# Seymour Duncan single-coil and Tele phase reversal

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Swap the coil connections while keeping metal parts and the guitar strings grounded.

Applies to: The single-coil phase switch and Tele lead-pickup baseplate arrangement shown in these Seymour Duncan references.

## Listen with two pickups selected

This reverses one pickup’s electrical polarity relative to another. The source describes a thinner, nasal combined sound. Reversing a pickup playing alone is not the same tonal effect.



## The single-coil reversing switch

The source puts white on the left middle terminal and black on the right middle terminal of a DPDT on/on switch. Cross-connect upper left to lower right and upper right to lower left. Lower left goes to the onward signal connection; lower right to ground. Crossed wires remain separate.

One setting makes white hot and black ground; the other swaps them. Choose the onward selector, volume or jack connection from the complete guitar circuit.



## Why the Tele bridge pickup needs extra care

The Tele sheet shows a small jumper between a coil terminal and the metal baseplate underneath. Reversing coil leads without separating that connection can put the metalwork on the signal side.

For that particular arrangement, the source removes the plate-to-coil jumper, connects black to the selector and white to ground, and requires an independent bridge ground. Identify the actual jumper; do not cut a winding wire or assume all Tele pickups are built alike.

The source routes a wire from the volume-pot casing into the cavity, with about an inch stripped and trapped under the bridge. An existing bridge ground can serve this purpose. Confirm bridge, strings and metalwork requiring grounding remain grounded independently of coil polarity.



## Read the symbols

A ground symbol means a connection to the common electrical ground network, often pot casings and the jack sleeve. It is not an isolated wire end. A solder-point marker identifies a deliberate electrical joint; crossing wires are not automatically joined.



Sources: WD_S_ph_reversal, WD_Tele_Lead_phase. https://www.seymourduncan.com/resources/pickup/wiring-diagrams

Independent explanation by Tinkercaster; not endorsed by Seymour Duncan.