Humbuckers
A humbucker (dt .: "hum oppressors" of English. Hum = hum and to buck sth. = Sth to. Oppose) is a pickup for electrically amplified stringed instruments , the mainly on electric guitars and electric basses is used in English is also referred to as twin-coil pickup and is intended to reduce background noise by means of a second, counter-wound, pick-up coil , while producing a more voluminous sound than a single coil .
history
Popular belief is that the humbucker was developed by Seth Lover and Walter Fuller at Gibson in the mid-1950s. However, there were several different versions before, for example by Arnold Lesti, Armand Knoblaugh and others. However, these were technically not very practical. The concept of lover was better and prevailed.
From 1957 he replaced the previously used P-90 as the standard pickup on Gibson instruments. These humbuckers are still called "PAF" (patent applied for) because of the sticker that was used at that time in relation to a patent application that was still pending at the time .
functionality
The principle of the humbucker is in sound engineering as a humbucking coil (Engl. Humbucking coil ) announced the 1934 Electro-Voice was invented and originally designed for use in dynamic microphones was intended.
A humbucker consists of two single-coil pickups that are wound in opposite directions and have reversed magnetic fields. The string oscillation now generates phase-shifted signals in the coils due to the opposing magnetic fields, but this is compensated for by the opposing winding - this is how the signals from both coils add up. In contrast, background noises (e.g. humming tones from the power supply) act in phase on both coils and are therefore canceled out by the opposing windings. In practice, only the useful signal is transmitted to the amplifier .
The coils of a humbucker are usually connected in series, but can also be connected in parallel , which results in another, less bass-heavy sound variant. Another variant is the short circuit of a coil for high tones by a capacitor. As a result, the hum suppression continues to work, but for high frequencies the sound approaches the single coil (see web links ).
The construction of a humbucker in the Gibson PAF style differs from the typical Fender single coil in that there are not six individual magnets in each of the coils, but unmagnetized iron pins that the magnetic field of the bar magnet, which is attached under the coils, to the Bring the strings in (see illustration).
sound
In contrast to the single coil, the sound characteristics of the humbucker are generally less high-pitched, but it has more frequency components in the midrange. The causes are the lower resonance frequency due to the higher inductance of the pickup in connection with the externally connected load capacitance (guitar cable) as well as the low-pass behavior caused by the greater magnetic width. With the same number of turns per coil and equally strong magnets, the output voltage of the humbucker is roughly twice as high as that of a single coil, which leads to an overdrive of the input stage of the guitar amplifier and thus to (desired) distortion more quickly .
Designs
The most common is the Gibson PAF form, which is installed with and without a cap (see illustrations). Gretsch uses its own, somewhat smaller format. Fender had the "Wide Range" humbucker developed by Seth Lover for the Telecaster Thinline , which was also built into the Starcaster ; it is slightly larger than a PAF and has six individual magnets per coil.
There are also humbuckers in single-coil format, in which two narrow coils are built into a single-coil housing; This allows guitars to be converted from single coil to humbuckers without the guitar having to be modified by milling.
variants
Split-Coil (P-Style)
A special form of the humbucker is the so-called "P-Style" on electric basses (named after the Fender P recision bass , where it was first used), often also called split-coil . The P-Style (or P-Pickup) consists of two short single coils that are staggered and each take only two of the four strings of the electric bass. This eliminates the background noise, but you get a single-coil sound. The P-Style is often combined with a separate single coil for modern basses (so-called PJ configuration - J after the J azz Bass , which has two single-coil pickups).
Stacked
Another special form is the so-called stacked humbucker, in which the two coils are not arranged next to but one above the other. Due to shielding measures, the lower coil does not transmit any string vibrations, but serves as a so-called "dummy coil" exclusively to suppress hum. Stacked humbuckers are produced in different single-coil sizes (e.g. standard Fender Stratocaster , Fender Telecaster or P 90) and can sound like single-coils without suffering from hum interference.
RWRP (reverse wound / reverse polarity) for single coils
Stratocaster guitars (with three single coils) often have a middle pickup with a reverse wound and reversed magnets ( reverse polarity ); this type of construction is often shortened to “reverse wound”. This achieves humbucking hum suppression in the intermediate positions (if the middle position is combined with the neck or bridge pickup). The sound is practically unchanged compared to the "normal" middle pickup.
For Telecaster types (with two single coils) a RWRP neck pickup is used accordingly.
Coil splitting
If the coils each have their own connecting wires, one of the single coils can be separated from the signal chain by so-called coil splitting , whereby the other single coil then acts as a pick-up and also reproduces the sound of a single coil; the hum suppression effect is then no longer available.
active
There are also “active” humbuckers that have a built-in preamplifier that is powered by a 9 V battery. These pickups produce practically no background noise, but sound a bit more sterile than others.
user
Influential guitarists and bands (from the Jazz or Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ) who are associated with humbucker sounds:
- Wes Montgomery ( Gibson L-5 )
- BB King ( Gibson ES-335 "Lucille")
- Chuck Berry ( Gibson ES-350T )
- Jimmy Page ( Gibson Les Paul )
- Carlos Santana ( PRS Guitars )
- Neil Young (Gibson Les Paul)
- AC / DC : Angus Young ( Gibson SG ), Malcolm Young ( Gretsch Jet Firebird)
- Eddie Van Halen (self-made " Frankenstrat ", various manufacturers)
- Metallica : James Hetfield ( ESP ), Kirk Hammet ( ESP )
- Slash (Gibson Les Paul)
- Billie Joe Armstrong (Gibson Les Paul)
Web links
literature
- George Gruhn & Walter Carter: Electric Guitars and Basses . Presse Projekt Verlag, Bergkirchen 1999. ISBN 3-932275-04-7
- Donald Brosnac: Guitar Electronics for Musicians . Bosworth Musikverlag, 1984. ISBN 978-0711902329
- Helmuth Lemme: Electric guitars - technology and sound . Elektor-Verlag, Aachen 2006, ISBN 978-3-89576-111-9
Individual evidence
- ↑ George Petersen: Al Kahn (1906-2005). (No longer available online.) In: Mix Online. June 17, 2005, archived from the original on December 26, 2010 ; accessed on July 22, 2010 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Brosnac. 1984. p. 31ff.
- ↑ Ulf Schaedla: The sound mystery of the humbucker modes. In: Guitar Letters. Retrieved November 3, 2010 .
- ↑ Workshop: Guitar know-how - pickups, part 2. amazona.de, accessed on August 3, 2010 .
- ↑ Gruhn / Carter, p. 133 ff.
- ↑ Brosnac. 1984. p. 29.
- ^ Fender Highway One Stratocaster Review. (No longer available online.) Fretpoint.com, archived from the original on August 5, 2010 ; Retrieved August 3, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
