Mixing humbucker brands?

[hamerican gigolo]

I have a Studio coming & while I like the '59 neck, I cannot abide the JB. It will have to go. My ? Is, can/has anyone ever mixed a different brand HB with a Duncan??? I know that SD & Fenders don't always play well together, but those were single coils. Are HBs different???

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

[velorush]

Yes. Just be aware of the differing conventions when it comes to polarity:

[hamerican gigolo]

Only one problem, the pup I have on hand is single wire/braided. 

[BoogieMKIIA]

11 minutes ago, hamerican gigolo said:

Only one problem, the pup I have on hand is single wire/braided. 

If the neck pickup is also single wire, no problem. If not, look it up the information from SD. The hot is on the pot terminals, ground on the pot body or a wire/terminal connected to ground. 

Some find out of phase wiring sounds cool in the middle switch position. Otherwise, it's just preference mixing pickups. @Jeff R or @JGravelin here can wind something for you if you are undecided about production PUs

[velorush]

3 hours ago, hamerican gigolo said:

Only one problem, the pup I have on hand is single wire/braided. 

Not a problem at all. What you've got in the single wire is going to be the start or finish of one of the coils. The braid (ground) will be the opposite lead of the other coil.

For example, if the single wire is the Start of the North coil, the braid will be the finish of the South coil. The connection between the two coils is there, just not visible. 

I have been lambasted for suggesting the use of a compass to determine polarity, so I won't make that mistake again because apparently owning a compass is tantamount to owning a sextant or a gap tool for spark plugs. Hook them up and see how it sounds. Polarity only matters when both are selected together. If it sounds out of phase (you'll know) and you don't like it, reverse the leads on one pickup and see if you like it better. My Hamer Special was wired out of phase from the factory, and I thought that sounded very cool.

All that said, I have found Duncans to be out of phase with most everything I've used with them. The Gilmour set for Strat (passive setup, not the EMG set) is a prime example: two Fender pickups Neck and Middle and that glorious Duncan SSL-5 in the bridge. The leads on the Duncan require flipping the wiring (ground / output).

 

ETA: to clarify, the "lambasting" took place on the Strat Talk board and not here. The typical HFC member is likely old enough to have actually used a compass. That I have one sitting on my desk at home and still find it useful (not to mention far more accurate than my iPhone compass app) was astonishing to those there. I say regularly, we're about two generations away from losing the ability to make fire.

Edited May 23 by velorush

[JGravelin]

On 5/23/2025 at 9:11 AM, hamerican gigolo said:

I have a Studio coming & while I like the '59 neck, I cannot abide the JB. It will have to go. My ? Is, can/has anyone ever mixed a different brand HB with a Duncan??? I know that SD & Fenders don't always play well together, but those were single coils. Are HBs different???

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

There's a standard with humbuckers and 99% of every maker does them exactly the same way because it's a built-in way, across all time, and instant death if the collective We do not. Coils wound clockwise, South magnetic polarity to the screw side, North to the slug side. There's pretty much no deviation from that because we all want our products to work together with everyone elses offerings.

Regarding single coils, yes: plenty of deviation from whatever "norm" there is! Fender messed around with different wind directions and magnetic polarity over the years and it wasn't until the early 70s post-CBS takeover that they standardized. Years ago I decided that all middle Strat single coil pickups would be wound clockwise, and magnetic polarity South up to the strings. Because this works and is in phase with nearly all humbuckers. This build quality was done historically, works with other humbuckers... so, like, why not!

Also, regarding the wiring diagram: hey, that's just electronic wiring - wind direction is same with all - and I think you meant "Phase" ?

Polarity is magnet orientation. They are different.

 

 

 

Edited May 24 by JGravelin

[Dave Scepter]

23 hours ago, velorush said:

we're about two generations away from losing the ability to make fire.

🤣 borrowing~

[hamerican gigolo]

8 hours ago, JGravelin said:

There's a standard with humbuckers and 99% of every maker does them exactly the same way because it's a built-in way, across all time, and instant death if the collective We do not. Coils wound clockwise, South magnetic polarity to the screw side, North to the slug side. There's pretty much no deviation from that because we all want our products to work together with everyone elses offerings.

Regarding single coils, yes: plenty of deviation from whatever "norm" there is! Fender messed around with different wind directions and magnetic polarity over the years and it wasn't until the early 70s post-CBS takeover that they standardized. Years ago I decided that all middle Strat single coil pickups would be wound clockwise, and magnetic polarity South up to the strings. Because this works and is in phase with nearly all humbuckers. This build quality was done historically, works with other humbuckers... so, like, why not!

Also, regarding the wiring diagram: hey, that's just electronic wiring - wind direction is same with all - and I think you meant "Phase" ?

Polarity is magnet orientation. They are different.

 

 

 

Thank you for your very informative post. My retort would have to be, is my '59 included in that 99% ???

Edited May 25 by hamerican gigolo

[hamerican gigolo]

Just now, hamerican gigolo said:

 

 

Edited May 25 by hamerican gigolo

[hamerican gigolo]

2 minutes ago, hamerican gigolo said:

 

 

Edited May 25 by hamerican gigolo

[JGravelin]

3 minutes ago, hamerican gigolo said:

Thank you for your very informative post. My retort would have to be, is the '59 SD included in that 99% ???

yes.

[hamerican gigolo]

Update: I swapped the JB for the HB that I've had stashed forever. Of course it was out of phase in the middle position with the stock '59. Just my luck. But, just playing with the volume knobs I got some very nice tones that might not be available if the pups were in parallel. Not saying I'll keep them OOP, but right at this minute, I'm kinda diggin' it... 😎

[topekatj]

In the mid 80’s I built a homebrew Strat (before the term Partscaster was coined) using a Schecter neck and body. I used a Dimarzio Megadrive in the lead position and a Duncan Jazz in the neck position. In the middle pickup switch position and with the coils in parallel on the Dimarzio (I used a pull pot on the tone pot) the tone was heavenly, just like I would imagine a killer Tele would sound with a PAF in the neck position. Single volume and tone controls, it doesn’t sound like a complicated wiring scheme but man, LOTS of tonal combinations with that pickup combo. FYI: the body was light solid maple and the neck was solid Pau Ferro. Those Schecter Fender knockoff parts produced out of various/ exotic woods in the 80’s were awesome, most people don’t realize that that was the start of Schecter.