PDA

View Full Version : Pickups and lefties... Does pickup orientation matter?



stan
15-05-2014, 08:24 PM
A question about pickup orientation:
Does mounting orientation for pickups matter if they are going into a left handed guitar?
Should they be turned around : so the pole that would have been under the bass E still be there, or doesn't it matter .

My believe is that is doesn't matter and if poles can be adjusted then do so accordingly, otherwise all is good.

I've seen pickups marketed as left handed.

You can get pots and tuners for lefties, that makes sense.

But in guitars as in marriage, I could well be wrong...

Gavin1393
15-05-2014, 10:35 PM
Lollar guitars blogged this article a while back. Explains it beautifully with pictures.....just the way I like it!

http://www.lollarguitars.com/blog/2010/07/left-handed-guitar-pickups-for-left-handed-guitar-players/

ultpanzi
15-05-2014, 11:42 PM
Some pickups have different poles for bass strings and unwound strings. These need to be rotated so that the bass string poles are still under the bass strings, etc. But on a normal pickup, the poles are the same so it doesnt matter, cos its still the same magnetic field pickin up the string vibration.

stan
16-05-2014, 12:08 AM
thanks guys, excellent link, thanks Gav

Fretworn
16-05-2014, 02:44 AM
Hendrix did alright with right-handed Strat pickups strung left handed.

lawry
16-05-2014, 06:40 AM
Normally the pickup is symmetrical so it won't matter at all. There may be higher-end pups that have specific pole windings but I don't think that will be the case here. Just make sure you put the neck pup to the neck and bridge pup to the bridge. Generally they have different windings to account for the amplitude difference of the strings vibrating above them. That is, there is more amplitude over the neck pup than the bridge pup. Consequently the bridge has more turns in order to get a hotter output from the lower amplitude vibrations.

stan
16-05-2014, 06:48 AM
/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from Fretworn on May 15, 2014, 11:44
Hendrix did alright with right-handed Strat pickups strung left handed.

Yes but he was a legend, and I am questionable at best

Thanks Lawry and ulpanzi - pretty much as i thought, just was wondering if there was something i may have missed