HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

[Rich G.]

I'm wiring up a Strat in a HSH configuration. My pickups are:

Neck: Cool Rails
Middle: SSL-1 (SWSP) or SSL-2 (RWRP)
Bridge: JB Jr.

I have an EP1112 switch so I can get just about any kind of configuration I would want.

I'd like to wire it up like this:

1. B
2. B + M (Hum Cancel)
3. B + N (Hum Cancel)
4. N + M (Hum Cancel)
5. N

I wired it up using the SSL-1 (SWSP). I haven't strung up the guitar yet to try it out, but I did plug it in to test it. Positions #2 & #4 hum cancel as expected. Position #3 makes some noise though. Not a lot of noise, but more than the other positions.

My questions are:
1. I'm currently using the South pole winding of the bridge, and the North Pole winding of the neck in position #3. Would it be quieter if I swapped it around?
2. Should I use the SSL-1 or the SSL-2 in the middle? I guess this comes down to the basic question of using a using a coil-tapped Duncan humbucker with a Duncan single coil... To get hum cancelling AND have the signals in phase, should I use either the North coil of the humbucker + a SWSP single coil or the South coil of the humbucker + a RWRP single coil... or will one of these result in being out of phase?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

Either single will work. You'll get him cancellation in the notch positions depending on which coil you use from the humbuckers when you split them.

 

[Rich G.]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

Either single will work. You'll get him cancellation in the notch positions depending on which coil you use from the humbuckers when you split them.

So if I use the SSL-1 (SWSP) with the North coil of the humbucker... OR an SSL-2 (RWRP) with the South coil of the humbucker it will cancel hum AND be in phase? I know I need opposing magnetic poles, but I wasn't sure if the phase would be correct.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

Yes

 

[gregory]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

Why not an Area 67, or have you already tried splitting to a coil with a tiny aperture and found that you like it?

 

[Rich G.]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

Why not an Area 67, or have you already tried splitting to a coil with a tiny aperture and found that you like it?

I don't have an Area 67. Just working with what I have at the moment.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

So if I use the SSL-1 (SWSP) with the North coil of the humbucker... OR an SSL-2 (RWRP) with the South coil of the humbucker it will cancel hum AND be in phase? I know I need opposing magnetic poles, but I wasn't sure if the phase would be correct.

Yup. If you wire them in phase and they're magnetically in phase, you should be alright either way.

 

[gregory]

Re: HSH Should middle be RWRP or SWSP?

I wasn't sure if the phase would be correct.

That's where the reverse wind comes into play. I'm pretty sure they're wound in the same direction except that the black and white are reversed when they are attached at the factory. When you reverse the wires you reverse the current direction.