software

What happens when you put three humbuckers in a guitar and turn them all on at once. Can all they all be in-phase with each other, or will you be mixing an out of phase tone in there?

Phase, really has nothing to do with how many pups are on at once. You could have fifty pups on at once, and all be in phase. One of my favorite sounds, in a Strat, is all three pups on. With three humbuckers . . . it could be interesting.

Artie

Yes, phase is one of those words which is overused.. We often say phase when we are actally talking about polarity.

On a Strat, the bridge/middle and middle/neck pairs are often said to be quot;out of phasequot; although in a correct installation they are actually in phase, at least as far as the fundamental frequency is concerned. in any pair of coils however, there will be a spectrum of harmonics some of which will induce currents in the coils which flow in the same direction (quot;in phasequot;) and some of which will flow in the opposite direction (quot;inverted phasequot;). The former will reinforce each other, the latter will cancel each other either fully or partially.

In a three humbucker system there will simply be six coils interacting in this way; three pairs in series and twelve pairs in parallel.

Hmmm...