Originally Posted by: dlwalke[p]There are several options like that & other clever devices to cancel the 60Hz hum of a single coil.1) Is the effectiveness of a humbucking type of arrangement compromised by placing the pickups further apart (e.g., my understanding is that positions 2 and 4 in a strat are basically a parallel wired humbucker with the coils seperated)? Is this essentially as hum-cancelling as a true "Humbucker" style pickup?[/quote]
The pickup placement or position has nothing to do with hum cancelling. Positioning is the result of either being near or under a harmonic node (Strats), available space, traditional design inertia.
Positions 2 & 4 wired out of phase was a happy accident discovered after the fact. Now days you can easily find other solutions to hum cancelling on single coils. Positions 2 & 4 are now simply used in most cases for their distinctive timbre (the "Strat quack").
Originally Posted by: dlwalke2) If so, are the hum-cancelling properties of this arrangement compromised by using different types of single coil pickups (e.g., a "hot" pickup in the bridge position, a default strat pickup in the middle position, and a Burns tri-sonic in the neck position)?
I know very little about those pickups. But if I understand correctly, they are single coil pickups with the standard hum that comes with any single coil.
[quote=dlwalke]3) Do you even need to have the RWRP pickup near the strings? I have read that to cancel the hum, you just need the coil....the magnet is superfluous.
For example:
https://www.ilitchelectronics.com/product/bpncs-fender-stratocaster/
I personally just use Dimarzio HS3s or HS4s. I also have a set of Fender N3 noiseless. There are many other types of hum cancelling single coils on the market as well.
https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/hum-canceling-strat/hs-3
https://www.fralinpickups.com/product/strat-split-blade/
https://www.ehx.com/products/hum-debugger
Hope this helps!
