Thanks Bryan. AFAIK fender strats were like this until sometime in the mid 70s when they shifted to 5-way switches, and most of the Japanese strats I've seen from the 80s were like this too. It is strange, since I believe fender jazz basses had hum cancelling pairs right from the beginning. I'm not sure about teles though.
I recently made a dummy coil for my strat, and made it silent on all 5 positions. Middle pickup is also the same polarity as the others, so the dummy coil is in reverse polarity. Works like a charm :D
Hey Rob, thanks for the oddly timely video! Timely in that my son was given a Focus by Kramer Strat that needs a lot of cavity attention. I"m not that versed on Strat electronics so you've given me a great starting point. Thanks again!
First! Great video! I have to do this with one of my squier strats that has humbucker sized p90s in neck and bridge positions. I accidentally put in a pickup from another strat to the middle that wasnt reverse wound.
Hey Rob. Thank you for the informative videos. I have a Telecaster that buzzes when I touch the neck pup cover. What can I do to stop the noise? Thanks!
Love your detailed & meticulous work. i could watch & Learn all day. Which Fret Guards did you use? It looks heavy-duty. I'd like to purchase the same one. I currently have the Music Nomad = which are nice, but a bit Flimsy.
Have you ever tried adding a steel plate underneath a pickup? I picked up this ridiculously cheap second hand Strat copy just to make mistakes on, and somebody had modded the pickups that way, and I love the way they sound, especially compared to standard cheap ceramic Strat pickups - they have a punchy attack that is really pleasing to the ear and are more articulate than that type of pickups usually are - my assumption (which could be wrong) is that the sound is due to the metal plate, although I didn't do the mod myself, so I don't know for sure.
It was common for Fender to use metal plates under pickups back in 60's and 70's. But they didn't use steel. It was a non-ferrous metal like brass usually. (My '73 P bass has these plates.) I think it was for shielding. Steel would likely change the response of the pickup since it is ferrous. It would change the shape of the magnetic fields, and maybe also increase the inductance if it were close to the coil. Sounds like your experiment worked well! You should look up Chris Kinman's pickup designs. His more recent patents use steel bobbin flange things to concentrate the magnetic fields. Very cool stuff!
The method was correct, but the visual was incorrect. The magnets still deflected in the video. I'm just being picking since it appears confusing, but I understand what he was doing so the method was correct.
What an interesting video. I always thought you needed reverse winding in the pickups for them to be hum cancelling. It'd be really nice to find out exactly when did Fender start to use hum cancelling pickups. In basses I'm not sure about jazz basses but the p basses, fairly sure it started with the first model that came with the spit pickup, late 50s, I guess? Amazing content, Rob!
That's why he also changed the wiring. If you change the positive and negative (white and black) leads from the pickup around then you are essentially reversing the windings. You are correct that you have to do both winding and polarity to keep the pickup in phase.
Yes and no. Reversing the wires reverses the phase, but the windings stay the same. With a true RWRP humbucker you end up with both coils having the start and finish of their windings at the same potential. IOW, when in phase, both will have say, the inner windings connected to earth and the outer to hot. With my mod in this video, the originals have their inner windings (start of the coil) to earth, but to get my modded middle pickup in phase, it now has its outer windings (finish of the coil) to earth. In practice this usually doesn't matter. As you can hear, no hum, and nice, in-phase tone. But sometimes it can matter. The stingray-style humbucker in project Berocca doesn't have its coils reverse-wound. (This is common on cheap stingray pickups for some reason.) It still hum-cancels, and sounds fine, but the pole pieces on the one coil that has its inner windings connected to hot will buzz when you brush them with your thumb. That's due to capacitance between the inner windings and the pole pieces, and the fact that I have Elixirs (coated strings) on there, so my body is not earthed via the strings/bridge. With a lot of pickup designs, the pole pieces are hard wired to earth, and swapping the phase can actually have a slight tonal effect. This is also because of that pole-piece-to-inner-windings-capacitance. I touched on this in another video: ruclips.net/video/tV-TcoLPkkE/видео.html This is confusing stuff. It took me a while to get my head around it, and I'm still learning of course... Cheers!
Thanks for that Rob.I found this video because I have an 8os MIJ Squire strat, and it's pretty noisy. Checking polarity with a magnetic compass was a new idea for me. Great. When you removed the magnet to reverse it, I wondered why didn't you simply re-install the pick-up around the other way? Would this not produce the same result?
I went the mij rough myself own 15 fender system one trim bridge smaller nit with guitar I have a ri 57 mij that maple neck I can get the buzzing I have relief measured with a notched edge I see daylight .
Hey Rob. Back in the day nobody had RW/RP pickups, not even Fender. I had read somewhere (or heard) that Tokai Strats had pickups that were RW/RP to Fenders, and people swapped middle pickups with each other. This is purely anecdotal, I've never seen it for myself and I can't remember where I read it (it was the 70's or 80's - a long time ago). Can anyone confirm/refute this? Thanks for another great video!
