I have a 1998 Epiphone Les Paul that I bought brand new at the Guitar mega mart. 25 years later it needs new frets, and the tuners could be replaced, but surprisingly stays in tune pretty well. It feels amazing. It is such a nice guitar that I don't think I'd ever want to "upgrade" to a Gibson. That guitar and I have been through a lot together. I hope the owner of this Epiphone bonds with it over the years as much as I have with mine.
Aside from flipping the magnet, the out of phase sound can easily be achieved by modifying the connections on a four wire humbucker as well. I've never seen anyone test if there is any difference between the two methods.
I wired a phase switch on my Ibanez which I put DiMarzios in. It does reduce the volume when reversed, but it reduces the bass side more than the treble, and gives a completely different sound in position 2 (neck and bridge split) and 3 (nec and bridge).
How does this compare to the Out of Phase wiring out there? I have an Out of Phase Push/Pull knob on my new Gibson LP Classic. Assuming they didn't mess with the magnet on the PUP, rather just reversed the North / South wire connections. Would that in effect be the same as flipping the magnet, or is it more like like people saying coil split/tap "sound" like single coils?
Regarding turning the pickup around so the screw pole pieces are closer to the bridge, there is a RUclips video called "Does It Really Matter? | Humbucker Install Direction Tone Tests" that nicely demonstrates the results when carried out on the "Bridge" pickup. I recently modded my Strat for a Humbucker in the Bridge position, and prefer the screws farther away from the bridge, as that warmed up the tone. I also have an old Gibson ES-175 with a single Neck pickup. It sounded a bit too dark for my setup. Years ago, I had heard about the results of flipping/reversing the pickup and gave it a try. I brightened up the tone the way that I wanted. You can read my comments made 3 years ago on the video I mentioned earlier. Fortunately, such a mod is easy to do, and does not involve any soldering, so it can be reversed just as easily in a few minutes. How you play the guitar, pick or fingers, or if you prefer clean versus distorted tones will contribute to how noticeable the mod might make.
I have an older Epiphone Ultra 2 from the early 2000s. It needs new hardware but man it plays great and has for years for half the price. Don't sleep on Epiphone
Looks and sounds great (and nice playing) so thanks for sharing - the owner will get a lot of joy out of it. For me personally, if I resell a guitar after I spend all the money on parts and labor on an upgrade project, I either need to (a) restore all the original parts or (b) lose money on the resale.
Great Video. Seems a lot of people are asking "why not just reverse the wires"? Can you PLEASE do a vid. on that and compare or shoot the idea down? Thank you.
I must have been living under a rock because I had no idea that you made such pickups. That's very cool. I've always wondered how Peter Green got that sound. Now I know. Cheers
Nice to get some clarity about the greeny magnet flip trick, not sure what happens when you turn your neck pickup around,as some seem to think is how you do the greeny mod ,single coils would get a phase shift, but I doubt it would change the sound of humbuckers,just the location of the pole pieces,thanks Dylan.
As always love your show! I turn my neck pickups 180 so that when I raise the screws I get a desired tone: one I can't get from the pickup being in its normal orientation. I feel that the simplest explanation is that PG was looking for a sound. He twirled the pickup. Messed with those PU screws... sound is still not there. He (or someone else) said 'have you tried this?!' flipped the magnet and then PG had the sound he was looking for. In a nutshell turning the PU wont put it out of phase- but it will surely change it's sound. PS- Actually simplest explanation may just be a factory defect. Main point stands 😎
@@DMSProduktionsThe above statement is correct. But there where at least 3 attempts to restore Peter,s guitar. The sound everyone is chasing is when Sam Li wired the pickup out of phase with itself. A rocky mistake, and pretty useless on its own. But when blended with the the bridge pickup.....that is the sound!. But at some point this error was corrected, to make the neck pickup useable on its own. The flipped magnet ides was settled on as a workable compromise..
@@David-jb6ev You mean rooky? Yeah possibly. But in normal operation the 2 coils of a hum bucker ARE out of phase with each other IN series to sum OUT the ac hum! IF both coils were IN phase with each other the noise would be MULTIPLIED! IF the coils were out of phase in PARALLEL, THEN, you would have terrible sound! I HAD a guitar that was wired up, BY a pro here, (that will remain nameless) & it sounded horrendous! Noisy & SHRILL! Wired to incorrect value pots, & both modes, double and 'single' coil wiring were totally wrong. 'HB mode was actually in parallel and out of phase with the other pick up, but in phase with itself, & 'split' coil was wired in parallel OUT of phase with itself! Didn't play that guitar for over 20 years. Did some digging a couple of years back & found the wiring job from HELL! Got it wired CORRECTLY, with the right value volume pot, & now it sounds lovely! I had 2 SD SH4 Stag Mags put in! SHOULD have sounded like a Start on anabolics, instead I got screech city! BEWARE of poor wiring!
