Polarity and winding of Dimarzio and SD single coils

T

Theobalt

New member
Hi!

I was wondering about the polarity and the winding of Dimarzio's single coils. I already have a SD SSL-5 in a stratlike guitar, and I was planning to pair it with True Velvet pickups. So, a SSL-5 with a RWRP True Velvet should provide a hum cancelling combination, except if for some reason Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio use different polarity orientations and winding directions.

I have found on Seymour Duncan's website that the SSL-5 is south, top going. On the Dimarzio website, I have found concerning the True Velvet middle : "For technically-minded players, reverse polarity on our true single-coil Strat® replacements is south up." Do I understand that the SSL-5 and the True Velvet Middle have the same polarity and winding, hence once paired they are not hum cancelling? I am quite unsure if my understanding is right...

Besides, anyone has experience in pairing Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio single coils?

Thanks!
 
Re: Polarity and winding of Dimarzio and SD single coils

I understand that the winding is not necessarily an issue since I can swap the leads if the pickups are out of phase, but I'd prefer to do the soldering job only once. ;)
 
Re: Polarity and winding of Dimarzio and SD single coils

So the True Velvet Middle is installed and fully working. I installed it following Dimarzio's instructions. I did not try to swap wires or else, I installed it as it is intended to be in the first place.

The True Velvet and the SSL-5 in neck position are in phase, but they are not hum-cancelling. This means, if I am not mistaken, that the polarity and the winding direction are the same. I conclude that Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan are using opposite ways to build single coil pickups. So, I should have ordered a True Velvet Neck instead to get the humcancelling effect with the SSL-5. Not a big thing in my opinion, I am already used to the hum when playing with single coils anyway...
 
Re: Polarity and winding of Dimarzio and SD single coils

In my understanding of Dimarzio Single coils, the middle pickups are normally coded as "-S" option. That means it has South magnetic polarity for hum-cancelling with a complete set of Dimarzio single coils. If you already have pickups with South Magnetic polarity in neck and bridge, you would need the regular version of the Dimarzio pickup. The regular version would have North magnetic polarity (WITHOUT "-S" option).
 
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