Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

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Something Cool
Chaps,

in these threads:
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?p=1960310&highlight=rwrp#post1960310
https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=155029

we were talking about whether a Strat pickup set with RWRP middle pickup (for hum canceling in the notch positions) sounds different than all pickups with same polarity.

One theory why it could make a difference is that the magnetic field in the RWRP case would be shaped differently. Instead of all south up and hence having three indepent narrow dome-shaped magnetic fields the RWRP case could have much wider fields, because now the neck pickup still has south up and a field could extend to go "into" the north pole of the middle pickup, which is now pointing up. I can make a drawing if this isn't clear.

If the above theory is correct, then a RWRP middle pickup would change the sound of just the neck or bridge pickup without the RWRP middle pickup even being on. On the other hand, it is likely that the magnetic field of the individual pickups just isn't wide enough for them to mess with each other and none of this is audible.

To test this I wanted to record the same things, same guitar, same rig two times: one with a regular middle pickup, one with a RWRP middle.

My collection of Seymour Duncan APS-1s contains:
  • #2: 6.25 Kohm
  • #3: 6.23 Kohm
  • #4: 6.17 Kohm RWRP
  • #5: 6.18 Kohm

(All measurements re-taken right now to exclude differences in temperature or multimeter.)

Obviously, using #4 and #5 for the two tests in the middle position is as perfect as it gets. #2 in the bridge, #3 in the neck.

%%

Unfortunately, after recording the non-rwrp set I discovered that my RWRP APS-1 - isn't
mad.gif
mad.gif
mad.gif
. Bummer.

I had to run the RWRP set with my Ant Surfer in the middle. Still, this allows us to see whether the sound of the APS-1 in the neck or bridge alone changes when there is a reverse polarity pickup in the middle.

For good measure I threw in recordings of three different tone pot capacitors.


Four clean Strat sound tests each:

Start with "quart", it is smallest file and IMHO most telling.

Download "chord" last. It's a little wired, the compressor I use for the cleans doesn't play well with it.

%%

Example anatomy of filenames inside zipfiles:
"rwrptests-acblazer-revantpolarity-neckandmiddle22nfup-clean5a-specsingle.mp3"
  • "rwrptests-acblazer": constant
  • "revantpolarity" == recording with RWRP Ant Surfer in middle or "normalpolarity" == regular APS-1 in the middle
  • which pickup:
    • neck, neckandmiddle, middle, middleandbridge, bridge
    • neckandmiddle22nfup: 22 nF capacitor in pickup hardness, switch up
    • neckandmiddle22nfdown: : 22 nF capacitor in pickup hardness, switch down (different cap)
    • neck2: another recording of the most important position, the neck, just in case the first recording is screwed up
  • "clean5a-spec": constant
  • "quart", "pick", "chord", "single": what is being played, see above

I have the individual files (total 64 mp3s) available for download if you can't handle the zipfiles, p.m. me.

I can also give out *.flac files for those who don't trust mp3. P.m. me.

So what do you think?
 
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Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Looks like I screwed up a couple of tests by selection the wrong pickups. Oh well. *neck2* for the non-rwrp is supposed to be neck pickup only but obviously is middle and neck. *middleandbridge* for the non-rwrp is obviously middle only.

I think there is a noticeably difference from the rwrp even when you don't use it.

Listen to these:

Bridge alone:
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...er-normalpolarity-bridge-clean5a-specpick.mp3
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...er-revantpolarity-bridge-clean5a-specpick.mp3

Neck alone:
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...azer-normalpolarity-neck-clean5a-specpick.mp3
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...azer-revantpolarity-neck-clean5a-specpick.mp3

(please download them, don't repeatedly click on them, my poor server)

There is some natural difference in playing, but I don't think it accounts for all the difference.

I think the neck and bridge pickups, alone, gain a little bit of a "roar" when the reverse polarity middle pickup is present. It reminds of of why I like humbuckers better than P-90ties.
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

This is the one set of clips where I can hear the different capacitors:

http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...alpolarity-neckandmiddle-clean5a-specpick.mp3
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...ty-neckandmiddle22nfdown-clean5a-specpick.mp3
http://www.cons.org/music/rwrp-test...rity-neckandmiddle22nfup-clean5a-specpick.mp3

Overall I rate the pure presense (even if turned off) of the rwrp middle pickup as having more of an impact than the capacitors.

Some capacitors clearly make a bigger difference for PAF style humbuckers, where they add volume to the bottom (or not). In this test with a Strat notch position the difference is very small.
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Does anybody care about this stuff?

Yeah, I find soundclips by others mostly useless, too :)

However, in this case I'm surprised that the difference is obviously larger than e.g. the capacitors and some other things people usually care about.
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Well, the Tips & Clips room isn't as frequented as any other main room of this forum, unfortunately. I think that is part of the reason why this thread isn't as noticed -- yet.

Personally, this stuff goes way over my head. But I see that other tone-gurus on here will find this very interesting!

I suggest you post it over in the Pickups room instead.... I guess you will get a broader (and deeper) audience there.

Thanks for your efforts on finding out the differences here! You have obviously put down a lot of time to make this. :)
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Dammit I'm really interested in this, but I can't listen to the clips myself right now I was hoping to find some discussion on the results...what were your findings?
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

I will try to go through the clips soon I was thinking about this same RWRP issue earlier today and wondered when someone was gonna attempt to make some real observations.
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Dammit I'm really interested in this, but I can't listen to the clips myself right now I was hoping to find some discussion on the results...what were your findings?

Why can't you listen to the clips?
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

I've just never noted a difference on the single pickup positions. I'm just blissfully ignorant to that, but the combo positions are to me seat of the pants trying out pickup sets in multiple guitars is that there is a small difference, yet enough to bother me.

However, I can see merit in the theories presented in regard to the single pickup positions - but I'm just too tone deaf to hear that.
 
Re: Does a middle RWRP pickup hurt a Strat? Tests inside.

Interesting idea, but IMHO there are just too many clips to sort through and it´s not overly clear what´s what.
 
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