Reverse Polarity Pickups.

snarf

making guitars wish they were still trees
Fender advertised their Highway One Strats as having the middle pup "reverse wound, reverse polarity." I have one, and it's the Strat that I use most often, and it's most often in the 2nd switch position (bridge/middle). I like that sound from it best (it's very Robert Cray sounding), but I have no clue what difference it makes in the sound of the guitar...it sounds like a Strat. I think I vaguely recall reading once that it cuts the typical Strat hum when you're using positions 2 and 4.
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
I ordered a set of Rio Grande Muy pickups for a Tele rebuild I am doing. I really wanted the Zexcoils but a little pricey for a Squire---
I also considered the Lindy Fralin pickups, but again a little more than I wanted to shell out. I don't know what to expect???
They got good reviews but I am sure you know how reviews go. They are made in Texas that was a selling point to me---and $50 less than Fralins---and $159 cheaper than Zexcoils. Edit: I just read the link Al put on----I started out understanding--then ended up confused--o_Oo_Oo_O
 
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mountain man

Still got the Blues!
do you mean the peter green tone?
That's what I was thinking about. I love the tone of my Gary Moore Les Paul Standard and using the neck pup. All that makes it different is the neck pup is installed in reverse which makes the magnetic flux reverse. Most comments I received at the last Lake Arrowhead BGU Live were positive. :Beer:
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
That's what I was thinking about. I love the tone of my Gary Moore Les Paul Standard and using the neck pup. All that makes it different is the neck pup is installed in reverse which makes the magnetic flux reverse. Most comments I received at the last Lake Arrowhead BGU Live were positive. :Beer:

That was a myth about the Peter Green mod, but it isn’t true. Reversing the pickup has no impact on polarity and minimal impact on tone (only because the studs and screws switch positions). To put the two pickups on a LP style out of phase, you either flip the magnet OR flip the wiring. Doing this will not change the tone of either pickup alone but gives you the out of phase tone in the middle (both) switch position.

Most modern (80’s and newer, maybe earlier) strats come with the middle pickup reverse wound and reverse polarity. The double reverse means the phase is the same for the guitar signal so there is no real impact on tone. The benefit is the middle coil is out of phase with the other two coils so in positions 2 and 4, the emf noise picked up by the coils is out of phase and therefore mostly cancels. Basically the same thing that a humbucker does, but the coils are a couple inches apart.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
On a Strat, the video covers it totally except that just reverse polarity isn't enough, one pickup must also be reverse wound.
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/what-are-rwrp-pickups/
https://proaudioland.com/news/reverse-wound-reverse-polarity-pickups/
On a Tele you want one pickup reverse wound and reverse polarity to cancel out hum in the middle position instead of magnifying it. What the lower article above doesn't tell you is that regular humbucking pickups are not wired with the coils in parallel like in a Strat or Tele, but in series. Putting them in series gives considerably more "oomph". And this, folks is the advantage of a 4-way switch in a Tele.

When I routed out this guitar to take three Duncan P90's instead of its stock "toaster" pickups, I went to great lengths to make sure the middle pickup was RWRP. Incidentally, this otherwise cheap Brownsville Choirboy guitar is now a rip-roaring, butt-kicking blues MONSTER. The body is like a Danelectro ... plywood frame with "masonite" back and top and a mystery hardwood center block ... and it sounds INCREDIBLE. This is one of the reasons I am so fond of saying that 95% of a guitar's tone comes from the pickups and body wood hardly makes any difference at all ... in other words "tonewood" is a myth. :eek:
9245296146_be6f55774e.jpg
 
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Elio

Student Of The Blues
That was a myth about the Peter Green mod, but it isn’t true. Reversing the pickup has no impact on polarity and minimal impact on tone (only because the studs and screws switch positions). To put the two pickups on a LP style out of phase, you either flip the magnet OR flip the wiring. Doing this will not change the tone of either pickup alone but gives you the out of phase tone in the middle (both) switch position.

Most modern (80’s and newer, maybe earlier) strats come with the middle pickup reverse wound and reverse polarity. The double reverse means the phase is the same for the guitar signal so there is no real impact on tone. The benefit is the middle coil is out of phase with the other two coils so in positions 2 and 4, the emf noise picked up by the coils is out of phase and therefore mostly cancels. Basically the same thing that a humbucker does, but the coils are a couple inches apart.

This reflects my understanding, as well. My Michael Kelly CC50 tele came with Fralin Steel Pole 43's with a push-pull pot that switches the polarity to produce phase reversal in the middle position. The phase-reversed tone is very specific and a very different tone. There are only a handful of times where I have thought to use it and where I though it fit in. For some reason, funk rhythms seem to sound good with it since it really cuts through a mix.

With that said, a few months ago I finally got around to upgrading my strat by installing the Klein pickups that I got from @Rancid Rumpboogie about 4 or 5 years ago. I managed to reverse the wiring on the center pickup and threw two of the positions out of phase. I briefly considered leaving it that way before opening it up again to re-wired it. I figured it would probably annoy me more than it would be used intentionally, so the push-pull is not a bad way to go.
 

