Benefits of RWRP? Doing a whole Rio Grande Set.

[Volitions Advocate]

So i've decided on a pickup configuration for my Strat/Jmaster.  And I'm just not sure what exact pickups to buy.

I've settled on the 4 conductor BBQ so that I can coiltap
Then a Dirty Harry in the middle and a Fat Bastard in the neck.  But I'm not sure if I should go with the Reverse-Wound-Reverse-Polarity pups for the mid and neck positions or not.
they say its hum cancelling. but im a little confused.

If a single pickup is humcancelling that means.. that it has no hum when its by itself right?  So if i have a selector with more than that one pickup selected then there will be hum right? This polarity thing confuses me.

I know P90s create a lot of hum, but I"m not too worried about it because they do it for a reason. they're really hot pickups.

I'll end up going with a traditional strat 5- way selector with a coiltap switch for the 'bucker.

So what should I do about the 2 single coils.  is the school-of-thought that you get one of them rwrp and the other normal? if so which one, the mid or the neck?
or should I jsut go with all normal? I dont really know how it works.

 

[GoDrex]

No what happens is you get hum cancelling on the 2 and 4 positions - when the bridge or the neck pickup is on with the middle. Middle by itself will still hum, as will the neck and bridge alone. This works when the middle pickup is RWRP. The you get that kind of thin quack like tone that sounds like country music to me hehehe

p-90's hum because they're single coil

 

[Volitions Advocate]

so i should get the dirty harry rwrp then? with this setup?

 

[Volitions Advocate]

wait!  i dont want the thin country sound lol. crap

 

[GoDrex]

hehehe - IMO those postions sound pretty nice with a clean tone. Not as good with distortion, but some may like it. I have a strat and I like having the tone options it gives. I've never actually heard a strat that didn't sound like that on the 2 and 4. From what I can tell the sound difference is not much but you get some hum cancelling.

 

[PitchShifter]

I gotta say though, I hate the 2 and 4 positions on my triple P90 Reverend. The hum canceling totally kills the pure bell-like tone.  I'd rather have the pure signal and live with the hum (I try and gate as much of it out).  I really should rip it out and turn it round...why haven't I done this already?

 

[bpmorton777]

Pitch: I dont think you are going to get a "bell like tone" out of p90's. and the only differeance you'd hear between a set that was wound normal togther and one that was RWRP is that the RWRP set would not have any 60 cycle hum.

Volitions: check out "Big Log" by Robert Plant. This tune has a great example of that 2 and 4 position strat.

Brian

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Volitions: check out "Big Log" by Robert Plant. This tune has a great example of that 2 and 4 position strat.
Brian

Ditto, the epitomy of an awesome clean tone.

 

[Volitions Advocate]

The noise supressor takes care of all the hum. it works really well.  I'm not worried about how much hum i have to deal with. I jsut want to make sure I get the right pickups. and have it wired properly.

 

[PitchShifter]

Pitch: I dont think you are going to get a "bell like tone" out of p90's. and the only differeance you'd hear between a set that was wound normal togther and one that was RWRP is that the RWRP set would not have any 60 cycle hum.

The Rev has a really bell-like chime that rings incredibly and sounds awesome with some simple delay and reverb. I love plugging it into my bass amp to give it some more bottom growl.  I should upload a riff I was tooling around with a while ago to demonstrate the sound.  The 2 and 4 positions stifle that sound and give a real thin quack that I abhor.