pickups swapped....but.....

[andyl]

So i decided as an experiment to throw a set of tonerider alnico IV PAF's (cheap as chips) into my gibson sg special to see how they sounded, and to be honest they beat the piss out of the stock gibson 490 alnicos that were in there... my prob is that after wiring em according to dimarzio wiring schematic (it matches exactly) once the selector switch is set in the middle the sound is quite weak and pissy,but if i dial back the bridge pickup a tiny bit it gets louder and more present.... any ideas what the i've done???? any help would be greatly appreciated.
I also inverted the position of the bridge pickup so the poles are closer to the neck then the bridgeif u get me, it was to get a little roomier sound rather than all twang....could this be the cause???

 

[marnold]

Sounds like the pickups are out of phase with each other. That would be somewhat odd with a matched set of pickups. Check your wiring. If everything checks out, reversing the hot and ground leads on one of the pickups will solve it.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Sounds like the pickups are out of phase with each other.

+1. Sure sounds like out of phase tubes. They cancel each other to the greatest degree when the volumes are matched, which is why it sounds louder when you back off on one or the other.

Mounting them upside down in the guitar makes no difference. It's only the electrical/magnetic orientation between the two p'ups that matters. You didn't take either of these pickups apart and re-assemble them, did you?

 

[andyl]

+1. Sure sounds like out of phase tubes. They cancel each other to the greatest degree when the volumes are matched, which is why it sounds louder when you back off on one or the other.

Mounting them upside down in the guitar makes no difference. It's only the electrical/magnetic orientation between the two p'ups that matters. You didn't take either of these pickups apart and re-assemble them, did you?

nope, just bought em so there was now dis/re-assembling going on... I'll give that swapping hot+ground wire idea a shot n see how it goes... apart from the out of phase issue, these pickups honestly sound amazing compared to the stock Gibsons, a real nice vintage tone. a good purchase I reckon.

 

[duhvoodooman]

Yeah, I'm quite sure the wiring swap on either pickup will solve it for you. Doesn't change the bridge alone or neck alone tone, because the out-of-phase cancellation effect can only work with both pickups on.

 

[ShortBuSX]

Keep it as is...that is a very useful mod, known as the Peter Green mod. For me its like having a 4th pup selection without adding another switch...the tone is driven a bit more than the bridge alone, great for piercing solos. Its also kind of a Jimmy Page tone too!

I had to flip one of my magnets to get that tone...but if you really wanna "fix" that, just swap the ground wire with one of the other leads from the pup, shouldnt matter which pup.

If you followed the wiring diagram properlly, your pups are magneticly out of phase, but you can fix this with just swapping the wires(as suggested)...or like I did mine by flipping the magnet on one of the pups(either).

As is, it takes a lil getting used to tweakin the knobs to get it in and out of phase soundin....but if youre in the middle possition, not struming or anything, turn the (either)volume knob back and forth, you should hear it "bump" into(and out of) that sweet spot.