OK, so the Greenie p/up is magnetically out-of-phase. Does that sound any different from conventional p/ups wired to be out-of-phase electrically? I have push-pull pots on several guitars to flip the phase electrically - something I'm happy to do myself, but I would not feel comfortable taking a p/up apart.
Of course there's no reason to turn the neck pickup around. However, could it be that the threaded pole pieces were raised or lowered on the 'original greeny' so that it changed the way the strings are picked up and the points that are the 'loudest '?
I have an epiphone slash goldtop and I could not get the neck pickup magnet out. It just does not seem to move. It would be awesome if Dylan made a more detailed video on how to get the magnet out of the pickup - in any event love this video!
Any reason to do the magnet flip instead of just soldering the lead and ground on the neck pickup in reverse? I'm sure it's a good method for people who don't own a soldering iron or just don't want to learn how to solder, but I'd think flipping the phase electrically rather than magnetically would be a little faster & easier (wouldn't risk any looseness in the construction of the pickup, as you mentioned). Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to re-solder stuff in my guitars though, haha!
Maybe a dumb or obvious question - but is a DAF the Dylan version of a Patent Applied For ..? If it is, that's super bad-ass .. If not, very curious as to what it is
Dylan: Explain why you didn't just reverse the wires on the neck pickup. Does that mod (using a push/pull pot is pretty common) create a different sound from effing and jeffing with the pickup magnets? Lots of comments and some opinions about this topic below, might need its own video.
magnet type has no bearing on interference, other than a stronger magnet will "pick-up" more signal form strings, so the signal to noise ratio should be a little better.
Hi Dylan, first off want to say I love your videos they're very educational and informative and clearly explained. I have a Peavey retro fire that I'm modding with a stew MAC lipstick humbucker and a stewmac single humbucker. I just purchased and received today a freeway 3 by 3 Les Paul style switch which as you may or may not know gives six different pickup combinations. I want to have out of phase options but the 3 by 3 switch with the humbucker won't do that if I want to do a split on the humbucker as well. I was thinking of putting in a small dip switch wiring the single coil to it and have it be in and out of phase if I can wire the switch that way and the output of that switch to the freeway switch but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?
Great vid. I believe you when you say turning the pickup is not necessary. It would have ended the argument if you did a sound test both ways. I did a phase switch on my guitar, not the same but sounds cool too. It’s cool to see what can be done with a less expensive guitar to make it play and sound better.👍
There is a RUclips video called "Does It Really Matter? | Humbucker Install Direction Tone Tests" that nicely demonstrates the results when flipping the "Bridge" pickup so the screw pole pieces are closer to the neck. See my comment above.
There is one more important thing to the Greenie sound, which is that you have to turn one of the PU volumes down a little bit, to get the right sound 🙂.
So, if instead of taking the magnet and flipping it. What if you flip the whole pickup and switch the hot and ground around? Would that have the same effect? And can you have those two pickups out of phase and in series with a regular switch or am I over complicating things? Thanks
Yes, switching hot and ground will do the thick. But you should keep in mind that if humbucker has 2 wires, it needs to be modified because the ground wire is soldered to the bare one. I don't think that it is possible to have pickups in series and out-of-phase in middle position simultaneously with a regular switch. But it can be simply done with one dpdt switch (or push pull pot); or two switches, each of which performs one of the functions separately (check out Jimmy Page wiring). Personally, I prefer having pickups out-of-phase and in series at the same time, as there is less volume drop in this case.
flipping the pickup around actually does the same thing as flipping the magnet (with respect to the bridge pickup) Doing so gives the added benefit of having the adjusting screws closer to the bridge (like EVH did to his signature models)
What I find funny is I had a Guild S 300 D. In the 70’s and 80’s. With an out of phase switch and every time I used it. My friends would tell me to turn off that nonsense. Now all of a sudden it’s a thing!
That was an "electrically-out-of-phase" sound and different from "magnetically-out-of-phase." The magnetic is purportedly more "musical" or pleasing to the ear. Also electrically OoP will ADD rf-interferrence, rather than cancelling like a humbucker is designed to do.
Near the end of the vid, you talk about how, when reassembling the pickup, it can be a bit loose and clunky, but I don't get why you didn't mention fixing it by wax potting, which is super cheap and easy.
