Here is a video explaining all the parts of an electric guitar, and below an article comparing the differences between single coil and humbucking pickups. Good stuff to know if you are looking at buying your first electric guitar.
Single Coil and Humbucker Pickups: How Do They Work?
by Christopher Smith
There are two common pickup types, magnetic pickups and piezoelectric pickups. The latter kind work with all varieties of strings (steel, nylon, or gut). Magnetic pickups perform only with steel strings, and consist of magnets and coils. Single coil pickups are sensitive to magnetic fields generated by transformers, fluorescent lamps, and other origins of interference, and are prone to pick up hum and noise from these sources. Dual coil or "humbucking" pickups use two specially designed coils to minimize this interference. Since these coils are electrically out of phase, common-mode signals (i.e. signals such as hum that radiate into both coils with equal amplitude) cancel each other.
The organization of the magnets is different for different pickups. Some types have rod or bar magnets inserted directly in the coils, while others feature magnets below the coils, and cores of soft iron in the coils. In a lot of cases these cores are screws, so level deviations between strings can be evened out by screwing the core further in or out. Some pickups possess a metal cover for shielding and protection of the coils, others have a plastic cover that does not shield against electromagnetic interference, and still others have only isolating tape for protecting the wire.
The magnetic field lines flow through the coil(s) and a short section of the strings. With the strings at rest, the magnetic flux through the coil(s) is constant. Pluck a string and the flux changes, which will induce an electric voltage in the coil. A vibrating string induces an interchanging voltage at the frequency of vibration, where the voltage is relative to the velocity of the strings motion (not its amplitude). Furthermore, the voltage hinges upon the string's thickness and magnetic permeability, the magnetic field, and the distance between the magnetic pole and the string.
There are so many pickups on the market that it is difficult to get a comprehensive overview. In addition to the pickups that come with an instrument, replacement pickups - many of them built by companies that do not build guitars - are also available. Every pickup produces its own sound; one may have a knifelike metallic quality, and another a warm and mellow sound. To be precise: A pickup does not "have" a sound, it only has character that it transfers into electrical pulses. It transfers the sound material that it gets from the strings and alters it, every model in its own fashion. For instance: Mount the same Fender singe coil on a Stratocaster and on a Telecaster: you will hear altogether different sounds. And the best pickup is useless when you have a poor guitar body with poor strings. The main thing to remember with pickups is that they alone do not determine the sound of an instrument.
Robert W. Smith has been publishing informational articles on various topics for several years.The organization of the magnets is different for different pickups. Some types have rod or bar magnets inserted directly in the coils, while others feature magnets below the coils, and cores of soft iron in the coils. In a lot of cases these cores are screws, so level deviations between strings can be evened out by screwing the core further in or out. Some pickups possess a metal cover for shielding and protection of the coils, others have a plastic cover that does not shield against electromagnetic interference, and still others have only isolating tape for protecting the wire.
The magnetic field lines flow through the coil(s) and a short section of the strings. With the strings at rest, the magnetic flux through the coil(s) is constant. Pluck a string and the flux changes, which will induce an electric voltage in the coil. A vibrating string induces an interchanging voltage at the frequency of vibration, where the voltage is relative to the velocity of the strings motion (not its amplitude). Furthermore, the voltage hinges upon the string's thickness and magnetic permeability, the magnetic field, and the distance between the magnetic pole and the string.
There are so many pickups on the market that it is difficult to get a comprehensive overview. In addition to the pickups that come with an instrument, replacement pickups - many of them built by companies that do not build guitars - are also available. Every pickup produces its own sound; one may have a knifelike metallic quality, and another a warm and mellow sound. To be precise: A pickup does not "have" a sound, it only has character that it transfers into electrical pulses. It transfers the sound material that it gets from the strings and alters it, every model in its own fashion. For instance: Mount the same Fender singe coil on a Stratocaster and on a Telecaster: you will hear altogether different sounds. And the best pickup is useless when you have a poor guitar body with poor strings. The main thing to remember with pickups is that they alone do not determine the sound of an instrument.
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