Strat wiring help

[pedalman]

Ok, so im building another guitar. As im looking over all the goodies I started to look at pickups for this strat. I have the choice of getting the mid pickup reverse wound or not. The question I have is if I put in a polarity switch for that pickup, would it be the best of both worlds? I wanted to build this thing to focus on some Gilmour style. The argument goes on if he used reverse wound or not   

[kothoma]

if I put in a polarity switch for that pickup, would it be the best of both worlds?

No, a polarity switch for the reverse wound pu would produce a thin and non-humbucking sound in positions 2 and 4, and you probably won't like it.

Reverse wound and reverse polarity go hand in hand in matching with the regular wound and regular polarity pickups so that when you combine them the guitar signals are in phase and the background noises are out of phase.

I'm not sure when the rw/rp middle pickups were introduced. Probably by Seymour Duncan. I guess in the late '70s.

[RobA]

Doesn't this depend on which Gilmour era you are looking for? Have you seen this site http://www.gilmourish.com/?page_id=205?

It does a pretty good job of listing his guitars and pickup modifications on an album-by-album basis.

[kothoma]

Hm, doesn't he play on either bridge or neck pickup most of the time anyway?

[hoodoo]

Can't tell you if the switch will work or not, but can tell you i've got several strats, and the ones with reverse wound middle pickups are quiet and the others aren't. If it's for live use at all definitely go for the reverse wound middle IMO, Matt.

[kothoma]

Right. But humbucking reduces dynamics.
You really get more snap with a traditional mid pu.
And most hum gets burried in the mix.
And there are noise gates.

Currently my middle pickups are rw/rp but also I'm no longer obsessed with positions 2/4 like in the 80's.