Recommend Me Some Humbuckers to Split

[iansmitchell]

 

I have a strat with a non-reverse wound middle that still quacks like crazy, so the cancellation of frequencies is the cause of quack. You can also tweak quack by changing the height of the middle pickup in relation to the other two pickups.

 

 

Frequencies aren't canceled by pickups of the same type, just added.

No reverse winding or polarity, no quack.

[guitarcapo]

I've done best with asymmetrically wound humbuckers like Lindy Fralin Unbuckers, Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates, Gibson Burstbuckers

 

Fralin Unbuckers sound really good.

[LedZep1985]

I love the split tones of the SD Custom 5 and SD Alnico II Pro in my Epiphone G-400. The Custom 5 when split has nice, glassy tones. The Alnico II Pro is very subtle when split, yet it has a bit more edge.

[Norcal_GIT_r]

No reverse winding or polarity, no quack.

Go play a set of non rwrp and tell me that..

Quack tone was around before Fender ever made a RWRP set.

[Alex_SF]

 

Well, c'mon. One creates the other. Why do you think there are frequency cancellations? From the pickups being out of phase with each other.

 

 

That's not correct.

 

There are three factors which influence the "phase" of the pickup signal: (1) direction of winding; (2) polarity of the magnet (north or south up); (3) which lead of the pickup is designated as the "hot" and which is "ground". Reversing any of those three factors on a pickup relative to another pickup is going to put the two pickup signals out of phase with each other. Two Strat pickups out of phase sounds very thin and trebly, not quacky like the regular positions 2 and 4 -- it's like the sound of a Fender Jaguar bridge pickup with the high-pass filter switch engaged.

 

An RWRP middle is done so that the two pickup signal phase reversals ((1) and (2) above) cancel each other out, leaving your pickup signal in phase with the other pickups. However, 60-cycle hum is only affected by one of these reversals (which one I don't remember, but I think it's direction of winding because the coil winding is the antenna that picks up the hum), and that cancels out with the hum from your other pickups when one is RWRP relative to the other.

 

The "quack" is caused not by signal phase, but by the interactions of the harmonic overtones of the strings at those two "not too close together but not too far apart" pickup distance points. I have two Strats, one with non-RWRP pickups and one with a RWRP middle and a switch that lets me reverse the phase of the middle pickup by reversing the leads. Both Strats quack in positions 2 and 4; the RWRP Strat is also hum-canceling in those positions. The RWRP Strat is also set up with a switching option to put the bridge and middle or the neck & middle in series with each other, creating a quasi-humbucker of sorts. That position fattens up the sound like a humbucker (though not a very high output humbucker), but it also quacks a bit! The only difference between that and a regular humbucker is the distance between the two coils.

[jtr654]

EMG 89

[Stvwndr219]

Hey guys,

 

Thanks for all the great replies! Where do you guys recommend buying pickups from? Is there a specific search engine - like pricegrabber - or a particular store that usually has these SD P-Rails for cheap? Thanks!

[soundgardener75]

I recently met a GC employee that would still give me his employee discount. I really didn't ask, but because I told him about it, he gave his word about his discount. So I'm buying my P-Rails from him (and an Alternative 8).

[docjeffrey]

 

Frequencies aren't canceled by pickups of the same type, just added. No reverse winding or polarity, no quack.

 

 

That's news to players of strats made before the 70's.

 

If you were to pick up a Custom Shop Time Machine Strat, I guarantee that you would hear the beloved sounds that we know and love from positions 2 and 4. The same thing is true of Custom Shop pickups like the 69's. The middle pickup is not RWRP, but they still have the "in between sound."

 

They also have buzz and hum in all positions.