Out of phase pickups Question??

[The Trooper]

Hi,
My question is, Is there any drawbacks to having out of phase pickups, we know the middle tone sounds good but how about the bridge and neck pups on there own, as the middle out of phase tone is very good why don't more guitar makers do this as standard?

any thoughts would be appreciated

 

[L60N]

Selected on theyre own sound regular.

 

[Eigen]

Yeah as was said above.

There is no difference in tone, if the pickups are selected individually. However, many players build their tone by blending the two pickups, as a result they tend to stay away from magnetic out-of-phase. The alternative for players that would like to keep the ability to blend the two pickups in phase, is electric OOP, which can be activated through a push-pull pot.

I myself am a fan of OOP, since I rarely used the pickups together, I just flipped the magnet in the neck. As a result I have three distinct tones from my selector.

 

[L60N]

You only get the most oop when both vol pots are level, as soon as this is not the case then changes happen so I have to disagree a little with the above post. There is a huge amount of tonal viariation possible in the middle position. More so than regular imo.

 

[HOT-BRIT]

mo change when the pickups are used individually

 

[Eigen]

You only get the most oop when both vol pots are level, as soon as this is not the case then changes happen so I have to disagree a little with the above post. There is a huge amount of tonal viariation possible in the middle position. More so than regular imo.

This is true and I would tend to agree , OOP opens up many tones, which is why I am an avid user. However, i cannot get the same thickness/cream on the central position (OOP vs non.), no matter the volume settings the sound is thinner, which I certainly tend to use as my tone with flatwounds is thick as molasses as it is.

I am not defending those who prefer a non-OOP central position for their playing style, I am merely stating that I know quite a few whose reasoning is as mentioned in the previous post.

 

[5F6-A]

I love the OOP tone but there is one drawback: you CAN'T get the in-phase middle tone. Backing one of the vols gives you an approximation but it can never sound the same.

Guitars with good PAF clones ( OPTG, Dave Stephens, Throbaks... ) sound wonderful in the middle.

Don't believe me? Listen to the real thing...
http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/vintage-les-pauls/136230-cool-real-59-video.html#post2600740

 

[snaredrum]

yeah, the in-phase middle tones are too nice for me to go OOP.

bridge on 8, neck on 5 all the time - boost bridge to ten when i'm going to solo and make a fool of myself, put them both on ten when i want the nicest sound in the world

 

[River]

I've tried two sets of boutiques OOP, they DO sound wonderful when quacking, and there's nothing unusual about it when the pickups are selected individually.

The whole thing is too "fussy" for me, though, per Snaresy's post. I would like to have a set in a guitar dedicated to carefully set up studio work.

 

[bp-plickner]

There is no difference in tone, if the pickups are selected individually. However, many players build their tone by blending the two pickups, as a result they tend to stay away from magnetic out-of-phase. The alternative for players that would like to keep the ability to blend the two pickups in phase, is electric OOP, which can be activated through a push-pull pot.
.

The push pull pot seems like a good idea pull it out and off you go into OOP land.
Push it in and your back. 4 wire lead pickups are cool because any pair of pickups can be wired out of phase. I am waiting for some push pull to do this mod.

Peace

 

[Wolverbean]

I love the OOP option.
I normally hook the neck Pup to the push pull pot. All Strats, Jags, and LP I own have this option. Blending volumes (obviously on an LP with 2 volumes) in the middle position is also really cool.
Now riddle me this..
Say you have that particular pickup hooked up to the OOP push pull pot.
Lets take the Neck pickup.. Now in that neck position ONLY.. when you pull the pot up or down, reversing the phase, it makes a pop. Some folks actually say they hear a difference in tone when doing that from the either up or down position.
I discussed this with a pretty notable designer/engineer a while back. He said it was psycho acoustics going on, and that there should be no difference in tone (not darker, or brighter) when doing so switching between the two positions.. What are your thoughts everyone?

 

[bp-plickner]

Funny stuff. I think I hear a difference if the bridge is the oop pickup instead of the neck But when the phase of the output signal is turned 180 degrees I would think that would cary down the signal chain so that your speakers are playing backwards
Who's psycho acoustic what?

Peace

 

[captcoolaid]

Should and is are 2 separate things. I would suspect it would depend on the wind and which bobbin was the dominant one.

 

[Meathead872]

This is what I like about the Les Paul recording the phase switch.The phase switch switches the leads on one of the pickups putting the pickups out of phase as long as the toggle switch is in the middle position, by sliding the switch from the 'out to 'in' position you will get the normal in phase middle position sound. you have four presets,neck-bridge-middle-and out of phase middle.

 

[chrisuk]

The push pull pot seems like a good idea pull it out and off you go into OOP land.
Push it in and your back. 4 wire lead pickups are cool because any pair of pickups can be wired out of phase. I am waiting for some push pull to do this mod.

Peace

I did this with my bkp mules - it's great.

 

[snaredrum]

i'm saving up money for one of Jonesy's MSP wiring kits - series and phase options and it works with two conductor pickups. the guy's a wizard

 

[5F6-A]

those kits are worth every penny and more...