What are Pickups?
In the context of music and musical instruments, pickups refer to the electronic components that are used to capture and convert the vibrations of a guitar, bass, or other stringed instrument into an electrical signal that can be amplified and broadcast through speakers or recorded. Pickups consist of one or more coils of wire that are wrapped around a magnet or magnetic pole pieces. When the metal strings of an instrument vibrate above the magnetic field of the pickup, they induce an electrical current in the coil. This current is then sent through an amplifier and converted into sound waves that we can hear. Different types of pickups produce different tonal characteristics, which can be used to achieve a wide range of sounds and styles in music. Some popular pickup designs include single-coil, hum-bucker, and piezo-pickups.
Inside a pickup is a magnet and coil
The component of an electric guitar that transforms the vibrations of the strings into electrical signals can be considered the "heart" of the instrument, known as the pickup. It is typically located in the body of the guitar beneath the strings, and functions by utilizing coils - a concept familiar from science experiments conducted in school. Specifically, an electric guitar's pickup is comprised of a black bobbin which houses six magnetic bars, and a type of wire, such as enameled wire, wrapped around these magnets. The use of six magnets is intended to enhance the pickup of sound from each of the guitar's six strings, although some pickups employ metal rods rather than magnets, with a lengthy and thin magnet positioned beneath the bobbin in such instances.
There is a secret to how the coil is wound
While the operation of the coil is relatively uncomplicated, alterations in the number or manner of its windings can have a significant impact on the sound produced. Increasing the number of times the coil is wound can amplify the volume of the sound, but excessive winding may cause a muffled tone. Additionally, even after hundreds or thousands of windings, further adjustments in the number of windings, albeit by just a few tens, can alter the sound. Furthermore, the way the coil is wound can impact the sound through the size of gaps between subsequent windings after the first one, which can be as small as 1/100th of a millimeter. Enlarging these gaps can enhance the treble. However, the complexity of the issue extends to the height of the winding and even the surface area of the winding as viewed from above, both of which can affect the sound produced.
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Noise Cancellation
Electric guitar pickups come in two varieties: those with a single coil and those with two coils. A pickup containing just one coil is known as a "single coil pickup," whereas one containing two coils is referred to as a "humbucking pickup." While single coil pickups lack noise cancellation and are vulnerable to external interference, they produce a clear, high-pitched tone. On the other hand, humbucking pickups have two coils that work in tandem to cancel out any noise (known as hum cancellation), thereby reducing interference.
