Mount a pickup upside down?

P

placeboeffect

New member
So I ordered an Invader for my Elitist LP, and in my excited haste ordered a zebra when I meant to order a reverse zebra:banghead:

Would it sound different to mount it upside down?

Or should I just man up and return it to Wymore and get the right color?
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

I think that you mean wrong way around. I certainly hope that this is what you mean!

The only thing that would look wrong is that the screen-printed logo will be in the wrong place.

On the other hand, Seymour Duncan Pickups has a 21 day return policy for precisely such eventualities as this.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

Haha, yeah, I guess I meant 180*

Will it make a difference in sound at all? I'll probably just return it, but if I get anxious I may install it and erase the logo. But not if sound will suffer.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

I can't see it sounding different in any noticeable way.You DID order a bridge pickup though right? Because the neck and bridge Invaders sound very, very different.
And yeah, it was obvious what you meant.
Welcome to the place! ;)
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

Use some brasso and rub it in the SD logo. It will wear out after a few seconds.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

I was going to suggest removing the logo, but it'll affect resale value, and on an Invader it's not all that noticeable anyway, especially a Zebra.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

If it doesn't have matched coils it will sound different since the hotter coil is oriented differently then its meant to be. Not saying it will sound bad but it might not be what you want. On the other hand you might like it more or might not even notice the difference. If it has matched coils then both coils have the same output and tone so any difference in tone will be very subtle.

The only main difference is that since the pickup is turned around the magnet poles are oriented differently so the pickup will be out of phase with the other pickup in the guitar. So when you activate both neck and bridge PU's you will get that out of phase Peter Green sound.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

You want to turn it horizontally, right, not upside down.

That works fine, but you'll have to keep in mind that the high notes are now on the lower frets :)
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

ACH91332 said:
The only main difference is that since the pickup is turned around the magnet poles are oriented differently so the pickup will be out of phase with the other pickup in the guitar. So when you activate both neck and bridge PU's you will get that out of phase Peter Green sound.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that?
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

Pretty sure because I turn my neck pickup the other way around because I prefer how it sounds that way and I had to flip the magnet around in it so it wasn't out of phase with my bridge pickup.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

Sorry, ACH, but that's not correct. You don't reverse the phase that way. You must have switched phases twice.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

uOpt said:
Sorry, ACH, but that's not correct. You don't reverse the phase that way. You must have switched phases twice.
Click to expand...

A man that knows how it really is, thank you. :1:

This place is full of excellent info, but it's worthless when people who have no clue post wrong information as if it's fact. To people like uOpt who know, I say thank you, I've learned a lot from you guys. :14:
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

I swear though the magnet being the wrong way puts it out of phase or something because swapping the A2 in a PGn with an A5 the same thing happened and someone told me that I put the magnet in the wrong way so I turned the magnet around and sure enough it sounded normal again with both pickups on. The pickup was oriented the normal way too.

Dunno how else that would happen.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

ACH91332 said:
On the other hand you might like it more or might not even notice the difference. If it has matched coils then both coils have the same output and tone so any difference in tone will be very subtle.
Click to expand...

And to be fair, if the Invader is what I think it is, It's not a very subtle puppy to start with.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

ACH91332 said:
I swear though the magnet being the wrong way puts it out of phase or something because swapping the A2 in a PGn with an A5 the same thing happened and someone told me that I put the magnet in the wrong way so I turned the magnet around and sure enough it sounded normal again with both pickups on. The pickup was oriented the normal way too.

Dunno how else that would happen.
Click to expand...

Putting in the magnet the other way round (making the poles that were south north) does cause out of phase.

Putting in the pickup with the screw coil the other way does not. It switches both the coils and the magnets so you are back to where you were.
 
Re: Mount a pickup upside down?

uOpt said:
Putting in the magnet the other way round (making the poles that were south north) does cause out of phase.

Putting in the pickup with the screw coil the other way does not. It switches both the coils and the magnets so you are back to where you were.
Click to expand...

You nailed it on the head, You have to flip the magnet it really doesn't matter which way the pickup is orientated
 
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