One manufacturer’s idea of a standard single coil might be another’s idea of a RWRP, and vise versa. Unfortunately, this is not true if you mix and match pickups from different manufacturers. A Seymour Duncan single coil pairs perfectly with a Seymour Duncan RWRP single coil. If you’re using pickups from the same manufacturer it’s pretty straightforward to match wind and polarity. Here’s the catch …yeah, we all knew there was a catch. If you get phase cancellation when combining two single coils, the easiest cure is to swap the lead wires on one of them (not both, or you will just have the same problem).īottom line: if you want two coils to be in phase and hum cancelling, you will need one of them – and only one of them – to be RWRP. The lead that was supposed to be connected to ground is connected to the output, and vise versa. The most common reason for two single coils to be out of phase is that one of them is wired backwards. If the two pickups have the same wind but different polarity, or the same polarity but different wind, they will be out of phase with each other. In other words, two pickups with the same wind and polarity will be in phase, and so will two pickups that have opposite polarity and wind. Most of the time, though, it is something we try to avoid.įor two single coil pickups to be in phase, both the magnet polarity and the wind direction have to either be identical, or opposite. It’s a tone you might like in certain situations, and some great players like Peter Green use an out-of-phase tone by choice. When this happens, we say that the pickups are out of phase. Phase cancellation is what happens when two pickups interfere with each other’s frequency responses, and most people find the result to be “thin” or “hollow” sounding. So, what happens when single coil pickups are mis-matched? You will either get hum or phase cancellation. Splitting a humbucker will, of course, bring back the hum. When combined, you get a fat, meaty tone and no hum. The two coils have opposite wind and opposite polarity. Humbuckers all operate on this principle. This is why most Strat middle pickups and Tele neck pickups are what is known as reverse wind, reverse polarity, or RWRP for short. With a RWRP middle pickup in a Strat, for example, you will get hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4 on a 5-way switch. If one pickup is north polarity, top going, the other must be south polarity, top coming.
#Rare earth pickup single coil vs humbucker full#
The key to a strong, full tone with hum cancelling is to combine single coil pickups that have both opposite phase and opposite polarity. Modern Fender guitars are typically wired in such a way. One interesting property of single coils is that depending on their phase and polarity, it may be possible for them to be hum cancelling when combined. Phase can either be “top coming” or “top going”, and polarity can either be “south” or “north.”Ī typical application of these principles is with single coil pickups. With both properties, there are only two options. Phase is the direction current travels through the pickup, and polarity is the direction of the magnetic field. These properties are called phase and polarity. The goal of this article is to make sure you wind up with chocolate and peanut butter, not chocolate and onions.Įvery pickup coil has two properties that affect how they will sound when they are combined with others. Even if they are delicious on their own, they might be disgusting when combined. Guitar pickups are like flavours of food. Everyone else, pay attention! This is important stuff, and it might save your sanity some day, or at least your tone.
#Rare earth pickup single coil vs humbucker free#
If you have only one pickup in your guitar, feel free to ignore this article and live your life unhampered by phase and polarity issues.
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