Highway Ones Teles -What years RWRP?

[boris bubbanov]

Had a new Highway One Tele fall in my lap:



Pretty USA guitar for little money.

The bridge pickup may be a little better, but I don't know.

Anyway, I noticed these two pickups are RWRP towards each other.

Seems to me at one time they were not.

Does anyone have a stock Highway One from this era and that, who can tell me which years other than 2008 have RWRP pickups and which do not?


Much obliged.

[boris bubbanov]

Bumping this thread, looking for answers as:

I'd like to try and rehabilitate some Highway One neck pickups and simply use standard configuration winding and polarity Fender bridge pickups; and I wondered what I should expect in terms of 60 cycle noise canceling.

I think there's a point where Highway Ones went from non RWRP to RWRP and I'm wondering when that was.

So, you might say: Just checked my early 2007 Highway One with stock pickups, turned up loud, Bubba, and it a) is, or b) is not noise canceling in the middle position.


Much obliged.

[Guitar_Ninja]

My Highway One is RWRP. Neck is dated June 2007.

[boris bubbanov]

Thanks, kind sir.

I've since bought another Highway One Upgrade, late 2007. Also RWRP.

Anyone else?

Is your 2006 or 2005 very quiet in the middle position, compared to the neck or bridge pickup used alone?

Much obliged.

[boris bubbanov]

Another bump.

The reason I persist: I've got a few of these, and I'd like to reinstall the stock neck pickup and pair it to a bridge pickup with which it will be not only well matched but also noise canceling.

I've got the 2008 Highway One modded with a CS No-Caster bridge pickup and it is 60 cycle noise canceling. I expect the same result for the 2007. I'd just like to know in advance what result I might expect with my 2006s and 2005.

Much Obliged.

[cc9cii]

Hi Boris, if you have these pickups already outside, couldn't you use a small compass to see which magnetic polarity they have? Not foolproof (still can't tell which way they're wound) but within Fender family may be useful.

I've bought a $5 compass (that's US$3) to check my pickups, on the Baja/'06 Am Std/Custom Classic the top of the pickups are both 'north'. The Nocaster has 'north' neck and 'south' bridge. The same with 60th anniversay (with inlays).

[boris bubbanov]

Yeah; I thought about just checking the polarity only.

First, I have to find these necks pickups. They're mothballed somewhere; if they're not rwrp I won't bother with them.

Meanwhile this very last CS No-Caster bridge pup I have, new in package, has the opposite polarity of the other No-Casters I've had. How about them apples?

[raisinbrain]

It amazes me that so few people are concerned with hum canceling on a tele. I have a '97 American series that I installed an Alnico 2 pro in the bridge. At high gain it screams and I can hammer-off and pull-on since I can now turn down the gate due to hum canceling.

If you want to test a tele, just keep an old pickup in your pocket. A RW tele will attract on one pu and repel on the other. Rewiring if necessary is easy. I just had to install my Alnico 2 pro backwards from the instructions. Rewinding is another story.

Hope this helps. Took me longer to figure out than I want to admit.

[Nick JD]

It doesn't matter which direction the windings go (clockwise or anticlockwise), but rather which way the electrons go.

Swapping the "start" and "finish" of the coil reverses the wind. The two coils of a hunbucker are often wound in the same direction, but the electrons travel in opposite circles because they go in through the out door.

Magnet polarity is also changable. So your pickups can be changed completely with no real modification.

[boris bubbanov]

Thanks, Nick.

I've got to devise another way of conceptualizing all this stuff. The way I have these constructs about phase, magnetic polarity and electrical polarity arranged in my brain - they get scrambled when I get tired. But I like to work on these guitars when I'm tired but cannot sleep. I'm making too many mistakes.

[slotted screw]

i have a hwy1. pardon the newbie question but.. what does RWRP stand for? thanks

[boris bubbanov]

RWRP equals Reverse wound, reverse polarity.

This term envisions two or more pickups, and RWRP is the relationship between the two pickups - a planned or accidental relationship designed to yield 60 cycle noise canceling when two pickups which are RWRP towards each other are switched on, either in parallel or in series.

So, if you turn up the amp with the guitar turned up and plugged in, and put the selector in position #2, turn the the guitar and see if it acts like an antenna. If there's a noise that ebbs and flows as your turn the guitar, yours is not RWRP. If that middle position is obviously quieter than either pickup used alone, it is RWRP.

[indiobravo]

i just picked up a 2003 texas tele.

1. will that help you in your quest?
2. mine has a 4-position switch (PO did this i assume) - will that still help you?