Cool explanation! But isn't it safer/ more accessible for noobs to just swap the phases wires? Did myself both methods and find it more straight forward IMHO...
Not for a novice with no soldering skills (or tools.) all it takes is a screwdriver to do the magnet-flip. Also, electric OoP is different, (non-musical) as it doesn't cancel interference but DOES cancel too much guitar signal.
@@cockysonuvaB the signal has its phase which results from both winding direction and magnet polarity, no difference at the end I think, it's just or in phase or out of phase related to another pickup... And in a humbucker you have anyway both winding direction and therefore hum cancelling doesn't matter... not a specialist but it seems to make sense to me like this 🤔 Happy to learn new things if I'm wrong!
There IS an easier way to do it so it gets BOTH in between sounds:just wire a switch to swap the electrical phase between the 2 pick ups! Best of BOTH worlds!
My next project will be modding one of my Epiphone LPs to make that magnet flip. I, too, remove the pick guard on them. My Casino looks awesome without it.
Wiring one pickup to opposite polarity is faster & far less invassive compared to fighting the magent out and back in. And has the same exact effect, so youcpuld wire it into a switch like a push/pull pot instead and have the best of both worlds
you can do that but it does not sound the same. Comparing the wiring and flipping the magnet methods, the magnet flips sounds much more musical. If you want to get closer to the Peter Green / Gary Moore sound, flipping the magnet is the only way and is well worth the effort.
Not if the magnet itself is reversed, though you could reverse the polarity of the coils on a regular guitar pick up to achieve something similar. I'd actually be interested in seeing whether a pickup modified this way, with the coils wired back to front, would sound like a regular pickup, or if reversing the magnet fundamentally changes its behaviour. I do think that the orientation of the magnet would make a difference to the physical interaction between the pickup and the strings, but it would be neat to get that confirmed (admittedly, it may go against Dylan's interest to show this if the results don't indicate that swapping the polarity makes a significant difference but it would be a worthwhile experiment that could be performed by applying the different types of modification with the same pickup and magnet, only wired and/or installed differently)
So why does rotating the pickup not do anything? is the phase not related to the other pickup? would you have to play with the wiring and flip the pickup to get the sound out of phase sound, without removing the magnet.
Because the magnet is still in the same orientation as before...in relation to that pick ups coils. It depends on coil winding direction and magnetic pole on each coil of that pickup. If you flip your pickup upside down, it may change the sound, but it will not be out of phase. You still have the same magnetic pole on the same coil as before.
@@TexanUSMC8089 I dont understand how the coils and magnetic in one pickup can sound different by it self, isn't the "out of phase sound" created by the phase between 2 separate pickup. So why wouldn't flipping/rotateing the pickup and then reversing the wiring doing the same thing, the magnet doesn't care if the start of the coil(s) is on the inside or outside or top or bottom. He said the poles are on the skinny ends not top and bottom. So again I don't understand why reversing the wiring and rotating the pick 180 degrees won't do the same thing.
The positive and negative coils relative to the magnet will still be in phase with their counterparts in the other pickup. Doing this reverses that relationship. Part of the reason that middle position is often quite a bit thinner sounding is because the differences in the two waveforms do introduce some minor phase cancellations, but doing this makes every peak and trough the opposite of what they would be regularly.
@@blaness13ah, just noticed that you mentioned reversing the phase of the coils as well. Honestly, I don't know. It may be affected by the fact that the start and end points of the coils would be in different places (so the inside of the coil is now the outside and vice versa) but whether that matters I wouldn't be able to say. Maybe the position of the beginning and end points of the coils would make a difference, but I couldn't say anything about it with authority.
That may change the sound, but does it make it out of phase? Is the sine wave 90 or 180 degrees out of phase? You may have changed polarity, but is it out of phase?
Epiphone just announced an Epi Version of the Greeny les paul and it will have the Gibson Greeny Bucker pickups . It's an expensive Epiphone at 1500 dollars. Gibson alos offers the Greeny pickups as an after market option for 300 dollars so you could buy a 500 dollar epi and get the Greeny Buckers or the Seymour Duncan Green Magic pickups.
8’s?! I feel like such a monster playing 11s. I don’t think I could do strings that light. To each their own I guess. Maybe it’s cuz I’m a slide player…. But 8s seem way too light.
I never tried out the Greeny Epiphone version or the Gibson one. None of them are Greeny IMO. Sad to say you would have to spend 20k for that and that’s crazy. Anything less that Gibson or Epiphone puts out is really a Kirk lol. Still, the Epiphone version is $1500 and I wouldn’t pay that much for an Epiphone. You are better off making your own Greeny from a less EXPENSIVE Epiphone and put in what you want out of it. It would be a cool project.
