Welcome back to the world of hot-rodded Stratocasters. I hope you had some fun with the seven-sound mod from last month. A friend of mine reminded me to share
Welcome back to the world of hot-rodded Stratocasters. I hope you had some fun with the seven-sound mod from last month. A friend of mine reminded me to share an example of that sound with you, for those that didn't whip out the soldering iron. If you have access to the album, Presumed Having a Good Time, from the Notting Hillbillies, featuring legendary Strat guru, Mark Knopfler, listen to their version of āBlues Stay Away From Me"āthat's a Pensa- Suhr Strat, played with the bridge and neck pickup combined for the rhythm part.
This month, we will continue down the hot-rod path and talk about another very popular modification: the famous out-of-phase sound. The best part about this mod is that it isn't limited to the Stratāyou can try it out on any pickup you'd like.
But before we dive in too far, let's clear up a few common misconceptions. When we talk about out-of-phase sounds on a Strat, we are not talking about position two and four on the 5-way pickup selector switch. While they are often (and incorrectly) referred to as āout-of-phase positions," in positions two and four both pickups are still in-phase.
Another myth you might read when researching out-of-phase sounds is that they are what's commonly known as the āJimi Hendrix" sound. The idea is that Jimi's flipping of a right-handed guitar to accommodate his left-handed playing contributed to his signature tone. Physically rotating a pickup 180 degrees will definitely not put a pickup out of phase, but it will give you a different tone, especially when using a pickup with staggered polepieces.
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Another major misunderstanding about the out-of-phase sound involves its basic structure. With the out-of-phase sound, you don't have to use two phase switches; reversing the leads of both pickups would simply put them back to in-phase again, which will give you a stock sound. Also, putting a single pickup out-of-phase will have no effect; for example, playing a Strat's bridge pickup out-of-phase will sound exactly the same as it does in-phase. The only time you can get an out-of-phase sound when you use two pickups together is to have just one of them out-of-phase.
When two pickups are in-phase, they work together and reinforce each other. When they are out-of-phase, the two pickups work against one another; the resulting sound is simply the āleftovers" from the pickups' cancellations. The closer the two pickups are, the greater the cancellations, meaning thinner sound and lesser volume. Thus, having the neck and bridge pickups wired out-of-phase is the best choice for this type of sound.
So, for the uninitiated, what does it sound like? Basically, it's a thin, inside-out, squawky kind of sound, and the two pickups that normally sound full and rich turn into a thin and shrill sounding couple. Why would you want that kind of sound? It's great for reggae or funk, where you need a thin sound. Also, this sound is extremely helpful for cutting through a lot of effects or distortion, things that would normally cause your tone to muddy and lose definition.
If you're not keen on messing with your guitar's pickups, an excellent and easy way to get this sound is through Brian May's Red Special guitar, available in reissue versions from a variety of builders (just Google āRed Special") which include out-of-phase switches for each pickup. It's a sound heard in a great number of Queen's recordings, and has become part of his trademark sound.
Another famous musician who discovered the out-of-phase sound did so by accident while playing on his late-fifties Telecaster with Ricky Nelson. James Burton found that he could move the 3-way pickup selector switch between the bridge and neck position to get this thin, out-of-phase sound with his Teleāhe called it the ālittle Chinese tone." You can hear this sound on a number of famous Ricky Nelson recordings, like āTravelin' Man."
So let's heat up the soldering iron and do it! In order to achieve this sound (and to go back to a regular sound), we use a phase reversal switch [see figure 1].
Wiring a phase switch is fairly simple: unsolder the two pickup leads; solder the phase switch āout" leads (HOT and ground) to the exact same spot where the pickup leads were; and solder the pickup leads to the āFrom Pickup" terminals on the phase switch as shown below. Mount the switch, close up the guitar and start enjoying the new sound you've just created! You can also use a push/pull pot for this [see figure 1].
