Fender PIckup Pole Polarities

Updated: 2024.11.20 – Complements of Gombrelli Guitars USA

You would think this would be consistent. Well, it’s not. It’s all over the place.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The pickups POLARITIES Change by model, for example Vintera 50’s are the opposite in Vintera 50’s MOD – yes, so mix and matching takes some real awareness of polarities

Normally this isn’t a problem when using 1 particular model of pickup from Fender but when you mix and match it is a problem. If you think position 2 or 4 sounds WAY more thin than expected it’s likely you have a polarity issue (if the wiring is ok).

It you have a middle pickup from one pickup set and you use the middle from another setup and the pole up polarity isn’t the same as original set you will have tiny thin sounding positions in 2 and 4 and it’s make things like Dual Stratbucker wiring to fail miserably or HSS setups be problematic.

In general

• The neck and bridge should have the same pole polarity direction.
• The middle pickup should have the opposite direction if RWRP
• Some pickups (like Dimarzio) are reverse wound but NOT reverse polarity. These should be the same direction, pole wise, as the bridge and neck.
• If you have no RWRP pickup then ALL the pole directions should be the same (classic 50’s, Vintage 59, etc)

This table will help you figure that out if your just buying a single pickup for your Strat.

Schatten Polarity Detector: Black is South – White is North — BTW, I don’t mind promoting good product and the Magnetic Polarity Detector is WAY easier that using a gauss Meter (with polarity indicator). I use it ALL the time.