pj pickup wiring problems

[ahpook]

i've replaced the precision pickup in my fender cowpoke with a wizard trad (great sounding pickup btw), and wired it all back together.

it sounds fine with the blend control at either the full at the neck (precision) or bridge (jazz), but with the blend at 50:50, the side of the precision pickup that covers the D and G strings sounds out of phase with the bridge pickup. the side covering the E and A is fine.

it's an active bass, but i've been over the pcb with a fine tooth comb and there's nowt amiss there.

any ideas ?

[Hamster]

It's either a reversed pickup (swap the wires) or the pickups don't match and the combined (50:50) lower impedance of the pickups in parallel have reduced the output - maybe

[obbm]

Could this be something to do with the fact that the P pick-up is split coil and the J is not, causing half of the P to be out of phase with the J. My PJ has split coils in both positions and no problems.

[The Bass Doc]

I reckon obbm is on the right track - it's usually easier to get the phasing right when the J pickup is a 'side-by side' humbucker. You might try however reversing the two wires on the side of the P pickup covering the D & G strings.

[ahpook]

thanks for the advice folks...the phasing on the D-G side of the precision pickup wrt the jazz had spung to mind.

i wonder why this is a problem now when it wasn't before...the jazz pickup is the one that was originally in the bass.

isn't a precision pickup just a precision pickup ?

[The Bass Doc]

Yes I was puzzled by the fact that it was OK before the change over - any chance you can specify the make/model of the J pickup? P-bass pickups do vary in terms of how they are put together i.e. which half is north and which is south in magnetic polarity and whether clockwise or anti-clockwise winding, but it only really matters when mating them with another pickup. If the problem persists I'm sure the guy at Wizard will be interested enough to help out.

[ahpook]

the jazz pickup is (i assume) the one that was fitted when the bass was made...

both of the original p-ups are unbranded.



but you're right - i think a word with the wizrd may be in order.

[hubrad]

Yup deffo talk to Wizard.. I've messed with p/ups loads, and different makers stock items don't neccessarily match up. If you send them your existing j-pup they'll prob be able to either alter the P-pup you got, or else make one, to match.

[mrcrow]

a P pickup to just do that job only needs to buck itself
put another pup next to it...which isnt matched!!
and this could occur

i wouldnt reverse any wiring on the P

[mrcrow]

[quote name='mrcrow' post='422490' date='Mar 1 2009, 05:55 PM']a P pickup to just do that job only needs to buck itself
put another pup next to it...which isnt matched!!
and this could occur

i wouldnt reverse any wiring on the P[/quote]

edit

the p is ok...on its own...the j is ok on its own
on both the j is out of phase with one of the p splits
swap the j leads
and if now the problem is the E and A are out of phase
then the j is no matched...brilliant deduction...and may have to be replaced

iirc most P/J sets and J/J sets are matched for polarity and n/s etc...something i can say but dont fully understand

hope you get it sorted