How in the world did Leslie West get such phenomenal quality out of an old beat up Les Paul Junior and Melody Maker ?? Not to mention Randy California and his Silvertone on Got A Line On You??????????????????? I have had them all. Its not the guitar in your hands...Its the hands on your guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be sad when this guitar goes home, but it's been fun. The first thing I do with a Les Paul is remove the pickguard and throw it out forever. When I'm ogling Les Pauls I imagine them without the pickguard.
Only thought was…. 8 gauge strings… I play 10’s, but going to 9’s feel like dental floss. Couldn’t imagine smaller than that, it would be difficult to play…
Peter Green is the one who turned the Pickup around it wasn't something Gibosn did to let people know the pickup is out of Phase . It's done to match the look of the Greeny guitar. Green turned the pickup around and nobody knows why and it's been that way since the mid 60s . Gibson had nothing to do with it
Im 100% that an esp ec256 with a pickup swap is better than any Epiphone LP ever made. Ive played quite a few and everyone sounds thin and horrible, but it is the gibson business model. Epiphones must be shit because the gibson tribute series is really not good(especially for 1200$), then the LP classic is where they get playable, then custom shop is where they actually get good for an insane 5k. No guitar player should support gibson or epiphone in any capacity, when Esp, fgn, prs, and heritage make much more consistently good LP style guitars at better prices.
People like to bash Epiphone but they fail to realize that Epiphone is THE original Les Paul. When Les designed the guitar Gibson didn't have the manufacturing cability or equipment Epiphone did. So Epiphone built it for him but they put a Gibson logo on the headstock since he was a Gibson artist and not an Epiphone artist. True story. Look it up. So when Gibson says play authentic buy an Epiphone
NO pick guard !!😮 thats sacrilege ! Lol actually that particular guitar is too beautiful to hide the finish under a pick guard 😀👍 i only keep the pickguards on my soild color guitars. But on a figured top with beautiful burst colors i find it best to display every single aspect of the figures and colors. But thats just me.
![HOW TO MAKE A REALISTIC Les Paul GREENY [3.0]](/img/1.gif)
I have a 1998 Epiphone Les Paul that I bought brand new at the Guitar mega mart. 25 years later it needs new frets, and the tuners could be replaced, but surprisingly stays in tune pretty well. It feels amazing. It is such a nice guitar that I don't think I'd ever want to "upgrade" to a Gibson. That guitar and I have been through a lot together. I hope the owner of this Epiphone bonds with it over the years as much as I have with mine.
Aside from flipping the magnet, the out of phase sound can easily be achieved by modifying the connections on a four wire humbucker as well. I've never seen anyone test if there is any difference between the two methods.
I had it done line that several years ago on an Epi. The main difference is that doing it so makes the OOP sound slightly weaker.
I wired a phase switch on my Ibanez which I put DiMarzios in. It does reduce the volume when reversed, but it reduces the bass side more than the treble, and gives a completely different sound in position 2 (neck and bridge split) and 3 (nec and bridge).
How does this compare to the Out of Phase wiring out there? I have an Out of Phase Push/Pull knob on my new Gibson LP Classic. Assuming they didn't mess with the magnet on the PUP, rather just reversed the North / South wire connections. Would that in effect be the same as flipping the magnet, or is it more like like people saying coil split/tap "sound" like single coils?
the pick guard comment just made me a ally of yours for life my dude
Cool vid. Looks and sounds fantastic. Great job Dylan and congrats to Rob. 🤘
Peter Green was and will always be complete legend .
Excellent explanation of the "out of phase" process.
Regarding turning the pickup around so the screw pole pieces are closer to the bridge, there is a RUclips video called "Does It Really Matter? | Humbucker Install Direction Tone Tests" that nicely demonstrates the results when carried out on the "Bridge" pickup. I recently modded my Strat for a Humbucker in the Bridge position, and prefer the screws farther away from the bridge, as that warmed up the tone. I also have an old Gibson ES-175 with a single Neck pickup. It sounded a bit too dark for my setup. Years ago, I had heard about the results of flipping/reversing the pickup and gave it a try. I brightened up the tone the way that I wanted. You can read my comments made 3 years ago on the video I mentioned earlier.
Fortunately, such a mod is easy to do, and does not involve any soldering, so it can be reversed just as easily in a few minutes. How you play the guitar, pick or fingers, or if you prefer clean versus distorted tones will contribute to how noticeable the mod might make.
That guitar is F'n beautiful and sounds amazing!
