Are filtertron pickups reversible?

[bmast160]

Since the filtertron has two rows of pole pieces it could be flipped around right? No row should be closer to the neck than the other?

[daddymack]

although it shouldn't make a difference [i had to go look at mine] teh side teh wire breaks out on should be closest to the pots. Mine are mirror images, with the neck p-up readable [u.S. PAT. 2892371] and the bridge inverted.

 

check the output impedance on the two pickups, the neck should be lower than the bridge.

[badpenguin]

they might be out of magnetic phase with each other.

[WRGKMC]

There's no change in magnetic or electrical phase or polarity when swapping ends on a pickup.

 

With a regular humbucker that has adjustable pole pieces, you can get a slight tonal change because the pole pieces are in a different spot under the strings.

 

With the distance between a neck and bridge HB its not going to matter if you have a North/South North/South configuration or a North/South South/North configuration. The two coils in each pickup doesn't change and the signals generated by both will still be in phase.

 

You have to reverse either the wiring of one coil to make the pickups out of phase with itself or revers two coils to make one pickup out of phase with another.

 

There are some three humbucker configurations which use some unusual polarity and phasing to get a wider variety of tones. Reversing a pickups physical direction can cause two coils to be to close together to provide enough difference in tone under the string.

 

There are some others that use one coils in a pickup that's wound hotter then the other to supposedly produce a broader frequency response similar to a single coil. Since one coils is hotter flipping the pickup end for end will move that hot coils position (like it does with the adjustable pole pieces) and make a slight tone difference.

 

In order for Filtertron's to make a difference, one coil or its magnetic strength would need to be different. Since they aren't flipping them end for end is a waste of time.

 

The problem it creates is as daddy mentions, you'll be running the wire under the pickup which causes issues with the wire length and getting it pinched under the pickup.

[onelife]

although it shouldn't make a difference [i had to go look at mine] teh side teh wire breaks out on should be closest to the pots. Mine are mirror images' date=' with the neck p-up readable [u.S. PAT. 2892371'] and the bridge inverted.

 

check the output impedance on the two pickups, the neck should be lower than the bridge.

 

don't you mean DC Resistance?

 

[bmast160]

thanks. there is only one pickup in the guitar so interaction with another pickup not an issue. it's hollowbody so the wire will just fall inside the body & not be pinched. pickup is a duotron — gonna try the rails under bass strings & pole piece section under treble strings

[onelife]

they might be out of magnetic phase with each other.

 

 

I would think the combined magnetic field generated by two pickup magnets would be altered although I don't know how significant an effect it would have on the sound of the guitar

 

[daddymack]

yes, but I was late running and could not remember the correct term...getting old sux...

[as there is no AC, and thus no reactance, saying impedance rather than resistance is not exactly 'incorrect', just not technically proper...], but point being, although resistance and impedance have different fundamental origins, the calculation for their value is the same...

simply stated, the reading you will get on an ohm meter will show a higher relative value of the bridge vs the neck, even if not exactly accurate, which was my point, although moot as now we are told there is only one pick-up...

[daddymack]

well, a Duotron is NOT a Filtertron...IIRC the pole pieces are supposed to go under the bass strings and the blades under the treble strings to reduce signal loss while bending. Check the TV Jones website, I'm sure they discuss that.

[Grant Harding]

We're talking about a duotron now? That's not what the OP was about. You said 2 rows of polepieces. Its pretty obvious that the duo wasn't designed to be reversible.

[bmast160]

thanks. just tried it & sounds much better.

[daddymack]

but, you have the blade on the bass side which is not the way it was designed to work...

[bmast160]

no worries. sounds good. duo is just 1/2 supertron & 1/2 filtertron & both of those pickups work on both the treble & bass sides

[WRGKMC]

thanks. there is only one pickup in the guitar so interaction with another pickup not an issue. it's hollow body so the wire will just fall inside the body & not be pinched. pickup is a duotron — gonna try the rails under bass strings & pole piece section under treble strings

 

I understand now. This isn't your normal Filteron with 12 pole pieces, this is one of the TV Jones hybrid designs.

 

 

Since you have no wire binding issue, go ahead and give it a try. Its just a matter of removing the mounting screws and flipping it.

 

If I were to guess at the results, I'd expect the bass levels to go up and the treble strings to drop out more when you bend strings.

 

The theory behind blades is they produce consistent string output when you bend strings and since guitarists bend the first three strings the most, the blade prevents a drop in signal level as the string is bent out of alignment with the pole pieces.

 

I don't know if you'll be getting an improvement in in sound with a flip but go ahead and try. It's a reversible mod that doesn't hurt anything and maybe its something you'll like. If not just flipper back.

[WRGKMC]

I've flipped all kinds of pickups. Even with a single row of pole pieces it's effect is so minimal its not worth bothering with. The exception is where you actually want to adjust the pole pieces up. I have one guitar where the bridge pup isn't quite level with the strings. it has more space between the strings closer to the bridge so I have mo pole pieces on the bridge side and bring the poles up level with the other side of the pickup.

 

Those pickups were actually made that way with the two sets if adjustment screws reversed. I've swapped many others and it doesn't make a dimes worth of difference. I haven't experimented with many 3 HB guitars however and as I said they do use some unique schemes to get more tonal variances including - Using a non hum bucking dual coil for the neck and bridge and a reverse polarity hum bucking in the center.

 

This essentially makes the guitar work like a Strat which that gets its hum bucking from a combination of center neck or center bridge. They are supposed to produce more quack tones but I haven't tried one so I cant confirm there's any significant differences in tone. If anything I'd think any single pickup combination would hum like a bastard. Maybe they use grounded covers to minimize hum.

[badpenguin]

yeah, I agree with ^^. I thought there were two pickups.

[onelife]

DC resistance, as you stated, gives us a quick (but indirect) method of making a relative comparison of pickup strength.

 

Wire is a conductor but it also has a resistance to DC current. The longer a length of wire is the higher its DC resistance will be - which, for the most part, also indicates more turns of wire in a pickup coil.