I've another boring one i've been hankering to get off my chest - humbucker "logic"!

One of those weird things that actually has been really well standardised since day one, back in the 50s (... sort of) - but isn't really all that well published - so i figured, why not eh?

So following on from the post about single coils, and what to watch out for, i said "coils wound one direction, but wired the other, are bad!" - with humbuckers? Thats actually the norm!

both coils are always wound the same direction - and always have been (always counter clockwise - thats important!) - and they're simply wired in reverse (and its always the "slug" coil thats wired backwards) - thats how they done!

And, it doesn't matter like it does with single coils either! With a humbucker, you've usually got access to plenty of the "start" of the coil when you've finished (simply because they're pigs to make, so having some slack to make mistakes on, is a life saver!) - everythings encased in tape to protect it (if your able to touch the solder joints inside a humbucker, you've got bigger problems then worrying about winding direction!) and, because the middle of the humbucker bobbin isn't conductive, you dont risk the "finish which is actually the start" grounding out.

So yeah - humbuckers! If your winding them, all bobbins are wound counter clockwise - the "screw" coil is wired to retain that counter clockwise-ness, and the "slug" coil is wired in reverse (making it into a clockwise wind, at least electrically!)

And that brings us on to "polarity" - again, this ones been very well standardised since day on... BUT... buts a bit confusing - so lets see if i can get this laid out as straight as possible.

the Slug coil, on a humbucker, is always "the north" (give it a google, all the literature out there, says exactly that) - it'll attract the north needle on a compass.

HOWEVER - the north needle on a compass isn't actually attracted to north polarity (again... google!) - its designed to point at the north pole of the planet right? And the north pole of the planet, is actually south polarity!

So, to avoid getting bogged down - if your using a compass to ID a pickups polarity (which the entire industry seems to do!) - if the north needle points towards the magnet? thats North... even though it isn't. (If your using a pole checker, or a gauss meter - that'll tell you correctly, that the polarity of "the north" coil is actually south polarity... and whilst its right... its completely wrong (the industry was built around boy scout compasses - the mistakes become ingrained - the pole checker is right, the industry is wrong... but for god and heavens sake, dont fight the tide! Just get a compass (or flip your results))

And yes - i'm as bad as everyone else, before you ask

Now, if we look at the quick and dirty diagram - we can actually see how humbuckers are wired internally - and thats quite interesting, because it busts a little myth about the "peter green mod" - spinning the humbucker around, does not change the winding direction, or the polarity of the neck pickup - it'll sound the same regardless of how you point the poles. (alot of manufacturers, especially those who specialise in 12 screw pole setups) dont even make specific neck/bridge pickups - they're all the same internally, just a case of spinning the thing round and shoving it in so it looks right... or dont - pickup doesn't care )

And, in closing - because even i know this is a particularly dry one - when i say humbuckers are amazingly well standardised... they are! Except the wiring colours. you will see all sorts of different colours being used for the hookup wires - so if your installing these things, worth checking and double checking with the manufacturer about their colour codes. 90% of the "my new humbucker doesn't sound right!" emails i see, are people who've blindly followed the old colour code on their new pickup, and its ended up unintentionally coil split or wired out of phase or something odd.

And i think that about that! Humbuckers - in some ways simpler then single coils, in some ways, much more complicated eh?