Reversing Pickups Question?

[TENAX]

i have a les paul..let's refer to the body of the guitar as south and the head of the guitar as north for reference.

i have a seymour duncan jazz neck and a jb in the bridge..when i installed i put it so that the name "seymour" duncan faces south on both..just for appearance purposes, but if i recall correctly, to get the names to face that way, the pole side faces north on the jazz..the poll side on the jb faces south...

will there be any difference in the sound if i switch so that the poles both are facing north, or screws are both facing north?

part of the reason i bring it up is because the strings are nicely lined up with poll and screw heads on the jazz neck, but are not centered on the jb to speak of and without really raising the jb up, i'm not getting the output of the jb i should expect (if i have both pickups at same height, the jazz is quite a bit louder)...i'm thinking that maybe by switching the bridge for example so the poles/screws are reversed against the strings it would increase volume..

ps- i have verified that both sides of the jb pickup are ..well, picking up the strings sound.

thanks

T

 

[tone4days]

Re: Reversing Pickups Question?

i could answer your question directly, but it wont solve your problem ...

to get better balance, you need to raise the JB up ... if you put a U.S. 5 cent coin (nickle) on top of the JB and raise the pup so that the high e string just touches the coin, it should be set well on that side .... then, repeart using two nickles on the JB under the low e string side .... then raise / lower the height of the jazz pup to balance in volume

to asnwer your question, there will probably be a barely noticeable change in tone if you rotate one of the pups so that the stud coil and screw coil are in the opposite orientation and the words 'seymour duncan' are upside down ... but it wont solve your volume / balance problem

try raising the JB and let us know if it gets you the tone you are hoping for
good luck
cheers
t4d

 

[TENAX]

Re: Reversing Pickups Question?

thanks a bunch tone..helpful site as always. i can get a good balance, but need to have the jb raised out of the slot (above the frame) by quite a bit more then the jazz...but i like the sound..i'm a novice to aftermarket pups, but i know the ones that came stock in the guitar were muddy as hell..i can match volumes with both these pups and get the nice smooth full sound off the jazz and a nice very defined tight sound off the jb with more ring..it's a cheap knock off les paul, but there must be something decent about it as the strains resonate forever!..and blended, the pups are very sweet for my tastes..as i get more experienced, i've got a variety of 8 other jd's to try!

thanks again.