There are several ways to determine the polarity of your pickups. In humbuckers made by Gibson and Seymour Duncan each bar magnet has a black line on the edge and that is used to represent the “North” polarity of that side of the magnet. The other unmarked side represents the “South” polarity. Normally on Gibson and Seymour Duncan pickups the adjustable side of a standard humbucker is the “South” polarity. On Fender pickups there are different polarities used for pickup position and era. Stratocaster pickups made after 1957 became “South” as standard magnetic polarity. Before 1957, Stratocasters had “North” polarity and early Broadcasters, No-Casters, Telecasters and Esquires often had both “North” and “South” magnet polarity. Fender started using RW/RP (reverse wind-reverse polarity) pickups in the neck position of their instruments. Such instruments were Duo-Sonic’s, Jazzmaster’s, Jaguar’s, Jazz Bass etc. Precision Bass pickups also had a RW/RP bobbin on one of the two split coils. Having a know polarity and if the magnet is South it will attract a North magnet and repel a South one. Remember the old theory: Like poles repel, unlike poles attract.

The easiest way is to purchase a Gauss meter from the R.B. Annis Company in Indianapolis, Indiana. I use the (-50-0-50+) hand meter. The -50 is the South side and the 50+ is the North side. I use it to determine the magnet polarity of a pickup and the magnetic gauss or strength at a given point. I will write about using an analog or digital meter for determining magnetic polarity and electrical phasing. Single coil pickups can be wound 4 ways and their combination with other pickups will give you many results and sometimes headaches.

Pickups can be wound:

TC-S: Top Coming South
TC-N: Top Coming North
TG-S: Top Going South
TG-N: Top Going North