Rewerse Wound Middle Pickup For Strat

[bancika]

I repaired some strat clone which seems to still have a hum in positions 2 and 4 which leads me to think it might not be reverse wound. Would hum cancellation work if I just swapped hot and ground wires?

Tnx

[SwedishLuthier]

No, you need to have the middle pickup both electrically and magnetically out of phase. The electrical part is easy. Just switch the two leads as you suggested. And if you have a traditional middle pickup (Alnico rods, no ceramic bar under steel rods or similar) the magnetic polarity can also be reversed. Follow this instruction:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Electronic...ing/i-5967.html

but first you identify north/south orientation of your existing pickups and then turn the pickup the other way around. Neodymium magnets are strong enough to be able to reverse Alnico.

[dugg]

The Swede said it all. I noticed that when you loosen the strings all the way so that they lay down on the strings, the polarity becomes 'visible'. On a strat with a RWRP middle pup, the strings will arange themselves on one side of the polespiece tops at the neck and bridge, and the other side of the middle pickup.

[psw]

Hi bancika

As they said above, use a compass is an easy way to identify poles. If a ceramic or similar on the base of the pickup, often this can be reversed, then reverse the wires to get the effect. Traditional pole magnets are a lot more difficult. Simply reversing the wires can produce a hum cancelling effect but would be effectively out of phase so would sound different.

pete