I have an older Epiphone Ultra 2 from the early 2000s. It needs new hardware but man it plays great and has for years for half the price. Don't sleep on Epiphone
That’s a beautiful guitar and sounds amazing!!!
I've been thinking of doing this to my Chibson/Epiphony. Thanks for posting this... might give it a try!
Looks and sounds great (and nice playing) so thanks for sharing - the owner will get a lot of joy out of it. For me personally, if I resell a guitar after I spend all the money on parts and labor on an upgrade project, I either need to (a) restore all the original parts or (b) lose money on the resale.
That’s a cool guitar! Great work man!
Great Video. Seems a lot of people are asking "why not just reverse the wires"?
Can you PLEASE do a vid. on that and compare or shoot the idea down? Thank you.
My goodness that guitar sounds so good, loved the opening jam.
I must have been living under a rock because I had no idea that you made such pickups. That's very cool. I've always wondered how Peter Green got that sound. Now I know. Cheers
The rock was BIG!!!
@@DMSProduktions I knew he made pickups, just not this particular set of pickups.
@@TheToneLounge Ah ok.
Nice to get some clarity about the greeny magnet flip trick, not sure what happens when you turn your neck pickup around,as some seem to think is how you do the greeny mod ,single coils would get a phase shift, but I doubt it would change the sound of humbuckers,just the location of the pole pieces,thanks Dylan.
LOL!
What volume and tone settings did you use in the blend???
Thanks for the vid.
As always love your show! I turn my neck pickups 180 so that when I raise the screws I get a desired tone: one I can't get from the pickup being in its normal orientation. I feel that the simplest explanation is that PG was looking for a sound. He twirled the pickup. Messed with those PU screws... sound is still not there. He (or someone else) said 'have you tried this?!' flipped the magnet and then PG had the sound he was looking for.
In a nutshell turning the PU wont put it out of phase- but it will surely change it's sound.
PS- Actually simplest explanation may just be a factory defect. Main point stands 😎
Pick up was REPAIRED some time in '67, and put back together incorrectly.
@@DMSProduktionsThe above statement is correct. But there where at least 3 attempts to restore Peter,s guitar. The sound everyone is chasing is when Sam Li wired the pickup out of phase with itself. A rocky mistake, and pretty useless on its own. But when blended with the the bridge pickup.....that is the sound!. But at some point this error was corrected, to make the neck pickup useable on its own. The flipped magnet ides was settled on as a workable compromise..
@@David-jb6ev You mean rooky?
Yeah possibly. But in normal operation the 2 coils of a hum bucker ARE out of phase with each other IN series to sum OUT the ac hum!
IF both coils were IN phase with each other the noise would be MULTIPLIED!
IF the coils were out of phase in PARALLEL, THEN, you would have terrible sound!
I HAD a guitar that was wired up, BY a pro here, (that will remain nameless) & it sounded horrendous! Noisy & SHRILL!
Wired to incorrect value pots, & both modes, double and 'single' coil wiring were totally wrong. 'HB mode was actually in parallel and out of phase with the other pick up, but in phase with itself, & 'split' coil was wired in parallel OUT of phase with itself!
Didn't play that guitar for over 20 years.
Did some digging a couple of years back & found the wiring job from HELL!
Got it wired CORRECTLY, with the right value volume pot, & now it sounds lovely!
I had 2 SD SH4 Stag Mags put in!
SHOULD have sounded like a Start on anabolics, instead I got screech city!
BEWARE of poor wiring!
Do you ever use a heat gun (on low heat) to remelt the wax, when you flip the magnet around?
I guess the original Greeny pickups aren’t wax potted. I know there are a lot of benefits in wax potting the pups, but what are the drawbacks in it?
Alway informative. Nice one, Dylan.
Question: Could you do the same trick with Fender humbuckers?
I saw thw thumbnail and thought i was being gaslit that what was being shown was am actual green les paul 😂
OK, so the Greenie p/up is magnetically out-of-phase. Does that sound any different from conventional p/ups wired to be out-of-phase electrically?
I have push-pull pots on several guitars to flip the phase electrically - something I'm happy to do myself, but I would not feel comfortable taking a p/up apart.
Sounded great and looked great. I hate LP pick guards and always take them off.
That sounds beautiful, will you offer a pre-wired p/u and electronics for this guitar?
Of course there's no reason to turn the neck pickup around.
However, could it be that the threaded pole pieces were raised or lowered on the 'original greeny' so that it changed the way the strings are picked up and the points that are the 'loudest '?
Could listen to you play like that all day long! How do you do it?
