wire colors on a magnetic pickup

I run into this every time i change an ignition to an aftermarket unit. I seems in the instructions they allways refer to hooking up to the negative and positive wires. At least the msd I am installing now refers to the wires as black as negative and orange as positive. I dont have a magnetic pickup with that color combo out of the four vehicles with electronic distributors. They are colored black and white. My question is, is the black wire the negative and the white wire the positive or vice versa.

Yes the black is negative. And if you had purple and green wires, the purple would be the negative

Yes the darker color is always negative unless your color blind then.... Uh... Purple is neg.

Hope this helps!

I was pretty sure but just wanted to check with people who know. I think I read somewhere the if you hook them backwards that your timing will be off about 4 degrees, That would be a great indicator if you have it hooked up the right way in the first place.

Thanks for the info and the beer. Can't see as good as I used to but not color blind yet.