One word about wiring diagrams: we will need a lot of them in our future columns and Mr. Duncan himself was kind enough to give me permission to use his diagrams from seymourduncan.com
The reason I wanted to use his diagrams is not because I'm too lazy to draw my ownā it's because of two reasons: first, it's arguable that Seymour Duncan set the worldwide standard for replacement pickups, so it's only fair (as a kind of tribute to him and his work) to use the only original source and give the credit where it belongs. Second, his drawings are very well done and easy to understand, even for modding novices, so why try to reinvent the wheel? So, thanks again to Seymour Duncan and Evan Skopp for their help.
I hope you enjoy this fun, new tonal option. It's fairly easy to install and should give you a nice range of sounds to experiment with. Next month, I will show you how to route your Strat pickups for a new and individual configuration of the tone and volume pots. We will start with the anatomy of the 5-way pickup selector switch. But until then... keep on modding!
Dirk Wacker has been addicted to all kinds of guitars since the age of five and is fascinated by anything that has something to do with old Fender guitars and amps. He hates short scales and Telecaster neck pickups, but loves twang. In his spare time he plays country, rockabilly, surf and Nashville styles in several bands, works as a studio musician in his spare time and writes for several guitar mags. He is also a hardcore DIY guy for guitars, amps and stompboxes and also runs an extensive webpage singlecoil.com about these things.
Jack White's 2025 No Name Tour features live tracks from his album No Name, with shows across North America, Europe, the UK, and Japan.
The EP is a 5-song collection of live tracks taken from Whiteās 2024 edition of the tour, which was characterized by surprise shows in historic clubs around the world to support the 2024 album No Name.
No Name is available now via Third Man Records. The acclaimed collection was recently honored with a 2025 GRAMMYĀ® Award nomination for āBest Rock Albumā ā Whiteās 34th solo career nomination and 46th overall along with 16 total GRAMMYĀ® Award wins. The No Name Tour began, February 6, with a sold-out show at Toronto, ONās HISTORY and then travels North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Japan through late May. For complete details and remaining ticket availability, please visit jackwhiteiii.com/tour-dates.
Whiteās sixth studio album, No Name officially arrived on Friday, August 2 following its clandestine white-label appearance at Third Man Records locations that saw customers slipped, guerilla-style, free unmarked vinyl copies in their shopping bags. True to his DIY roots, the record was recorded at Whiteās Third Man Studio throughout 2023 and 2024, pressed to vinyl at Third Man Pressing, and released by Third Man Records.
For more information, please visit jackwhiteiii.com.
JACK WHITE - NO NAME TOUR 2025
FEBRUARY
11 ā Brooklyn, NY ā Kings Theatre
12 ā Brooklyn, NY ā Brooklyn Paramount
17 ā Boston, MA ā Roadrunner
18 ā Boston, MA ā Roadrunner
21 ā Paris, France ā La Cigale
22 ā Paris, France ā La Trianon
23 ā Paris, France ā La Trianon
25 ā Utrecht, Netherlands ā TivoliVredenburg (Ronda)
26 ā Utrecht, Netherlands ā TivoliVredenburg (Ronda)
28 ā London, UK ā Troxy
MARCH
1 ā London, UK ā Troxy
2 ā Birmingham, UK ā O2 Academy Birmingham
3 ā Glasgow, UK ā Barrowland Ballroom
10 ā Hiroshima, Japan ā Blue Live Hiroshima
12 ā Osaka, Japan ā Gorilla Hall
13 ā Nagoya, Japan ā Diamond Hall
15 ā Tokyo, Japan ā Toyosu PIT
17 ā Tokyo, Japan ā Toyosu PIT
APRIL
3 ā St. Louis, MO ā The Factory
4 ā Kansas City, MO ā Uptown Theater
5 ā Omaha, NE ā Steelhouse Omaha
7 ā Saint Paul, MN ā Palace Theatre
8 ā Saint Paul, MN ā Palace Theatre