I have an epiphone slash goldtop and I could not get the neck pickup magnet out. It just does not seem to move. It would be awesome if Dylan made a more detailed video on how to get the magnet out of the pickup - in any event love this video!
Heat gun on low or a hair dryer should loosen the wax that is gluing in the magnet.
Is there a model number for the tail piece. Doesn't seem to be a link to that?
🍒 I use the screws to fill the holes from the pick guard.
Can flip the magnet, or can rotate it 180 degrees without flipping it. same results either way. 👍
sounds like a cocked wah slightly i imagine with wah it sounds really cool
those pick ups sound great. i'd like to se a deep dive on them.
Any reason to do the magnet flip instead of just soldering the lead and ground on the neck pickup in reverse?
I'm sure it's a good method for people who don't own a soldering iron or just don't want to learn how to solder, but I'd think flipping the phase electrically rather than magnetically would be a little faster & easier (wouldn't risk any looseness in the construction of the pickup, as you mentioned).
Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to re-solder stuff in my guitars though, haha!
Can’t do it w two wire braided pickups
Ah, makes sense! Thanks!@@DylanTalksTone
@Dylan, can you make a video that shows exactly how to flip the magnet ?
Epiphone is about to come out with a greenie soon. Even has the open book headstock. I'd probably just buy that.
You’d be shelling out $1,500 new, though hopefully they’ll come down used.
Please make a dedicated video on how to do this mod!
Maybe a dumb or obvious question - but is a DAF the Dylan version of a Patent Applied For ..? If it is, that's super bad-ass .. If not, very curious as to what it is
Yes
Dylan: Explain why you didn't just reverse the wires on the neck pickup. Does that mod (using a push/pull pot is pretty common) create a different sound from effing and jeffing with the pickup magnets? Lots of comments and some opinions about this topic below, might need its own video.
You can’t do that with a 2 wire pickup
Hello anyway there is a difference if you need coilsplitting because when inverting wires the remaining active coil is not the same.
I have a question that perhaps you could answer. Do alnico pickups pickup more rf and interference than ceramic?
magnet type has no bearing on interference, other than a stronger magnet will "pick-up" more signal form strings, so the signal to noise ratio should be a little better.
Hi Dylan, first off want to say I love your videos they're very educational and informative and clearly explained.
I have a Peavey retro fire that I'm modding with a stew MAC lipstick humbucker and a stewmac single humbucker. I just purchased and received today a freeway 3 by 3 Les Paul style switch which as you may or may not know gives six different pickup combinations. I want to have out of phase options but the 3 by 3 switch with the humbucker won't do that if I want to do a split on the humbucker as well. I was thinking of putting in a small dip switch wiring the single coil to it and have it be in and out of phase if I can wire the switch that way and the output of that switch to the freeway switch but I'm not sure how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?
Sounding great, Dylan.
How much sonic(?) difference does it make if you reverse the bridge pickup instead of the neck pickup?
None
Great vid. I believe you when you say turning the pickup is not necessary. It would have ended the argument if you did a sound test both ways. I did a phase switch on my guitar, not the same but sounds cool too. It’s cool to see what can be done with a less expensive guitar to make it play and sound better.👍
There is a RUclips video called "Does It Really Matter? | Humbucker Install Direction Tone Tests" that nicely demonstrates the results when flipping the "Bridge" pickup so the screw pole pieces are closer to the neck. See my comment above.
There is one more important thing to the Greenie sound, which is that you have to turn one of the PU volumes down a little bit, to get the right sound 🙂.
So, if instead of taking the magnet and flipping it. What if you flip the whole pickup and switch the hot and ground around? Would that have the same effect? And can you have those two pickups out of phase and in series with a regular switch or am I over complicating things? Thanks
Yes, switching hot and ground will do the thick. But you should keep in mind that if humbucker has 2 wires, it needs to be modified because the ground wire is soldered to the bare one. I don't think that it is possible to have pickups in series and out-of-phase in middle position simultaneously with a regular switch. But it can be simply done with one dpdt switch (or push pull pot); or two switches, each of which performs one of the functions separately (check out Jimmy Page wiring). Personally, I prefer having pickups out-of-phase and in series at the same time, as there is less volume drop in this case.
flipping the pickup around actually does the same thing as flipping the magnet (with respect to the bridge pickup) Doing so gives the added benefit of having the adjusting screws closer to the bridge (like EVH did to his signature models)
What I find funny is I had a Guild S 300 D. In the 70’s and 80’s. With an out of phase switch and every time I used it. My friends would tell me to turn off that nonsense. Now all of a sudden it’s a thing!
