OK... I have a question for anyone who owns (or has access to) an American Performer Mustang Bass:
Can you check the polarity of the magnets in the split-coil Mustang pickup?
Are the four magnets all the
same polarity in both coils, or
opposite in the two coils?
Easy to check if you have a compass, or another magnet.
Extra credit if you can determine if the magnets are north or south.
Background:
A "normal" split Mustang pickup has its E-A string output in reverse polarity from the D-G strings, because of the way the two identical coils are connected to make the pickup hum-cancelling.
This isn't normally a problem (or even noticeable),
until you try to combine such an out-of-phase pickup in parallel with a Jazz pickup, as in the American Performer. You need a Mustang pickup that has all four strings in the
same polarity.
I've always assumed that the Mustang pickup in the American Performer was engineered like a Precision pickup, with the two coils wound in opposite directions, with opposite polarity magnets, so all four strings are in phase.
BUT, the American Performer service manual states that the magnets in the M pickup are ALL
NORTH.
The only way that would work (so all four strings in phase) is for the coils to be identical, and connected so the pickup is NOT hum-cancelling.
Seems like an odd choice by the designers, but some of us have been wondering...
