Newbie Q about phase..

[danander11]

Hello everyone, a newbie here.

I have just installed a TB-5, a STK-S1N ND STK-S1 RWRP (middle position) into an Ibanez that I picked up with bad pickups in it.

I have one VOL and one TONE with a push/pull on the tone to split the TB-5, going through a 5-way stitch. (N, N+M, M, M+B, B configuration)

There seems to be a phase issue in position two however.. The N pickup and the M pickup sound great by themselves, but when switched to combine them, the level drops by quite a bit.

They stay hum cancelling, and when switched to the M and B combined, (split or not) they still sound great. It's only between the N and M that there is an issue.

Can someone please tell me how to change the wiring to change the phase of the N pickup please? I've used the attached schematic (substituting the TB5 for the single sized HB) and added the push/pull.




Sounds great except for between those two..

Thanks.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Newbie Q about phase..

Welcome to the forum!

If I am understanding correctly, you'd switch the black & white wires of that diagram.

 

[Ewizard]

Re: Newbie Q about phase..

The bridge is probably out of phase in relation to the Middle and Neck pickups. I would simply swap the leads of the bridge pickup and see where that takes you. If doing so cuts all output, it is because the ground wire ( the bare wire on the bridge pickup ) is tied somehow to the ground of the guitar, in that case, you would have to separate the green and bare wires and wire the black and bare wires to ground instead.

The reason pickups are out of phase is because they have a different pole from the magnet facing up or they have been wired in reverse. You have seen the term RWRP ( reverse wound, reverse polarity ). This is what makes the middle pickup have noise-canceling when combined with the bridge or neck. It makes it emulate the second coil of a humbucking guitar. The winding direction of a pickup is really inconsequential, it's the magnet polarity that really matters. If you reverse the leads of any pickup it essentially becomes reversed to whatever it was with the exception that its magnetic polarity stays the same. In order to change the magnetic polarity, you have to flip the magnets so that they are either north up or south up ( in relation to what it was originally ). The only reason that the wire direction is important ( why there is a black and a white lead for instance ) is so that you can wire the pickup in its intended way. So an RWRP pickup simply has the black and white leads swapped for you already and the magnetic polarity is also swapped in relation to the other pickups that would be in that set. This is why your issue lies with your bridge pickup, because it is a different model, it has different wireing. Teh easiest fix is to reverse the leads so it is essentially reverse wound in relation to what it was. This should solve your phase issue and still allow the #2 position to be noiseless.

 

[danander11]

Re: Newbie Q about phase..

Thanks Mincer and Ewizard..

I tried combining both, and then going individually.. What worked was simply swapping the black and white on the neck pickup.. Working a treat now.. A smaller 5-way switch so that the cover will fit and the electronics will be finished.. and it sounds wonderful! Some new locking machines and I should be good to go..

 

[Ewizard]

Re: Newbie Q about phase..

Awesome, I don't know why I said bridge when you stated neck and middle specifically, so swapping the leads of the neck should have been what I said, but you already figured that out.