Yep, the first strats had 3-way switches I think. So no point having middle pickups with reverse mags I guess. Did the first Teles (Broadcasters) have 2-way switches? I'd really love to know more about the history of this stuff. Like when exactly Fender officially went to hum-cancelling Tele sets, and reverse magnet middle strat pickups. What about the first Jazz Basses? Did they have a hum-cancelling pair of singles? FWIW, the winding direction makes no difference for hum-cancelling. As long as the magnets are opposite and the signals are in phase, you will have hum-cancelling. The winding direction can have other consequences though... Glad you like my content Peter!
@@RobMods You're right. Strats up to at least the mid/late 70's had 3-way switches. My old Kimbara Strat copy had one (45+ years old, still have it, though it's been rewired a few times!). People used to jam the switches in the "inbetween" positions with matchsticks! AFAIK Tele's (even single pickup Esquires) have always had a 3-way switch. On Esquires and early Tele's they switched capacitors - like a preset tone control. I have no idea when RW/RP pickups sets started (on anything - guitars or basses), although the split pickup on the P-Bass has always been a humbucker. And yeah, really enjoying your channel. It's a good mix - Guitar mods - electronics etc. Right up my street!
I would have loved my strat, had it sent to a tech guy about 7 times this month. Constant buzz and every time it is fixed it only takes about 30 seconds of playing for it to get ruined, guitar has become a constant source of frustration
This stuff can be frustrating. If you've had a full shielding job and your single coils are still noisy, then I guess it's time to think about some hum-cancelling pickups. I recommend checking out Kinman. They are great. Best of luck and hang in there mate!
Every strat player needs to know this. This is the best guitar diy content on RUclips right now! Love the channel.
Thanks Sean.
There was literally no change... are you brainwashed?
@@RobMods What state/city in Oz are you based?
Thanks - cleared up my concern about the pickups buzzing. Mine cancel each well.... had no idea this was normal!
Amazing. I never would have even thought to try something like that. You are a very talented man
Thanks Bryan. AFAIK fender strats were like this until sometime in the mid 70s when they shifted to 5-way switches, and most of the Japanese strats I've seen from the 80s were like this too. It is strange, since I believe fender jazz basses had hum cancelling pairs right from the beginning. I'm not sure about teles though.
I recently made a dummy coil for my strat, and made it silent on all 5 positions. Middle pickup is also the same polarity as the others, so the dummy coil is in reverse polarity. Works like a charm :D
Very cool! I've never tried a dummy coil, but I've got a strat project guitar in the pipeline, so I'll give it a go at some stage...
Nice videos Rob, good to see someone doing this work in Australia!
Cheers, Ben Bailey. 👍
Great video….love the 70s and 80s Japanese guitars.
They are really rising in price lately too...
Hey Rob, thanks for the oddly timely video! Timely in that my son was given a Focus by Kramer Strat that needs a lot of cavity attention. I"m not that versed on Strat electronics so you've given me a great starting point. Thanks again!
How'd ya make out..
Just checking in as I saw you on a Facebook post. I had a Cimar in a few years back: pre-Blazer Ibanez...
Very nice video. Thanks for what you do
First! Great video! I have to do this with one of my squier strats that has humbucker sized p90s in neck and bridge positions. I accidentally put in a pickup from another strat to the middle that wasnt reverse wound.
Hey Rob. Thank you for the informative videos. I have a Telecaster that buzzes when I touch the neck pup cover. What can I do to stop the noise? Thanks!
Thanks from Canada 🍁
Very well done
Thanks mate!
Love your detailed & meticulous work. i could watch & Learn all day. Which Fret Guards did you use? It looks heavy-duty. I'd like to purchase the same one. I currently have the Music Nomad = which are nice, but a bit Flimsy.
Thanks Michael. I'm afraid I can't remember where that guard came from. I've had it for years. I'm guessing it's stewmac or LMI...
@@RobMods Appreciate the input & Happy Holidays from NYC
Have you ever tried adding a steel plate underneath a pickup?
I picked up this ridiculously cheap second hand Strat copy just to make mistakes on, and somebody had modded the pickups that way, and I love the way they sound, especially compared to standard cheap ceramic Strat pickups - they have a punchy attack that is really pleasing to the ear and are more articulate than that type of pickups usually are - my assumption (which could be wrong) is that the sound is due to the metal plate, although I didn't do the mod myself, so I don't know for sure.
It was common for Fender to use metal plates under pickups back in 60's and 70's. But they didn't use steel. It was a non-ferrous metal like brass usually. (My '73 P bass has these plates.) I think it was for shielding. Steel would likely change the response of the pickup since it is ferrous. It would change the shape of the magnetic fields, and maybe also increase the inductance if it were close to the coil. Sounds like your experiment worked well!
