DONE! Bronco to Musicmaster bass conversion

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon May 04, 2009 4:58 am

you can switch the winding direction of any pickup by just switching the ground and hot leads. it's not technically the same as a reverse wound pickup (because the coil windings will be going from outside --> in instead of inside --> out) but functionally it's the same.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:41 am

astro wrote: I think that would work, as long as there's no shielding to block the second pickup. Also, you have to be sure that they have the reverse wound reverse polarity relationship, or you'll still have hum. Generally, on most modern strats, the middle pickup is the reverse wound reverse polarity one. So as long as one of your two strat pickups is from the middle position, you'll be fine. If you're using a neck and a bridge pickup together, you'll still get hum because these have the same wind direction and the same polarity.

Yeah, my pickups are eligible for this. Think I just found chinese-made used cheapo hot-rails locally, for like $15, but I'd like to try both ways, will report on that some time later... Thanks for your input.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:42 am

mage wrote:you can switch the winding direction of any pickup by just switching the ground and hot leads. it's not technically the same as a reverse wound pickup (because the coil windings will be going from outside --> in instead of inside --> out) but functionally it's the same.

Don't you need it to also be reverse-polarity to use it in humbucking scheme?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon May 04, 2009 9:56 am

blacktaxi wrote:
mage wrote:you can switch the winding direction of any pickup by just switching the ground and hot leads. it's not technically the same as a reverse wound pickup (because the coil windings will be going from outside --> in instead of inside --> out) but functionally it's the same.
Don't you need it to also be reverse-polarity to use it in humbucking scheme?

well, it doesn't have to be but if it's not the pickups will be out of phase, canceling out most of the low frequencies. which would probably be bad on a bass

but hey, can someone 'splain me this; why are two pickups of the same polarity out of phase? this makes no sense to me. if they are out of phase that means one is producing negative AC voltage when the other is producing positive AC voltage. but how is that possible if they are functionally identical? hmmmmm??????

...it must have something to do with their distance apart.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Mon May 04, 2009 10:00 am

mage wrote:
blacktaxi wrote:
mage wrote:you can switch the winding direction of any pickup by just switching the ground and hot leads. it's not technically the same as a reverse wound pickup (because the coil windings will be going from outside --> in instead of inside --> out) but functionally it's the same.
Don't you need it to also be reverse-polarity to use it in humbucking scheme?
well, it doesn't have to be but if it's not the pickups will be out of phase, canceling out most of the low frequencies. which would probably be bad on a bass

'splain me this; why are two pickups of the same polarity out of phase? this makes no sense to me. if they are out of phase that means one is producing negative AC voltage when the other is producing positive AC voltage. but how is that possible if they are functionally identical? hmmmmm??????

...it must have something to do with their distance apart.

I think it's because you connect one reversed, so the signal it produces comes reversed into account. But if your pickup is reverse polarity, it already produces reversed output, but then if you make it reverse wound (or conduct it that way) it is reversed two times which means it is not reversed. Something like that

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Mon May 04, 2009 10:04 am

Distance apart also plays important role, because string vibrates differently in different places, and when you place two pickups, say, one inch apart, the vibration wave of lenght of two inches (double of distance betweed pickups) will be totally cancelled, because when it's high on one pickup it will always be low on the second (string movement that is), like opposite phase. And when you sum high and low you get zero. Hope something of this is understandable

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Mon May 04, 2009 10:54 am

blacktaxi wrote:
mage wrote:
blacktaxi wrote: Don't you need it to also be reverse-polarity to use it in humbucking scheme?
well, it doesn't have to be but if it's not the pickups will be out of phase, canceling out most of the low frequencies. which would probably be bad on a bass

'splain me this; why are two pickups of the same polarity out of phase? this makes no sense to me. if they are out of phase that means one is producing negative AC voltage when the other is producing positive AC voltage. but how is that possible if they are functionally identical? hmmmmm??????

...it must have something to do with their distance apart.
I think it's because you connect one reversed, so the signal it produces comes reversed into account. But if your pickup is reverse polarity, it already produces reversed output, but then if you make it reverse wound (or conduct it that way) it is reversed two times which means it is not reversed. Something like that

wha? nah, I don't think so man, haha

there's only one reverse. reverse polarity. so the AC signal is 180 degrees off from the other pickup. that would normally mean that it's out of phase. but there is some other variable here that makes a difference. I think it must be that because the pickups are in different places on the guitar, the string vibrations actually reach the pickups at different times, causing phase cancellations. so you have to reverse one of them 180 degrees to get it closer to in-phase.

blacktaxi · Post by **blacktaxi** » Tue May 05, 2009 5:08 pm

Okay, so yesterday I got this bass!
It is my first bass, and I find the stock pickup sound quite ok? I compared it to Squier JB at the store and couldn't tell much difference in sound. Hope I'm not deaf!

It is noisy, and I suspect that everything isn't wired that good, because it gets more noisy if I don't touch the strings. I'm gonna compare it to strat pickups today.
Also I didn't like the neck "finish", I guess that's because I'm used to my ultra-glossy mustang neck.

Is it a good idea to try finish the neck? If yes, should I also finish the fretboard? I don't like glossy fretboards, I'm more fond of a rosewood.

astro · Post by **astro** » Thu May 07, 2009 1:27 am

blacktaxi wrote:Okay, so yesterday I got this bass!
It is my first bass, and I find the stock pickup sound quite ok? I compared it to Squier JB at the store and couldn't tell much difference in sound. Hope I'm not deaf! It is noisy, and I suspect that everything isn't wired that good, because it gets more noisy if I don't touch the strings. I'm gonna compare it to strat pickups today.
Also I didn't like the neck "finish", I guess that's because I'm used to my ultra-glossy mustang neck.

Is it a good idea to try finish the neck? If yes, should I also finish the fretboard? I don't like glossy fretboards, I'm more fond of a rosewood.

Trust me, when you swap the pickup with a good one, you'll notice a 100% improvement in tone compared to what it is now.