Series wiring: which way??

[khandwerk@gmail.com]

I understand the basic concepts behind wiring, but one thing that I've
never seen even mentioned online is which direction your suppose to
wire series in. So I guess my question is are you suppose to connect
the neck pickups negative to the bridges positive OR the necks
positive to the bridges negative? Does it even make a difference?
Also when your wiring an out-of-phase set up which pickup do you put
out-of-phase? I understand that putting both of them out-of-phase puts
the instument in-phase and all that. The reason I ask all this is that
I've been working on a 6t4p rotary switch that I've set up to work as
1)neck 2)par 3)bridge 4)series 5)series out-of-phase 6)par out-of-
phase and I want to set up the series and phase reversals right the
first time through. If direction doesnt make a difference then
whatever, but if it does why is one way perferred over the other? I
mean does the other just sound bad? I'm guessing that direction doesnt
make a difference because no one talks about it anywhere, it just
seems to me like it would though.

[Steve Robinson]

<khandwerk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1178598800.565138.145650@h2g2000hsg.googlegro ups.com...
> I'm guessing that direction doesnt
> make a difference

You guessed right.

> it just seems to me like it would though.

Why would it? The signal from the pickups is not directional.

Steve.

[Frank]

On Mon, 07 May 2007 21:33:20 -0700, khandwerk wrote:

> <snip> my question is are you suppose to connect the neck pickups
> negative to the bridges positive OR the necks positive to the bridges
> negative? Does it even make a difference?

If you connect coils in series they are physically joined the way they are
wound - so the end of one connects to the start of the other. You could
call that "negative to positive", but more correctly it's "in phase."

> Also when your wiring an out-of-phase set up which pickup do you put
> out-of-phase? <snip>

It doesn't matter within the same instrument unless you have more than two
pickups and want them to relate to each other in a particular way within
the switching scheme.

> If direction doesnt make a difference then whatever, but if it does why
> is one way perferred over the other? I mean does the other just sound
> bad? I'm guessing that direction doesnt make a difference because no one
> talks about it anywhere, it just seems to me like it would though.

It does make a difference, but only in combination. What matters is
consistency or an intent to be inconsistent (out of phase). The same is
true of parallel combinations, only with this arrangement two coils are
joined start to start and end to end.

Here's the science that is behind all this: With one coil wound
around a magnet or pole pieces operating in isolation it doesn't matter
what its orientation is. Add another coil or more and it does matter how
they are oriented and how they are joined.

A hum-canceling pickup has two coils joined in series out-of-phase with
each other, but crucially has two magnets with opposing polarity.
Electromagnetic interference gets into the two coils and travels in one
180 degrees opposite the other. Nearly complete cancellation of this
interference occurs. However, the signal generated by the strings
vibrating in the magnetic field has the same phase in each coil thanks to
the reversed magnets - so they combine in a way that reinforces each other
and is strong, punchy, and fat. You know the sound of a humbucker.

It's simple physics: Phase addition strengthens, phase cancellation
weakens.

Now, with parallel combinations, the overall impedance is low where the
series combo was high. The formula for impedance is an inverse addition
so you wind up with a much greater proportion of the high harmonics
getting through this low impedance combination than with a high impedance
standard hum-canceling pickup wired in series.

It's simple physics: Low impedance allows highs to pass, high impedance
attenuates the highs. Low impedance also yields low output - single coil
pickup characteristics, while high impedance yields high like a typical
bucker.

These topics are discussed in any detailed explanation of guitar wiring
and pickup design, but don't affect typical arrangements.

A Strat has its three pickups wired in phase. People sometimes refer to
positions 2 and 4 as out of phase, but they really are parallel. Again,
the impedance is even lower in those settings and they have that beautiful
shimmer.

Likewise, a Les Paul has its two pickups wired in phase, with the middle
position being a parallel combination, just like the Strat's 2 and 4. The
difference is fairly clear, and the middle position can have a nice jangle
and honk, but nothing like the lower impedance single coils.

Frank