Guitar pickups?

Question

what are the different types of pickups, and what sounds do they produce? also please tell me about combinations. (i.e. 3 single, 2 single 1 hum, 2 hum, etc.)

THANKS

Answer 1

First let me give you a little understanding of how a pickup is made...this is a bit long, so bear with me.

A pickup is basically a magnet (or series of magnets) wound with a "coil" of very fine wire. When a string is plucked, the magnetic field is disturbed and this disturbance is detected by the windings and sent to the volume control, tone control, output jack, and finally to the amplifier.

A single coil pickup, as you might guess, is one that has just a single set of wire windings. This usually translates into a very bright, thin sound. It also tends to have a little "hum" because of electrical interference. Single coils generally come in 2 forms: the typical single coil or a P90 which looks kind of like a humbucker.

A humbucking pickup is made of 2 or more coils, with at least one of the coils wound in the opposite direction. By doing this it actually "cancels out" (or "bucks") the hum of a single coil and makes for a quieter and thicker tone. Think of the humbucker as a "Hum Bucker". Humbuckers are usually MUCH more powerful than single coils and provide a much richer tone. Humbuckers come in 3 basic forms: the double coil (as seen on many guitars), the stacked coil (looking like a single coil but the coils are stacked on one another) and the mini.

NOW, there are some guitars out there, usually in the $300 or less range, that have what appears to be humbucking pickups but the manufacturer doesn't take the care to make opposite windings so what you get is 2 single coils placed close together without the hum cancelling feature.

Using different numbers and combinations of pickups allow the signal to be taken from different areas of the string which alters the tone and clarity.

Now you know more than most people about pickups!

Answer 2

nicely, i don't believe of that utilizing the P94 precludes you from utilizing humbuckers... you only should be careful no longer to apply too severe output of humbuckers, or have a separate quantity administration for both pickups, to make confident the volumes stability out. Me, i'd bypass for the Seymour Duncan. no longer announcing that Gibson makes a foul pickup (oh no sir!), yet utilizing the SHPR only promises extra thoughts, and that is alluring to me. From the product description : "...To have humbucker and P-ninety tones and produce interior the further length of the only-coil Rail, use a three-way swap (DPDT on-off-on)..." it should be only as person-friendly to positioned a push/pull pot or mini-toggle to modify between the P90 and humbucker tones... you've gotten the volume knob for that pickup be a push/pull, case in point. I do some thing like this on my LTD EC-100QM loaded with Seymour Duncan Alnico II professional's and decision 8's.... my tone administration is push/pull, and at the same time as on, coil-faucets both pups at the same time. you've gotten a push/pull to coil-tap each and each and every puppy, so that you need to bypass between the humbucker sound and P90 sound quite certainly. of route, this can get rid of the only-coil in common words sound, yet... nicely, so? *grin* anyhow, i in my view do not see an significant vast difference between the Seymour Duncan and Gibson pups, and that i love the means to bypass between different tones of the SD puppy. a short google search for grew to grow to be up some hyperlinks you're fascinated in interpreting. I *strongly* urge you to study the comments (very last link). There are some good perspectives in this pickup, it truly is nicely-reviewed yet with some caveats. understanding what you'll get out of the pickup is significant, highly related to what position you want to positioned it in. good luck! Saul