P90 polarity?

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Iceman63

New member
Hey guys,
Maybe a silly question...I don't know. Can a P90 be wired backwards? Here's the deal. I put a Phat Cat in a PRS SE bridge position, and left the stock humbucker in the neck...for now at least. Both pickups were wired to the 3 way switch from the factory. So I wired the Phat Cat the same...positive where the oem pup positive was, and ground(steel braided outer shielding) where the ground was. All sounds ok, except in the middle position, it sounds like a cocked wah pedal...quite nasaly. Being a single wire pickup, I figured this was the only way to wire it.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

You wired it right, but apparently in its normal state it's just out of phase with your PRS pu. I would say just either flip the mag in the humbucker or flip both mags in the P90.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Thanks Zhangliqun,
I may eventualy put a match in the neck, so I'll leave it for now. It actually has a pretty unique sound in the middle position, especially while soloing with overdrive...almost like there's an octave over each note when I'm playing high on the neck. I'll do some research on flipping the mags anyway in case I decide to do so. Probably do the humbucker.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

You could always re-orient the Phat cat, in other words, take it out, turn it 180 degrees and put it back in. That should do it.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Zhangliqun, should I try reversing the two wires on the Phat Cat first? Actually, it's a single wire pickup, I kinda made a wire out of the braided shielding.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Just reversing the leads would make for an extremely buzzy/hummy/noisy pickup because the noise the cover and baseplate pick up would go straight to the speaker instead of to ground. Your options (assuming you want to avoid this noise -- and you do) are:

1) Flip the magnets so the outer side of both are now facing in instead of out.

2) Completely remove the braid lead and convert the pickup to a 3-conductor lead -- one for hot, one for ground, and one to keep the baseplate and cover grounded no matter which way you the other two leads set up.

Option 1 is a lot easier, although with a Phat Cat, removing the cover can be a little dicey because the bobbin is not screwed to the baseplate for some reason (a strange aspect of this design.) This means it's loose so you have to be careful when removing the cover so it doesn't flop around and yank one or both leads out of the coil.
 
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Re: P90 polarity?

Ok then, I must have it wired correctly . I would rather flip magnets...preferably in the neck humbucker, found a little tutorial last night on it, looks pretty easy especially since it's uncovered. Will it change the tone in the humbucker if I flip the magnet? I'd prefer to experiment with that one(stock SE humbucker) than the Phat Cat.
Thanks again.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

As has already been pointed out, the simplest solution is to invert the magnet inside the humbucker.

IMO, the smartest solution is to replace the neck PU with one of similar quality to the Phat Cat.

I own a PRS SE One. The stock P90 clone was weedy. I tried a Kent Armstrong hot P90 that I have owned forever. Not quite right. Next came a SD Antiquity. Spot on!
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Funk, yeah, this is an SE Custom semi-hollow. I will most likely put another Phat Cat in the neck when money allows. This is my experimenting/learning to mod guitar. I've already replaced the nut and bridge with PRS US parts. I may try the magnet flip in the OEM neck pup just for learning purposes. Actually, I'd like to put a switch of some type in to change the phasing...the in between tone right now; though out of phase, makes for some neat sustaining solo tones...think Brian May on Bohemian Rapsody....sort of.
Thans for your help guys.
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Guys, if I end up installing a phase switch, and wire the neck humbucker to it, I still need to flip the magnet as disscussed before, correct?
 
Re: P90 polarity?

Introducing a phase inverter switch will also require changing the HB cable to two conductor + shield. You need each end of the pickup PLUS a discreet grounding wire.
 
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