That was an "electrically-out-of-phase" sound and different from "magnetically-out-of-phase." The magnetic is purportedly more "musical" or pleasing to the ear. Also electrically OoP will ADD rf-interferrence, rather than cancelling like a humbucker is designed to do.
Awesome video, but also Is that Chris Reeve Sebenza you were using there too?
Yes
This man here makes the best pickups!!!
Near the end of the vid, you talk about how, when reassembling the pickup, it can be a bit loose and clunky, but I don't get why you didn't mention fixing it by wax potting, which is super cheap and easy.
Cool explanation! But isn't it safer/ more accessible for noobs to just swap the phases wires? Did myself both methods and find it more straight forward IMHO...
Not for a novice with no soldering skills (or tools.) all it takes is a screwdriver to do the magnet-flip. Also, electric OoP is different, (non-musical) as it doesn't cancel interference but DOES cancel too much guitar signal.
@@cockysonuvaB the signal has its phase which results from both winding direction and magnet polarity, no difference at the end I think, it's just or in phase or out of phase related to another pickup...
And in a humbucker you have anyway both winding direction and therefore hum cancelling doesn't matter... not a specialist but it seems to make sense to me like this 🤔 Happy to learn new things if I'm wrong!
There IS an easier way to do it so it gets BOTH in between sounds:just wire a switch to swap the electrical phase between the 2 pick ups! Best of BOTH worlds!
My next project will be modding one of my Epiphone LPs to make that magnet flip. I, too, remove the pick guard on them. My Casino looks awesome without it.
Nice Sebenza.
Wiring one pickup to opposite polarity is faster & far less invassive compared to fighting the magent out and back in. And has the same exact effect, so youcpuld wire it into a switch like a push/pull pot instead and have the best of both worlds
you can do that but it does not sound the same. Comparing the wiring and flipping the magnet methods, the magnet flips sounds much more musical. If you want to get closer to the Peter Green / Gary Moore sound, flipping the magnet is the only way and is well worth the effort.
Fun fact. Both the Peavey and EVH Wolfgangs have neck pickups that are screw coil towards the bridge.
Can you just install a switch to switch it out of phase? I wouldn't want to just be stuck with that one sound.
Not if the magnet itself is reversed, though you could reverse the polarity of the coils on a regular guitar pick up to achieve something similar.
I'd actually be interested in seeing whether a pickup modified this way, with the coils wired back to front, would sound like a regular pickup, or if reversing the magnet fundamentally changes its behaviour.
I do think that the orientation of the magnet would make a difference to the physical interaction between the pickup and the strings, but it would be neat to get that confirmed (admittedly, it may go against Dylan's interest to show this if the results don't indicate that swapping the polarity makes a significant difference but it would be a worthwhile experiment that could be performed by applying the different types of modification with the same pickup and magnet, only wired and/or installed differently)
I have an epi I want to change pickups now I'm thinking greenie
So why does rotating the pickup not do anything? is the phase not related to the other pickup?
would you have to play with the wiring and flip the pickup to get the sound out of phase sound, without removing the magnet.
Because the magnet is still in the same orientation as before...in relation to that pick ups coils. It depends on coil winding direction and magnetic pole on each coil of that pickup. If you flip your pickup upside down, it may change the sound, but it will not be out of phase. You still have the same magnetic pole on the same coil as before.
@@TexanUSMC8089 I dont understand how the coils and magnetic in one pickup can sound different by it self, isn't the "out of phase sound" created by the phase between 2 separate pickup.
So why wouldn't flipping/rotateing the pickup and then reversing the wiring doing the same thing, the magnet doesn't care if the start of the coil(s) is on the inside or outside or top or bottom.
He said the poles are on the skinny ends not top and bottom. So again I don't understand why reversing the wiring and rotating the pick 180 degrees won't do the same thing.
The positive and negative coils relative to the magnet will still be in phase with their counterparts in the other pickup.
Doing this reverses that relationship.
Part of the reason that middle position is often quite a bit thinner sounding is because the differences in the two waveforms do introduce some minor phase cancellations, but doing this makes every peak and trough the opposite of what they would be regularly.
@@blaness13ah, just noticed that you mentioned reversing the phase of the coils as well.
Honestly, I don't know. It may be affected by the fact that the start and end points of the coils would be in different places (so the inside of the coil is now the outside and vice versa) but whether that matters I wouldn't be able to say. Maybe the position of the beginning and end points of the coils would make a difference, but I couldn't say anything about it with authority.
Great job
I did the same thing on may 335 but there is a massive volume drop in the middle.
