# What happens when you reverse wiring?



## Rev2010 (Apr 21, 2010)

I installed a set of Rockfield Mafia pickups and initially had them wired reversed - ie. the red wire is hot but I had it soldered to the volume pot and the black wire to the 3-way toggle. After contacting Rockfield I was told it's supposed to be reversed, meaning the red to 3-way and the black to volume pot.

So today I rewired it correctly and the tone in general is pretty much the same. Only thing though is now the notes don't seem as clearly defined (only judging from using the bridge with distortion. Another oddity that didn't exist before is now when using the 3rd channel of my Mesa Triple Rec (with the same settings as usual) it seems the ISP Decimator gate is clamping down on notes when soloing. It definitely did NOT do this before when I had it reverse wired.

So what gives? What exactly happens when one wires a pickup in reverse like I did?? Please help me guys! 


Rev.


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## Rev2010 (Apr 22, 2010)

With all the guru's on here I'm sure someone has to know. I'd rather not have to create an account on the Seymour Duncan forum just to find out. Anyone?


Rev.


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## BigPhi84 (Apr 22, 2010)

I don't know what color scheme Rockfield uses, but if I had to guess, I'd say that you had your pickups wired in parallel instead of series. I actually prefer the neck pickup in parallel b/c it has no noise and sounds sorta like a single coil.

Was there any hum before you rewired it?


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## BigPhi84 (Apr 22, 2010)

Wait, where was the white wire installed?


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## Rev2010 (Apr 22, 2010)

Rockfield's wiring info is the white and green are soldered together and taped off. Red is hot and goes to the 3-way toggle switch and black and bare go to ground (soldered to the volume pot).

But color schemes aside, since it doesn't matter much, what is going on when one wires the cables reversed as mentioned above: hot wire to volume pot and end wire to 3-way toggle switch?


Rev.


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## BigPhi84 (Apr 22, 2010)

Oh, in that case, you just reversed the phase of your pickups (which shouldn't really matter if both of them were reversed). Reversing the phase of a pickup is generally used when the combined sound of both pickups sound weak and tinny and out of phase. In that case, one pickup is reversed phased, as doing both of them would put them back out of phase in relation to each other.

I'm confused as to why it doesn't sound the same in you case though.


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## t3sser4ct (Apr 22, 2010)

When you get the wires backward like that, you invert the signal (the same as inverting a waveform in your DAW). It shouldn't sound any different, and since your pickup is just a couple of passive coils, it shouldn't cause any problems. Actives might be a different story.

My advice is to find a wiring diagram for your pickups and make sure everything is connected properly.

EDIT: BigPhi got it first.


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## Rev2010 (Apr 22, 2010)

t3sser4ct said:


> My advice is to find a wiring diagram for your pickups and make sure everything is connected properly.



It is all wired correct now, I used the exact info I got from Todd at Rockfield himself. I've also looked at the universal diagrams on guitarelectronics.com and it's correct.

I did note that the sound is basically the same, it just seems for some odd reason that the notes aren't as clear and the sound for the 3rd channel on my Mesa weren't fully getting through the noise gate.

I've been thinking it over though and I think it might've just been the tubes in my amp. Lately once in a blue the sound kinda weakens, almost like the gain is being turned down on my distortion. So I think it may be time to change the preamp tubes, or maybe even all of them.

Oh and thanks for the answering my question guys!


Rev.


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## Groff (Apr 22, 2010)

Wiring them backwards doesn't usually make a difference. For example, my D-sonic was wired 'correctly' with the bar towards the bridge. I HATED the sound so I simply pulled the pickup out and flipped it, and it now sounds the same as my friends D-sonic which was wired that way. The only issue you might have had was it would make the middle position out of phase because the neck is opposite polarity. Makes for an interesting tone imo.

Speakers are kinda the same way. If you wire them backwards, it's not a big deal because it's just a motor circuit. But if one is wired one way, and one is wired the other, they cancel each other out and you get a terrible out of phase sound.


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## BigPhi84 (Apr 22, 2010)

No problem. Where's our rep? 


On a side note, it sucks that you're having problems with your tubes.


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## Rev2010 (Apr 22, 2010)

BigPhi84 said:


> No problem. Where's our rep?
> 
> 
> On a side note, it sucks that you're having problems with your tubes.



Well the amp like like two years old now I think. But I wasn't playing it for a pretty extended length of time so the tubes might be ok. I might just really need to turn it on and let the tubes heat for a few hours or something. At some point I'll remove the metal preamp tube covers to check the color of the glow and see if they're still fine. But I'll first try giving it an extended burn in.


Rev.


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