Getting pickups in phase

A

Angus Cady

Jul 27, 2014
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#1
Hi there,
I have a squier affinity series p-bass that I've had since high school. Back in the day, I wanted a little more sound out of it so i installed a single coil in the bridge position like on a j-bass. The issue is that I have never figured out how to get the two pickups to work together - they have always been out of phase. Is it an issue with polarity or arrangement with the split coil? for reference here is the pickup that I have installed with the stock split coil: Antiquity II™ Jazz Bass Pickup | Seymour Duncan . It may also be the antiquity 1 if that changes things. Please help, how should I go about re-soldering? Do I need a new diagram or is it something more?
Thank you
 
#2
Is it still the stock p-bass 1Volume 1Tone? Pj bass is usually done like a j-bass VVT or like a p-bass with 3-way selector switch.

If 1V 1T no switch, switch the hot and ground on the j pickup(white to back of pot, black to lug). Or both hot on lug and both ground to pot. Since you didn't give enough detail or a pic we don't know how it is currently wired.
 
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#3
I have no pickup selector installed, i was hoping to get my blending through knob control. I also switched out the pots which may also be a problem. They are CTS pots and the idea is to have VVT. Would that switch still work? Thank you for the quick reply
 

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#5
The 3 way selector switch is used on the Fender Tony Franklin sig bass and the pj mustang. It is my preferred way for a pj bass.

It looks like you wired it correctly. Try swapping the hot and ground coming from the j pickup and see if that helps if not just put it back the way it was. This is the inherent problem with pj bass configs the p pickup usually over powers the j and it sounds off. You might need to install a hot (high ohm reading or mv) j bass pickup to balance with the p pickup. A stacked or hum canceling works nicely there too. If you plan to solo the bridge pickup there won't be any 60 cycle hum.
 
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#6
Angus Cady said:
The issue is that I have never figured out how to get the two pickups to work together - they have always been out of phase. Is it an issue with polarity or arrangement with the split coil?
Click to expand...

That's almost certainly the problem, symptoms would be: with both pickups on, a normal sound on one pair of strings, and a much thinner, more trebly sound on the other pair. Swap leads on the bridge pickup and the thin sounding strings move to the other pair.

It might be a matter of flipping one half of the P-pickup around.
 
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