Pickup polarity, what are the odds...

...that a newer Custom Shop Nocaster neck pickup would be out of phase with an original 1981 bridge pickup?

I just wired up a pinecaster with a the above combination using the old Nocaster wiring schematic with a blend pot instead of tone control. I haven't heard the bridge pickup since it came out of it's original guitar in 1982 but everything seems to be good until I turn the blend pot all the way counter-clockwise. By tapping on the pickups I believe this should be both pups fully combined but the sound gets thin and quieter than when the knob is fully clockwise which should be the bridge pup alone.

I'm guessing the two are out of phase with each other but I know that the neck pup is wired correctly (at least as far as matching it with CS bridge pup) and the 1981 Telecaster bridge pup has a shielded ground wire so that one should be wired correctly.

Before I start unsoldering ground wires from the pots to verify that the pickups are out of phase, will I have the same hum problem with reversing the leads on a chrome covered neck pickup that you have when reversing the leads on bridge a pup that has the bottom ground plate?

While I'm asking questions, will a different lower value cap for the front position brighten that up a bit without completely removing all of the vibe of the original Nocaster blend circuit? What might be a good starting value?

Thanks.

You can check the magnetic fields with a compass, if it points in different directions for each pickup then they are out of phase magnetically. More then likely you wire the the blend so that it places them out of phase. It doesn't matter which pickup you change, however I would do the bridge as you want to keep the neck pickup cover to ground. If the bridge pickup has a brass plate under it, connect it to ground by itself. That will make the bridge pickup wires easier to swap.

Thanks for reminding me about the magnet trick. I grabbed the compass off of my old hunting jacket and checked them out. The old bridge pup is out of phase with the CS Nocaster neck pup.

I checked my G&L Asat Classic and my GE Smith Tele and these both matched the newer CS Fender pups. The odd thing is that when I checked the 1981 Telecaster that this bridge pickup came out of, both the original neck pickup and the Seymour Duncan Vintage Broadcaster pup that I put into the bridge position in 1982 match the polarity of the original bridge pickup.

I guess Fender has changed their standard polarity at some point since the early 1980s. I guess I'll just grab a newer bridge pickup so I don't have to mess with this old original one's wiring.

Thanks again.

I know my CS Nocaster neck PU's polarity was different from my '84 '52 reissue bridge PU.

If I disconnect the ground from the neck pickup's cover and run it separately (ala the 4-way switch) I would be able to reverse the wires on the Nocaster pup to bring it in phase with my old bridge pickup, right? I don't want to modify the bridge pickup since it is original and can still be put back into the old Black & Gold Tele.


I know my CS Nocaster neck PU's polarity was different from my '84 '52 reissue bridge PU.

That guitar is only a couple of years away from mine so it doesn't surprise me that the polarity matches my 1981/82.