Help confirm orientation and wiring of P-bass pickup

A stock Precision Bass pickup is wired in series, in-phase.

As for your pickup's correct orientation, and which wire goes where, someone here should know:

P-Bass Club (Part 2) Precision Decisions

MIJ-VI said:

A stock Precision Bass pickup is wired in series, in-phase.

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Actually the two halves must be wired out-of phase with each other, to cancel hum. The magnets, being reversed in each half, 'repair' the signal from the strings, making it in-phase.
Not absolutely sure about the construction of that pickup, but most likely you should connect the white and yellow together, and use the blacks for signal.

konaboy said:

thanks for the comment and for bumping it up.

if we disregard the colors for a minute, are the pickups positioned so that the leads come out of the right side, is this the normal orientation?

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Doesn't matter. But you wouldn't want to FLIP one half over-that would be a problem. If the correct sides are facing up, those sides should attract each other magnetically(opposites attract).
If you get the wiring wrong, it will hum, and, if you play chords or octaves such that both halves get a signal simultaneously, the sound will be weak.

dmusic148 said:

Actually the two halves must be wired out-of phase with each other, to cancel hum. The magnets, being reversed in each half, 'repair' the signal from the strings, making it in-phase.
Not absolutely sure about the construction of that pickup, but most likely you should connect the white and yellow together, and use the blacks for signal.

Click to expand...

Hi dmusic148.

I believe that one half of a hum-cancelling P pickup is Reverse-Wound, Reverse-Polarity in relation to the other half.

If the two halves are wired out-of-phase, the pickup won't cancel hum.

Post #2

"...Humbucker. This pickup basically consists of two single coils mounted side-by-side, with their coils wound in opposite directions and one of the two magnets reversed; this design cancels 60-cycle hum (thus the name). The bass humbucking design is most associated with the Fender P-Bass from 1957 on. Humbuckers have a powerful, dark sound with less highs than single-coil pickups — mainly due to the increased number of wire turns. (As you wind more turns of wire onto a pickup the output increases, but the upper-end response decreases.) Also, because they "see" more of the string's length due to the wider side-by-side design, more highs cancel each other out. Humbuckers can also have a "split" design, where the pickup is separated into two halves; this is the case with the "second-generation" P-Bass pickups...."

konaboy said:

thanks for the comment and for bumping it up.

if we disregard the colors for a minute, are the pickups positioned so that the leads come out of the right side, is this the normal orientation? Or is one pickup flipped so that the wires come out the left?

I can see four different ways to connect the two pickups:

What is standard?

No doubt I'm thinking too much here. Probably just have to work through the combinations and use my ears to hear which sounds best. Would be nice nevertheless to know how Fender usually do it!

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I say drawing #2 is correct with the wire from the top PU,
or the one closest to the neck going to positive
and of course the remaining wire is ground...

Hi MIJ-VI. Same diff. The reverse winding makes the two halves electrically out-of-phase with each other.

Thanks!