10 ā Chicago, IL ā The Salt Shed (Indoors)
11 ā Chicago, IL ā The Salt Shed (Indoors)
12 ā Detroit, MI ā Masonic Temple Theatre
13 ā Detroit, MI ā Masonic Temple Theatre
15 ā Grand Rapids, MI ā GLC Live at 20 Monroe
16 ā Cleveland, OH ā Agora Theatre
18 ā Nashville, TN ā The Pinnacle
19 ā Nashville, TN ā The Pinnacle
MAY
4 ā Austin, TX ā ACL Live at the Moody Theater
5 ā Austin, TX ā ACL Live at the Moody Theater
6 ā Dallas, TX ā South Side Ballroom
8 ā Denver, CO ā Mission Ballroom
9 ā Denver, CO ā Mission Ballroom
10 ā Salt Lake City, UT ā The Union Event Center
12 ā Los Angeles, CA ā Hollywood Palladium
13 ā Los Angeles, CA ā Hollywood Palladium
15 ā Santa Barbara, CA ā Santa Barbara Bowl
16 ā Oakland, CA ā Fox Theater
17 ā San Francisco, CA ā The Masonic
19 ā Seattle, WA ā The Paramount Theatre
20 ā Seattle, WA ā The Paramount Theatre
22 ā Vancouver, BC ā Commodore Ballroom
23 ā Vancouver, BC ā Commodore Ballroom
24 ā Troutdale, OR ā Edgefield Concerts on the Lawn
A dose of magic gain potion.
Works like a little vial of magic gain potion. Fattens without obscuring individual frequency bands.
None.
$129
Solodallas SVDS Boost
solodallas.com
The Schaeffer-Vega Diversity Systemāan early and very successful wireless systemāexcelled at the tasks it was designed for. But there was more magic than met the eye. Though designed to sound as transparent as possible, it nonetheless colored the signal in a way that people like Angus Young and Eddie Van Halen found essential.
SoloDallas explored the possibilities of this circuit before in pedals like theSchaeffer Replica, but the new SVDS Boost strips the formula to essentials. Minimalist controlsāone knob, thatās itāmake this boost no less delicious. Iām not surprised Angus Young was smitten with the original SVDS. An SG and Marshall 18-watt amp sound fantastic naked, but the SVDS Boost has the rare talent for fattening everything without seeming to favor or obscure any frequency band too much. And as zest to the PAF/Marshall style formula, it makes the kind of rowdy, organic, airy, large, and punch-packing Marshall sound you would dream of getting in a studio or hearing on the radio. There are many shades of this basic awesome color in spite of the single knob. Unity gain lives in the earliest third of its range. From there you certainly get more volume, but mostly you bathe in various hues of compressed, saturated, thick, and dynamite growl. You donāt need a Gibson and a Marshall to use it to devastating effect, either. A Telecaster and Vibrolux snap with attitude and whip-crack energy with the SVDS in the line. And with both guitar/amp combos, the SVDSā wide dynamic responsiveness to volume and tone attenuation assures that things stay cracking when you need more control.
Learn about this iconic guitar's journey, its mods done by Frank, and hear how it sounds in the hands of his son Dweezil.
Neil Youngās ā70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neilās guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Neil Youngās ā70s hits are some of the most recognizable radio rock jams of all time. But Neilās guitar playing continued to grow over the ensuing decades, as he traversed styles from blues to country to electronic to rockabilly and beyond, eventually developing one of the most tonally decadent, fully formed improvisational voices in the entire guitar universe.
Like any discography thatās been growing over the course of more than half a century, it can be hard to decode Youngās work. And with such an adventurous spirit, it could be easy to make some missteps and miss out on his best guitar works. In this episode, Nick guides Jason through some of his heroās finest moments.
More news from Neil always seems to be on the horizon, so hereās your chance to catch up.