Greenybucker pickup set now available from Gibson.

[Tim]

Flipping magnets is similar, but not as drastic in terms of what it does to the tone.
I think...

Flipping the magnet or reversing the connection does the exact same thing electrically. It causes the current being generated by the pickup to flow in the opposite direction. The only way flipping could yield a different sound from swapping the connection is if the magnetic field on one side of the magnet is stronger than it's other side.

 

[somebodyelseuk]

I believe you.
But...how come when one wires a pickup backwards, it doesnt get THAT sound?
Sometimes it just sounds thin, crappy and a fraction of the volume?

...because it needs to be wired '50s style', and then you back one of the volumes off fractionally until you hear it 'fill up' a little.

 

[TM1]

There's way more to it than just a magnet flipped in the neck pickup. The neck pickup wasn't working when he took the guitar to Sam Li. The neck pickup was rewound using Formvar wire. The neck pickup was rewound in reverse from the normal Gibson winding pattern. Anyway, The book is called "Guitar Man" and forward was written by John McLaughlin.` Pick it up and it'll give you the history of the Greeny guitar.

 

[Bryansamui]

Many incorrectly think spinning the pickup 180 deg in the pickup ring is what creates the out of phase sound.It doesn't.
That would be like turning a clock upside down and expecting the hands to move in the opposite direction.