RWRP Bridge Pickup Mod Tutorial

[johnallg]

correct, as shown in picture 5. I think where I'm confused is picture 4- is it showing the coil before or after turning 180 horizontal. I think it's post turning. My initial read of picture 4 was pre turning of the coil, hence picture 5 didn't make sence to me.

John is right. The bobbin does not change orientation! The magnet is flipped over on the horizontal axis to reverse the polarity and what reverses coil is how you resolder the leads... no need to physically manipulate the bobbin.

Actually you do not want to change the bobbin because the poles are not symetrical to the edge of the form and would not line up under the strings if rotated 180.

[jps]

......you do not want to change the bobbin because the poles are not symetrical to the edge of the form and would not line up under the strings if rotated 180.

As forum member found out, as I helped get his situation corrected.

[cassius987]

Actually you do not want to change the bobbin because the poles are not symetrical to the edge of the form and would not line up under the strings if rotated 180.

+1

IME the poles are slightly "G-ward" which tends to get them perfectly under the strings if the saddles are cut right.

See, this is what's nice about good forums, I shared information, and people are sharing back, all for free. We are all better off for having participated. Good stuff. Thanks RRF.

[Wiker]

Great tutorial.
If uncertain about the orientation of the magnet, there is a simple way to check before gluing it back on. Just hold the pickup face to face against the neck pickup, i.e. top of each pickup facing each other. If they attract each other face to face then they have reverse polarity.

.... The result was not even a slight change in tone, ...

If understand it correctly, RWRP won’t mess with the comb filtering effect when both pickups are at full and no 4.7nF cap?
One of my top three favorite settings is both pickups at full, no 4.7nF, neck tone full up/open, and bridge tone a 1/4 turn from full down. I don’t want to lose the comb filtering effect at that setting.

Is there any drawback, reason not to use RWRP?

[cassius987]

If understand it correctly, RWRP won’t mess with the comb filtering effect when both pickups are at full and no 4.7nF cap?
One of my top three favorite settings is both pickups at full, no 4.7nF, neck tone full up/open, and bridge tone a 1/4 turn from full down. I don’t want to lose the comb filtering effect at that setting.

Is there any drawback, reason not to use RWRP?

The polarity is reversed so that the pickup senses the strings exactly the same way it did before, in the same phase as the neck pickup. So comb filtering is unaffected by this mod. Some people I know have always thought Rics were able to hum cancel because they can hear them comb filter, just like a Jazz Bass, when the pickups are full on. The two are not the same but also not mutually exclusive.

I strongly believe there is no drawback to RWRP, it's simply another trick to have in your bag... yes its use is limited but it is still useful.

[VRICKY63]

Great info Joshua. Thank you.

[afreshcupofjoe]

I tried to do this mod tonight on my 2013 4003 and ran into a snag. The adjustable pole pieces on my bridge pickup are threaded all the way into the magnet, so I can't easily reverse it or the magnet face will obstruct the poles.

Have any of you guys encountered this problem? Is this a new thing, or have the poles always been threaded into the magnet like this? Should I just drill new pilot holes on the other side? Any advice would be appreciated. The magnet material seems rather fragile, so I want to proceed with caution.

I've attached pictures to show what I'm talking about:

Bobbin side:


Back side: