How to Figure Out If Your Pickup Has North Polarity

You must orient your guitar pickups for them to sound correct.

Every guitar pickup has a magnet secured to the bottom of it. Therefore, every pickup has a north and a south pole. It is important to know which side of the pickup is north and which side is south when mounting two different pickups to your guitar. For example, if you install the neck pickup with its north side facing the guitar's neck, it is important that the south side of the bridge pickup faces the guitar's neck. This cancels 60-cycle hum produced when you have both pickups turned on. If you install them incorrectly, the tone from the guitar will be thin and weak.

Things You'll Need

• Polarity tester

Instructions

1. Place the pickup onto a nonferrous surface with the metal plate facing the table and the plastic coil wound bobbins facing upward.

2. Place the tip of your polarity tester against the edge of one of the bobbins. The magnet runs parallel with the length of the pickup, so north is on one side and south is on the other.

3. Look at the indicator inside the tester. If the white side of the indicator faces upward, that side of the pickup is south. If black faces up on the indicator, that side of the pickup is north

References

• StewMac: Polarity Tester
• "Schatten Polarity Tester Instructions"; Schatten Designs; undated

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish