p-bass pickup wiring

[oakley86]

Restoring my '51 p-bass. If the wires from the pickup are crossed, what effect would that have. Would it change the polarity or make it not work at all.

 

[dwizum]

In most pickups, swapping hot and ground essentially makes no difference, especially in a one-pickup bass, since you don't have to be concerned with matching phase to another pickup. If the pickup has internal shielding and that shield is connected to one of the two leads, then you should use that lead as the ground wire, otherwise you'll get a lot of extra noise. But the pickup should produce the same signal in terms of you playing the bass in either orientation.

 

[oakley86]

Thanks, I'll check that out !!

 

[Bflat]

Thanks, I'll check that out !!

oakley.....
congrats on the 51 pbass, do you have the neck or body date by chance... I keep a list of all 51's I know of for the last 20 years and yours is not on it.... this would make the 40th one so far.
Dave W

 

[oakley86]

It's #349 patent pending. Bought it in a pawn shop in 1965 for $75 including the original amp.
I put a humbucker pickup on it in the late 60's. Just took that off and am trying to get it back to it's original look.
I think I must have crossed the wires on the pickup in the process. It has a hum when your hand gets near the strings. Going to switch the wires to see if that helps.