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How do Pickups Work?!


FIFguitar

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I recognize in the general sense how a pickup works, what I am wondering is how does one pickup get one certain tone over another? What difference does single coil pickups make over double coil? A Fender Strat has a certain sound, does this also work for pickup brands? Are certain types infamous for a certain sound? If so, can anyone give me a few names? Thanks so much to those who have already replied!
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First of all, plucking the string causes vibration, not the magnetic field - that much force would pull your strings out of tune continuously. The amount of windings on the bobbin, the type and guage of wire, and overall design and construction all influence tone. Similar pickups on the same guitar are gonna vary in tone because of their placement: the one nearest the neck is gonna be bassier and sweeter, because it is reading the string hopefully at the harmonic where the second octave occurs, and the string is vibrating freely. The one nearest the bridge will be treblier, tinnier(or whatever adjective you prefer), beause it is reading the string near the bridge where the least vibration is possible. You can get the same idea with an unamplified acoustic: picking near the soundhole yields the familar sound, while picking close to the bridge will emulate twangy, banjo-like tones.
Never a DUH! moment! Well, almost never. OK, OK! Sometimes never!
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I am not by any means an expert, but I think that the strings vibrate in response to the touch of the player; the pick up then "picks up" the energy generated by the vibration and transforms it into electrical energy; this energy, modulated by the volume and tone controls, goes to the preamp section of the amplifier and finally (through the loudspeakers) is converted to sound.

The tone of a pickup will depend -among many other things- on the amount of electric wire it has and its configuration (single coil or dual coil).

On this site you will find an interview with Seymour Duncan , where he says very interesting things about the subject you are interested into. Duncan makes and sells excellent pick-ups.

Generally guitar players can tell the sound of a pick-up by experience; on this Forum people are discussing the qualities of specific pick-ups almost everyday.

Good luck!

Korg PA3X Pro 76 and Kronos 61, Roland G-70, Integra 7 and BK7-m, Casio PX-5S, Fender Stratocaster with Fralin pickups, Fender Stratocaster with Kinman pickups, 1965 Gibson SG Standard
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Thanks so much dreamer and bluesape! that helps a lot, I edited my question a bit for more specifics. Believe it or not i'm actually not a novice! :D Pretty Amazing huh?! I've been playing seriously for almost 8 years, (which still isn't very long in the grand scheme of things) i just never bothered to ask the questions. This forum is a place I stumbled upon where I finally have time to gather my thoughts and ask the questions that have plagued me for years and years. Thanks so much guys -Alex
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I'm bound to get some things wrong, so please correct me, but some other things that affect the sound is the magnet type used (ceramic is usually used in 'hot' pickups with higher output, and different 'grades' of alnico magnets are used in lower output/vintage pickups). How 'hot' a pickup is depends on the number of coil windings, generally hotter pickups distort better but lose some responsiveness and articulation. Active pickups use a battery to provide current to the circutry, and are therefore very clean, quiet and not influenced much by the timbre of the guitar, but great for high-gain. Humbuckers use two coils to cancel most of the background 60-cycle hum and sound 'fatter' or 'muddy' (can be a good or bad thing depending on what you are going for) while single coils tend to be crisp, clear but sometimes 'shallow' (once again, good or bad). Wiring pickups (or humbucker coils) in series or parallel also affects sound.

 

I have another question though...How is it that some pickups are 'microphonic' and translate sounds other than the string vibration? (I.e. some people scram against pickups for effect, pick attack, percussive noises etc.)

-Andy

 

 

"I know we all can't stay here forever so I want to write my words on the face of today...and they'll paint it"

 

-Shannon Hoon (Blind Melon)

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