What model epi is that guitar
Put it in your car, get rear ended and have gary moore's luthier fix it for you. That's how greeny got it's wicked tone apparently.
You could also just flip the way you wire one of the pickups on one of the pickups? That's what I did.
That may change the sound, but does it make it out of phase? Is the sine wave 90 or 180 degrees out of phase? You may have changed polarity, but is it out of phase?
Yes, if they are both made to be in phase when combined@@TexanUSMC8089
Nice touch on those strings ..{~¿~} 🎸
Very nice
Epiphone just announced an Epi Version of the Greeny les paul and it will have the Gibson Greeny Bucker pickups . It's an expensive Epiphone at 1500 dollars. Gibson alos offers the Greeny pickups as an after market option for 300 dollars so you could buy a 500 dollar epi and get the Greeny Buckers or the Seymour Duncan Green Magic pickups.
OR but that $500 Epi, and flip the magnet for free. Or buy an Epi LP special 2 ($100 used) and flip the magnet for free.
8’s?! I feel like such a monster playing 11s. I don’t think I could do strings that light. To each their own I guess. Maybe it’s cuz I’m a slide player…. But 8s seem way too light.
Nice licks
I never tried out the Greeny Epiphone version or the Gibson one. None of them are Greeny IMO. Sad to say you would have to spend 20k for that and that’s crazy. Anything less that Gibson or Epiphone puts out is really a Kirk lol. Still, the Epiphone version is $1500 and I wouldn’t pay that much for an Epiphone. You are better off making your own Greeny from a less EXPENSIVE Epiphone and put in what you want out of it. It would be a cool project.
How in the world did Leslie West get such phenomenal quality out of an old beat up Les Paul Junior and Melody Maker ?? Not to mention Randy California
and his Silvertone on Got A Line On You??????????????????? I have had them all. Its not the guitar in your hands...Its the hands on your guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll be sad when this guitar goes home, but it's been fun. The first thing I do with a Les Paul is remove the pickguard and throw it out forever. When I'm ogling Les Pauls I imagine them without the pickguard.
I agree. I hate that big plastic pick guard right on the front of a beautiful guitar. I take them off.
Only thought was…. 8 gauge strings… I play 10’s, but going to 9’s feel like dental floss. Couldn’t imagine smaller than that, it would be difficult to play…
Peter Green is the one who turned the Pickup around it wasn't something Gibosn did to let people know the pickup is out of Phase . It's done to match the look of the Greeny guitar. Green turned the pickup around and nobody knows why and it's been that way since the mid 60s . Gibson had nothing to do with it
008's?????
Hello all
Im 100% that an esp ec256 with a pickup swap is better than any Epiphone LP ever made. Ive played quite a few and everyone sounds thin and horrible, but it is the gibson business model. Epiphones must be shit because the gibson tribute series is really not good(especially for 1200$), then the LP classic is where they get playable, then custom shop is where they actually get good for an insane 5k. No guitar player should support gibson or epiphone in any capacity, when Esp, fgn, prs, and heritage make much more consistently good LP style guitars at better prices.
Just get a Vintage V100PGM lemon drop
Great example of how to pick the right parts to upgrade an already good guitar.
When I saw the title I thought you were also gonna take a belt sander and a bicycle chain to it to beat it up...Bummage 😣
as in peter green, "greenie"? yeah. right.
?
i dont think so
People like to bash Epiphone but they fail to realize that Epiphone is THE original Les Paul. When Les designed the guitar Gibson didn't have the manufacturing cability or equipment Epiphone did. So Epiphone built it for him but they put a Gibson logo on the headstock since he was a Gibson artist and not an Epiphone artist. True story. Look it up. So when Gibson says play authentic buy an Epiphone
Except that is not what they are now. We are in 2023
@DylanTalksTone very true. Just wanted to put that out there for others to know. I'm very much a Gibson guy
How to build your own Greenie. Step 1 Buy a 1959 Les Paul
Wait
Step 1- Rob Bank
Step2- Buy a 1959 Les Paul
Sounds great, but it doesnt sound like greeny, sorry it just doesnt.
And I bet you pulled the tails and rails off of your original skateboards!!
What I find funny is the owner of greenie will never play or use it to its potantial hahahahaha.
Sadly.
Horrible Spitty stone. 🙄🙄🙄
?
NO pick guard !!😮 thats sacrilege !
Lol actually that particular guitar is too beautiful to hide the finish under a pick guard 😀👍 i only keep the pickguards on my soild color guitars. But on a figured top with beautiful burst colors i find it best to display every single aspect of the figures and colors. But thats just me.