polarity on my new setup...

[too_for_1]

I'm going to be building a guitar in the next few months, just a little project of mine, but I'm kinda stuck on deciding how to get the polarity right for the least amount of hum.

three pickups, bridge - humbucker (probably SD's pearly gates or '59) middle - single coil (SJM-1 jazzmaster), and neck - single coil (some tele neck pickup, probably the quarter pounder)

my question is, how would i set the p'ups up so that i get minimal hum? the humbucker already cancels it's own hum out, and each single coil would hum, unless i had them in reverse polarity to each other, right?

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

Yeah, if you had a RW/RP mid pup, you'd probably be fine.

 

[too_for_1]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

so, for the mid pup, id' get a bridge pup with reversed winding/polarity. but what about string spacing over the bars? i'm not sure how that would sound...

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

Do you mean whether it should be trem spaced?
Pearly Gates/SJM-1(RW/RP)/Quarterpounder.....? Is that what you're after?

 

[too_for_1]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

i havent decided on the bridge i'm going to use, see. so if it's a narrow bridge, with a bridge pickup in the middle, qouldn't the poles be spread pretty far apart compared to the strings? i don't know if that would mess with the sound or not.

i'm going for a Pearly Gates (or '59, depending on my budget)/SJM-1/quarterpounder or vintage. but the pole spacing issue would still be the same, i think.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

Unless you're going to fit a Floyd Rose bridge or similar it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[too_for_1]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

Thanks a bunch, man.

One more quick question, though - I'll obviously be putting a neck pickup in the neck, but in the middle, would I have to put the neck SJM-1? I think I'd rather put the bridge version there, but would there be an easy way to make them humbuck?

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

Not sure. If the 2 SJM-1 pickups are opposite to each other, it might be worth putting the bridge version in.

 

[too_for_1]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

well, in the description of the SJM-1, it says that the neck version is RW/RP, and the bridge is standard wound. But in the STR's description, the neck is wound normally. So if I got the bridge version wound normally in the middle, it wouldn't humbuck.

so, my question is, is there a quick and easy way to reverse the polarity on the normally wound bridge version of the SJM-1?

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

No, I'm afraid not. You might have to go with the RW/RP neck version.

 

[too_for_1]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

OK. Thanks for clearing up all these questions of mine.

My final setup will be:

Bridge - SH-1 '59
Middle - SJM-1 neck (RW/RP)
Neck - STR-1

the neck and bridge are going to be on a 3-way toggle switch, and the middle is going to be on a 2-way mini-toggle switch. this way, the noise from the neck pup won't always be cancelled, only when the 3-way is on the bridge, or when the middle pup is on.

I also finally decided on a bridge, and am deciding between a roller or a graphite nut.

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: polarity on my new setup...

I'd go for graphite myself Glad to have been some help, hope it all works out for you. Let me know.