A guitar’s pickup plays an integral role in its sound. Utilizing magnets and coils, pickups convert string vibrations into electricity for use by its electronics circuitry.
Most electric guitars feature multiple pickups that can be chosen via a selector switch for use with their amplifier. Single coil pickups often act like antennae that pick up mains hum, an electromagnetic interference generated from power cables, fluorescent lighting fixtures or video monitors that causes unwanted electromagnetic noise interference.
Coils
Coils play an instrumental role in shaping the tone of any pickup. Their thickness of copper wire and how it’s insulated gives each coil its distinct sound; thinner wire will have greater influence on tone while thicker ones may sound muffled or muted. Furthermore, how often a coil is wound matters too – underwound coils will produce thin tones while overwound ones might produce murky or obscure tones.
As well as these factors, how a coil is wound also plays a vital role in its inductance and capacitance properties. Inductance depends on magnet strength and wind count while capacitance varies with coil spacing, core material thickness, number of turns, parallel coiling spacing etc. Varying any one of these factors can dramatically change its tone.
In general, wider coils sense more string area, producing warmer and fuller sound; however, this effect can be diminished depending on factors like coil width.
An effective way to gauge how these parameters impact the tone of your pickup is by comparing single-coil pickups, using an oscilloscope or another means, and comparing their output voltage. This will enable you to identify which is more efficient at transmitting energy and thus have greater creative control over its tone. Likewise, testing frequency response of each will give insight into its performance under various situations – providing greater creative control when crafting custom single-coils or upgrading bridges! With these tips in mind you should achieve exactly the sound that suits you best!
Magnets
Magnets in guitar pickups convert string vibrations into electricity, and are one of the key elements in creating tone. There are various theories regarding their effect, with strong magnets creating more magnetic flux and therefore producing greater output – but this does not translate into better sound quality as other factors such as magnet size and polepiece spacing can influence final results.
Coil winding technique can have an enormous effect on its tone. Some of the finest pickups are handmade by highly trained professionals who carefully oversee its winding for even distribution and tight coil spacing, giving an effectful inductance reading and accentuating specific frequencies that give a pickup its distinct tonality.
Magnets come in an assortment of sizes and shapes. Bar, slug or horseshoe-shaped magnets typically made of alnico alloys such as iron, aluminum, nickel and cobalt are usually magnetized using alnico alloy magnets that hold their magnetism permanently – these ferromagnetic materials convert vibrational energy into electrical current that can then be amplified for some truly wild tones!
Humbucking pickups feature two coils with six magnetic poles but in opposite polarity; this design works to cancel out ambient hum caused by electrical devices like light bulbs and fans by producing equal voltages that are 180 degrees out of phase between their coils, thus amplifying input signals into amplifiers. Some pickups also include selector switches for changing electricity path – changing how your pickup sounds!
Polepieces
Guitar parts zone pickups pole pieces are screws (or rods) which extend through a single-coil pickup’s coil and into contact with an undermounted bar magnet to transmit its magnetic field to its strings. Many humbucking guitars use two pole pieces – one per string.
Electronic pickups may seem like a relatively minor component, yet they play a vital role in shaping tone. By controlling how much output each string produces, electromagnetic pickups determine output levels by controlling how close strings are to them – closer proximity means increased magnetic pull, which results in greater output from closer strings than ones further away from pickups.
Pole piece height can have a major effect on each string’s relative loudness. Lowering pole pieces reduces output while raising them increases it; this occurs because lower pole pieces restrict where strings move within magnetic field boundaries and thus generate less output; on the contrary, raising pole pieces spreads this field across more area and generates greater volume output.
Fender’s customer service department frequently receives inquiries asking why vintage single-coil pickups feature staggered pole pieces when modern guitars typically use flat ones. The answer lies within these guitar’s original purpose of staggered pole pieces – to balance string-to-string volume levels across strings on a guitar. Back when staggered pole pieces were first created, unwound G strings had significantly less output compared to their wound siblings so Fender engineers placed a taller pole piece beneath the unwound G string in order to balance these levels out and achieve optimal string-to-string volume levels between strings on guitar.
As guitar players became accustomed to the balance between output levels between strings, Fender made the switch from staggered pole pieces in 1974 to flat pole pieces only once again in the late 80s – although staggered pole pieces remain an excellent way of creating more or less equal output levels across strings.
Wires
A pickup is a mechanical-to-electrical transducer that converts string vibrations to signals that can be fed into an amplifier and then back out through the guitar body as mechanical movement by way of transmission through a guitar body. If the signal strength is strong enough, this could cause strings to vibrate and create sound.
Most electric guitars feature multiple pickups. Single-coil pickups produce bright sounds with an emphasis on high frequency content but may pick up on interference or hum. Humbucking pickups consist of two coils which work to cancel out noise while producing thicker and warmer tones that make up their signature sound; they are typically utilized in rock and heavier genres of music.
Depending on the type of guitar, there are various methods for wiring pickups. Some pickups can be split and used either in parallel or series for different combinations of sounds; other guitars feature switches which enable players to select specific pickups – often called selectors – feeding into an amplifier and altering its overall tone.
Sometimes twisted coils can help reduce pickup noise even further. Each twist produces its own signal loop area; however, by being opposite in polarity to each other they cancel each other out and reduce overall inductance of the pickup, further decreasing resonance frequency and noise emissions.
Modern pickups are generally manufactured using machines; however, some vintage or relic pickups still employ hand winding for an authentic sound that cannot be reproduced with modern technology. With these types of pickups, wire is formed manually over a bobbin using a tool known as a traverse controller to achieve their distinct sound signature.
Connectors
Pickups play an essential part in shaping the tone of a guitar’s overall sound, particularly for guitarists who use distortion frequently. Pickups also help give form to each note without becoming one big muddy tone – these factors make finding suitable pickups so vitally important! So take time finding just the right pair for you guitar.
Other aspects of a pickup can also have an effect on its tone, such as its type of magnet, space between windings, and whether or not its coil is hand wound (known as scatterwinding).
Single-coil pickups consist of six individual magnets for each string, wrapped with insulated copper wire and housed within a plastic casing. They have long been associated with blues rock music and many famous guitarists have utilized one as part of their arsenal.
Most guitar pickups are passive, meaning that they do not require external power sources for operation. Some pickups contain active elements which enhance signal and create higher output – often preferred by players seeking clearer tones like those produced by Fender Strat and Telecaster models.
Hexaphonic pickups feature six individual outputs for each string, providing individual amplification and processing. They’re often combined with converters which convert their strings to notes according to MIDI protocol; typically seen on acoustic guitars but sometimes found on electrics too; often associated with rock and metal music genres.