself it will sound perfectly normal (series humbucker and in phase with itself).

Thank you