Rancid Rumpboogie

Blues Mangler
With that said, a few months ago I finally got around to upgrading my strat by installing the Klein pickups that I got from @Rancid Rumpboogie about 4 or 5 years ago.
So ... what is your opinion of those Klein '56 Epic Series pickups? https://www.kleinpickups.com/p-252-1956-epic-series-stratocaster-pickups.aspx
I loved them because they nailed the tone I remember from the late 60's when most of my buds were playing 10-year-old Strats.

The only reason I got rid of them was that I re-wired my Strat for 10 different pickup combinations (like the bridge and neck in series) which magnified the hum, and needed to find noiseless pickups ... and found the Zexcoils it now has and that I love.
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
do you mean the peter green tone?
I wish--
So what is your question?
Well I sure don't have any question about making a polarity tester--he covered that pretty good.:)
My question would be does it have anything to do with the sound--Deeper--Brighter? More sustain- less sustain just typical pickup questions.
And how are stock Tele pickups Reverse polarity or non-reverse----if they are wound reverse polarity then why would they advertise them as such? The ones that came out of the guitar are oppisite according to the test. The bridge is magnetic--the neck is not. OH WELL I guess I'll see.
 

blackcoffeeblues

Student Of The Blues
I went to sleep on the reply button on the fore mentioned post--above.
I have only owned one Tele in my life----and I HATED IT----but this pickup thread is about TELECASTERS---not Strats---not Les Pauls
it is 2 single coil Tele pickups---not Humbukers or 3 pickup P90s----I mean I don't know anything about Teles,.just trying to get basic info on them. Is there a difference between reverse wound and reverse polarity---or is it the same if you turn your pickup around.and install it ???
I'm that simple.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
So ... what is your opinion of those Klein '56 Epic Series pickups? https://www.kleinpickups.com/p-252-1956-epic-series-stratocaster-pickups.aspx
I loved them because they nailed the tone I remember from the late 60's when most of my buds were playing 10-year-old Strats.

The only reason I got rid of them was that I re-wired my Strat for 10 different pickup combinations (like the bridge and neck in series) which magnified the hum, and needed to find noiseless pickups ... and found the Zexcoils it now has and that I love.

They worked out great. The overall tone is similar to the Fender 57/62 pickups I had in there but with a lot more oomph and just a little more bite. I really love the tone I'm getting out of them and I've been playing the strat a lot more than I used to as a result. I'm just a little ticked off that I let them sit in a drawer for so long before I got around to installing them. Thanks again for sending them my way!
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
That was a myth about the Peter Green mod, but it isn’t true. Reversing the pickup has no impact on polarity and minimal impact on tone (only because the studs and screws switch positions). To put the two pickups on a LP style out of phase, you either flip the magnet OR flip the wiring. Doing this will not change the tone of either pickup alone but gives you the out of phase tone in the middle (both) switch position.

Most modern (80’s and newer, maybe earlier) strats come with the middle pickup reverse wound and reverse polarity. The double reverse means the phase is the same for the guitar signal so there is no real impact on tone. The benefit is the middle coil is out of phase with the other two coils so in positions 2 and 4, the emf noise picked up by the coils is out of phase and therefore mostly cancels. Basically the same thing that a humbucker does, but the coils are a couple inches apart.
Fine. I believe the myth. My Gary Moore Les Paul Standard sounds different than both my Les Paul Custom and my Joe Bonamassa Les Paul Standard. And I'm not just talking about that the pups are different pups. It might be subjective but you can tell without just listening to the differences in the bridge pups. :Beer:
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
I went to sleep on the reply button on the fore mentioned post--above.
I have only owned one Tele in my life----and I HATED IT----but this pickup thread is about TELECASTERS---not Strats---not Les Pauls
it is 2 single coil Tele pickups---not Humbukers or 3 pickup P90s----I mean I don't know anything about Teles,.just trying to get basic info on them. Is there a difference between reverse wound and reverse polarity---or is it the same if you turn your pickup around.and install it ???
I'm that simple.

Those are two different things. Reversing the polarity without reversing the windings causes an out-of-phase condition. Here is a pretty good explanation, including some sounds samples from Lindy Fralin.

https://www.fralinpickups.com/2020/04/10/how-to-reverse-pickup-phase/
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
I went to sleep on the reply button on the fore mentioned post--above.
I have only owned one Tele in my life----and I HATED IT----but this pickup thread is about TELECASTERS---not Strats---not Les Pauls
it is 2 single coil Tele pickups---not Humbukers or 3 pickup P90s----I mean I don't know anything about Teles,.just trying to get basic info on them. Is there a difference between reverse wound and reverse polarity---or is it the same if you turn your pickup around.and install it ???
I'm that simple.
...and here is what my Michael Kelly CC50 Fralin sounds like in the middle position first with normal phase and then with the reversal. BTW, this is through my new Spark amp.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b7bh4ii1mlz8ome/Phase reversal.mp3?dl=0
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
Fine. I believe the myth. My Gary Moore Les Paul Standard sounds different than both my Les Paul Custom and my Joe Bonamassa Les Paul Standard. And I'm not just talking about that the pups are different pups. It might be subjective but you can tell without just listening to the differences in the bridge pups. :Beer:

Then something else is different, like a flipped magnet or reversed wiring which is what you would expect in a guitar with the Peter Green mod.

This is NOT an opinion, it’s hard science on how magnets and coils in guitar pickups work. You cannot change phase by rotating the pickup.
 
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