You should look up Chris Kinman's pickup designs. His more recent patents use steel bobbin flange things to concentrate the magnetic fields. Very cool stuff!
The method was correct, but the visual was incorrect. The magnets still deflected in the video. I'm just being picking since it appears confusing, but I understand what he was doing so the method was correct.
What an interesting video. I always thought you needed reverse winding in the pickups for them to be hum cancelling. It'd be really nice to find out exactly when did Fender start to use hum cancelling pickups. In basses I'm not sure about jazz basses but the p basses, fairly sure it started with the first model that came with the spit pickup, late 50s, I guess? Amazing content, Rob!
That's why he also changed the wiring. If you change the positive and negative (white and black) leads from the pickup around then you are essentially reversing the windings. You are correct that you have to do both winding and polarity to keep the pickup in phase.
Yes and no. Reversing the wires reverses the phase, but the windings stay the same. With a true RWRP humbucker you end up with both coils having the start and finish of their windings at the same potential. IOW, when in phase, both will have say, the inner windings connected to earth and the outer to hot. With my mod in this video, the originals have their inner windings (start of the coil) to earth, but to get my modded middle pickup in phase, it now has its outer windings (finish of the coil) to earth.
In practice this usually doesn't matter. As you can hear, no hum, and nice, in-phase tone. But sometimes it can matter. The stingray-style humbucker in project Berocca doesn't have its coils reverse-wound. (This is common on cheap stingray pickups for some reason.) It still hum-cancels, and sounds fine, but the pole pieces on the one coil that has its inner windings connected to hot will buzz when you brush them with your thumb. That's due to capacitance between the inner windings and the pole pieces, and the fact that I have Elixirs (coated strings) on there, so my body is not earthed via the strings/bridge.
With a lot of pickup designs, the pole pieces are hard wired to earth, and swapping the phase can actually have a slight tonal effect. This is also because of that pole-piece-to-inner-windings-capacitance. I touched on this in another video: ruclips.net/video/tV-TcoLPkkE/видео.html
This is confusing stuff. It took me a while to get my head around it, and I'm still learning of course... Cheers!
This is the stuff I'm taking about! So good, so detailed. What a great explanation!
Thanks for that Rob.I found this video because I have an 8os MIJ Squire strat, and it's pretty noisy. Checking polarity with a magnetic compass was a new idea for me. Great. When you removed the magnet to reverse it, I wondered why didn't you simply re-install the pick-up around the other way? Would this not produce the same result?
I went the mij rough myself own 15 fender system one trim bridge smaller nit with guitar I have a ri 57 mij that maple neck I can get the buzzing I have relief measured with a notched edge I see daylight .
Hey Rob. Back in the day nobody had RW/RP pickups, not even Fender. I had read somewhere (or heard) that Tokai Strats had pickups that were RW/RP to Fenders, and people swapped middle pickups with each other. This is purely anecdotal, I've never seen it for myself and I can't remember where I read it (it was the 70's or 80's - a long time ago).
Can anyone confirm/refute this?
Thanks for another great video!
Yep, the first strats had 3-way switches I think. So no point having middle pickups with reverse mags I guess. Did the first Teles (Broadcasters) have 2-way switches? I'd really love to know more about the history of this stuff. Like when exactly Fender officially went to hum-cancelling Tele sets, and reverse magnet middle strat pickups. What about the first Jazz Basses? Did they have a hum-cancelling pair of singles?
FWIW, the winding direction makes no difference for hum-cancelling. As long as the magnets are opposite and the signals are in phase, you will have hum-cancelling. The winding direction can have other consequences though...
Glad you like my content Peter!
@@RobMods You're right. Strats up to at least the mid/late 70's had 3-way switches. My old Kimbara Strat copy had one (45+ years old, still have it, though it's been rewired a few times!). People used to jam the switches in the "inbetween" positions with matchsticks!
AFAIK Tele's (even single pickup Esquires) have always had a 3-way switch. On Esquires and early Tele's they switched capacitors - like a preset tone control.
I have no idea when RW/RP pickups sets started (on anything - guitars or basses), although the split pickup on the P-Bass has always been a humbucker.
And yeah, really enjoying your channel. It's a good mix - Guitar mods - electronics etc. Right up my street!
I would have loved my strat, had it sent to a tech guy about 7 times this month. Constant buzz and every time it is fixed it only takes about 30 seconds of playing for it to get ruined, guitar has become a constant source of frustration
This stuff can be frustrating. If you've had a full shielding job and your single coils are still noisy, then I guess it's time to think about some hum-cancelling pickups. I recommend checking out Kinman. They are great. Best of luck and hang in there mate!
Great
This video should have title "How To Fix A Buzzing on non RWRP Strat"
I had one of those in college
Keren mantap
Terima kasih
y u look like ben aflick
Lol what a garbage video. Be honest... who in the comments actually reduced noise because of this video?
He didn't show you a damn thing here.
very good
Thank you! Cheers mate.