Slash Alnico 2 Pro... is this right??

[Michael Mars]

I've recently had these Slash 2 Pro inststalled. The first place installed them for me with the copper sides of both pickups on the same side.

I had work done from Sweetwater on a setup and they told me that the bridge pickup was originally installed upside down. He flipped it and now the copper sides
of the pickups are opposite each other.

So is this the correct alignment? Are the copper sides supposed to be on opposite sides?

 

[Mincer]

Generally, pickups are installed with the screw bobbins on the outside. From the top, this looks correct. But...how does it sound?

 

[Hsb]

Welcome to the forum, yes the way they are installed in the picture is correct, the screws should be opposite of each other. In the bridge the screw coil should be toward the bridge and in the neck position the screw coil should be toward the neck. Now, that doesnt mean you cant have it so the screw coils face the same direction, it will just a lil different either when both pickups are in use or the one facing the "wrong" direction is in use. Peter Greene was known to have the neck pickup w the screw coils facing away from the neck which created an out of phase sound that people dig.

 

[misterwhizzy]

I'd be willing to bet the middle position sounds a lot better the way it is now.

 

[Michael Mars]

Thank you everyone for clearing this up for me.

 

[jeremy]

I'd be willing to bet the middle position sounds a lot better the way it is now.

theres a very subtle difference when flipping a pup physically, you dont change the phase, its just where the different pole pieces are. the screws and studs do sound a touch different though

 

[Blille]

theres a very subtle difference when flipping a pup physically, you dont change the phase, its just where the different pole pieces are. the screws and studs do sound a touch different though

Exactly.

Re the Green sound -

“The story goes that Peter got a Les Paul after seeing Eric Clapton using one during his Bluesbreakers days. Because of Clapton’s exclusive of the bridge pickup during the performance, Green decided to remove the neck pickup on his LP altogether. When he later decided to re-install the neck pickup, he accidentally installed it upside down, and for years many assumed this was the cause of Greeny’s distinctive sound.

As revealed in an article by Jol Dantzig, the luthier who took apart and inspected Greeny shortly after it was bought by Gary Moore, the reason why Peter Green’s Les Paul sounded so different was that the magnet in the neck pickup had been installed the wrong way round, most likely at the Gibson factory when the guitar was built.”

 

[beaubrummels]

Exactly.

Re the Green sound -

“The story goes that Peter got a Les Paul after seeing Eric Clapton using one during his Bluesbreakers days. Because of Clapton’s exclusive of the bridge pickup during the performance, Green decided to remove the neck pickup on his LP altogether. When he later decided to re-install the neck pickup, he accidentally installed it upside down, and for years many assumed this was the cause of Greeny’s distinctive sound.

As revealed in an article by Jol Dantzig, the luthier who took apart and inspected Greeny shortly after it was bought by Gary Moore, the reason why Peter Green’s Les Paul sounded so different was that the magnet in the neck pickup had been installed the wrong way round, most likely at the Gibson factory when the guitar was built.”

I've read multiple articles where it was in for repair and the repair person put the mag in the wrong way and put the pickup back in the wrong way. But who really knows.

 

[jeremy]

the mag flip has the big tonal impact on the greeny lp, but only when both pups are on, and its much more noticeable with cleaner tones. the poles on the wrong side are a subtle change

 

[Wound_Up]

Welcome to the forum, yes the way they are installed in the picture is correct, the screws should be opposite of each other. In the bridge the screw coil should be toward the bridge and in the neck position the screw coil should be toward the neck. Now, that doesnt mean you cant have it so the screw coils face the same direction, it will just a lil different either when both pickups are in use or the one facing the "wrong" direction is in use. Peter Greene was known to have the neck pickup w the screw coils facing away from the neck which created an out of phase sound that people dig.

Turning the entire pickup around doesn't make it out of phase.

 

[Hsb]

But it does flip the magnet 180 degrees and when both pus are in use it will. Tried it, didnt like it, flipped the pu back around

 

[freefrog]

What Jeremy said and the result can be heard in the video below (including also simple tech explanations).

https://youtu.be/r9L8om-TXIo

A note about OOP: it requires a pickup or coil to send a "positive" electrical impulsion each time the other pickup or coil sends a "negative" impulsion... and conversely.
If two strictly identical pickups were exactly at the same place and OOP, there would be no sound at all. But different locations give a different balance between fundamental notes + harmonics as well as a different comb filtering of frequencies. Hence the OOP tone.
FWIW (=my 2 cents).

 

[jeremy]

But it does flip the magnet 180 degrees and when both pus are in use it will. Tried it, didnt like it, flipped the pu back around

the phase relationship between the two coils and magnet isnt changed when you physically turn a pup 180. the south/screw coil would be further from the neck, so again, there is a subtle change but the phase relationship between the two pups is the same. i have a hh guitar with a flipped over seth lover in the neck and it is still in phase with the bridge pup