Humbucker out of Phase?

[NickRober]

I just installed the GFS Power Rails humbuckers in my guitar and the neck
pickup is drastically louder than the bridge pickup. There is also a
strange sound when using the 3 way switch. I put together a recording:
(link removed)

In that recording i never changed volume between switching from neck to bridge.

I used the wiring guide from Seymour Duncan for 1 volume and 1 tone
potentiometer since the wiring guide that came with the pickups was
for 2 volume and 2 tone pots. It can be found here:
(link removed)

Is my bridge pickup out of phase? If so, what should I do to fix it?

 

[jefrs]

Welcome NickRober.

That's a nasty pop from the switch, they're not supposed to do that, suggest wiring faults. Start over.

Ensure that each humbucker has its coils connected in series. Are both GFS pickups wires coloured as in the SD diagram? Is there a GFS diagram with the pickups? You can check by measuring the dc resistance of each coil. Parallel connection is much quieter than series. If the coils are in parallel then their combined resistance will halve, if in series it will double. There's a top and bottom to each coil, if connected the wrong way around it will be out of phase and it will be quieter (and not cancel hum). Unless you have test gear it's difficult to check, so it's trial and error

Next check your switch wiring. Which switch are you using? The pickups need to be put in phase. The ground connections to the pickup casings and the bridge need to be checked, they need to be grounded at a pot base.

Finally check the pickup heights from the strings, adjust to find sweet spot and to balance the pickups against each over, adjust poles for each string response.

 

[NickRober]

On the wiring guide that came with the pickups it says:

When wiring to existing pickups, if in-between position is too thin you are out-of-phase. Just reverse the + and ground leads on the GFS pickup without disturbing the silver shield.

So basically, that means switch the black and green wires on only the bridge pickup, which is the one out of phase?

UPDATE: I tried switching the green and black wire positions but the same thing happens. I think there may be something wrong with the bridge pickup because when I touch it with a screwdriver it has a noticeably weaker magnetic pull than the neck pickup.

 

[jefrs]

It is rare but I have had one dead magnet in a pickup. But tele neck and bridge pickups are different sizes, though if anything I'd expect the bridge to have the larger more powerful magnets.

It does not matter which one is out of phase so long as they both have the same phase, so their signals add together (out of phase means they subtract).

Each pickup has two coils, thay have to be in phase with each other (but out of phase to hum). These should be pre-wired, leave that alone.

The two pickups should be in phase with each other. There may be three wires to each one: hot, cold and case ground. This could be coax with a pair of wire inside, black and green. Black is normally signal cold, screen to ground point.

Can you post the GFS and Seymour diagrams you are using or a link to them?

Also a pic of the control plate and the back of the pickups would help.

 

[NickRober]

I talked to the GFS people and they are sending me a new bridge pickup.

The Seymour Duncan wiring diagram is here: (link removed)

Since they are sending a replacement, I've put the stock bridge pickup back in and it works, although there is still a pop when I use the 3-way-switch. This never happened with both stock pickups. I don't understand it...

 

[jefrs]

Ok, in that diagram black is hot, the red/white are the coil taps, the green is cold and the bare is the case ground.
The SD diagram is good. Is the GFS colour scheme the same?

I do not understand the popping noise but you are still using the faulty pickup(?)
A toggle switch is easy to clean the exposed contacts, a tele can be cleaned with sprays but is less accessible.

A thought - an over heated pot from ambitious use of the soldering iron can give extremely strange performance.

 

[NickRober]

A thought - an over heated pot from ambitious use of the soldering iron can give extremely strange performance.

That could be the case, but I sorta doubt it. I took out the faulty bridge pickup and replaced the stock pickup which had 3 wires, and I wired it exactly like it was stock. Everything works fine now with the new neck and old bridge, and there isn't an obnoxious pop, so maybe that was part of the bridge pickup problem?

The GFS and Seymour Duncan color schemes are the same.