Single coil

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Electric guitar with a humbucker (left) and two single-coil pickups (middle and right)
Physical principle of the single-coil pickup

The single-coil pickup (English for input coils - pickups ) is a pick-up, consisting of a permanent magnet and a coil wound from very thin wire coil around the magnets consists. It is used for the electrical acceptance of an instrument. It is used to amplify electrical as well as acoustic instruments. Examples of the use of single-coil pickups are many electric guitars and electric basses.

The sound characteristics of the single coil can be described as high-pitched and transparent. A further development is the humbucker , which sounds more emphasized in the middle.

principle

A pickup consists of a permanent magnet and a coil made of very thin wire around the magnet . The string vibration is converted into electrical voltage by influencing the magnetic field ( induction ). These low voltages (a few tens to a few hundred millivolts) can be made audible using a guitar amplifier .

history

The first single coil used in series in an electrically amplified strike guitar ( archtop ) was the Charlie Christian pickup built into the ES-150 model from the US manufacturer Gibson from 1936 . This pickup, which is simple in comparison to later individual spoolers, got its name from the importance of its most prominent user, the jazz guitarist Charlie Christian , who significantly shaped and further developed the role of the guitar in music groups .

The guitar models Stratocaster and Telecaster from Fender were and are, apart from special models, all equipped with two (Telecaster) or three (Stratocaster) single coils, which can be activated in various combinations using a pick-up selector switch.

P-90 pickup

A special form of single coil are the P-90 models, the sound of which is somewhere between a classic single coil and a humbucker . P-90 pickups are mainly found on some guitar models from Gibson and Epiphone .

disadvantage

The disadvantage of the single coil is the litter sensitivity. Signals that interfere with the magnetic field, such as those emitted by transformers, monitors or fluorescent tubes, are also transmitted and amplified. This is not the case with the humbucker. In recent years, however, numerous pickup models have come onto the market that use various technical precautions to suppress background noise, but still offer the typical single-coil sound.

Musician

Some guitarists and bands associated with single-coil sounds: