out of phase

[guitarist]

I'm about to reverse the leads on the neck pickup on my tele, so that its out of phase with the bridge pickup and the middle position will be noise canceling. Will there be much of a difference in tone if I do this? Since the pickups both sound so much different and all, it doesnt seem theres much to be canceled out (besides the annoying 60 cycle hum)

 

[jake-owa]

60 cycle huh?

So where did you get this idea? Got a link?

Keep us posted.

 

[guitarist]

Like how strats have the middle pickup out of phase so that positiions 2 and 4 are noise canceling. Single coil pickups tend to pick up noise from electrical wiring (and in the united states its the 60 Hz)

 

[Outlaws]

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

The US has just banned fucking around with perfectly good Telecasters.

 

[amt7565]

I never heard of this before. I would imagine they would not be reverse wound since it will enhance hum. I am not sure.

As for the tone, it won't make a difference.

 

[AcidRain]

I'm about to reverse the leads on the neck pickup on my tele, so that its out of phase with the bridge pickup and the middle position will be noise canceling. Will there be much of a difference in tone if I do this? Since the pickups both sound so much different and all, it doesnt seem theres much to be canceled out (besides the annoying 60 cycle hum)

There's something you're not taking into account here... the middle strat pickups are RWRP (reverse-wound, reverse-polarity)... meaning the magnets themselves are different. Simply flipping leads won't give you that.

 

[guitarist]

My friend did it on a cheap-ass stratocaster copy and it worked..are you sure it wont make a difference. Also arent telecasters suposed to be noise canceling in the middle position in the first place? I thought the out of phase was how they get that twangy, hollow sound.

 

[jimistone]

why don't you put humbuckers on it.

if you want the fender single coil sound then you are going to have to live with the hum. The only thing i DON'T like about the new fedner strat pickups is the reverse would reverse polarity of the middle pickup. IMO positions 2 and 4 are useless....I like the out of phase sound of positions 2 and 4 on original non-RWRP pickups.

 

[Major Tom]

Reversing the leads isn't the same thing as reverse wound, it will cancel the noise, but the pickups will also cancel each other out - it will be weak in comparison to what the 2-pickup position output is now... For this to work correctly, you need a true reverse wound pickup for one position.

 

[David Lo Pan]

As an alternative, you could do something that will work and leave the sound intact:

http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/tele.html