Single coil

A single coil pickup is a type of magnetic transducer for the electric guitar and the electric bass. It electromagnetically converts the vibration of the strings to an electric signal. This article focuses on single coil only pickup designs, for more information about pickups in general, see pickup article.

History

Beauchamp

In the mid 1920s George Beauchamp, a Los Angeles, California guitarist, began experimentation with electric amplification of the guitar. Originally using a phonograph pickup assembly, Beauchamp began testing many different combinations of coils and magnets hoping to create the first electromagnetic guitar pickup. He wound his earliest coils using a motor out of a washing machine, later on switching to a sewing machine motor, and eventually using single coiled magnets.

Beauchamp was backed in his efforts by Adolph Rickenbacker, an engineer and wealthy owner of a successful tool and die business. Beauchamp eventually produced the first successful single coil pickup. The pickup consisted of two massive "U" shaped magnets and one coil and was known as the "horseshoe pickup". The two horseshoe-shaped magnets surrounded the strings that passed over a single core plate (or blade) in the center of the coil.

Beauchamp outfitted the pickup in a custom built lap slide guitar. The production model based on this prototype became the Hawaiian Electro lap steel guitar, nicknamed the "Frying Pan" for its round, flat body.

In 1931 Beauchamp founded the Ro-Pat-In Company with Rickenbacker and his associates. Ro-Pat-In eventually became The Electro String Instrument Corporation and subsequently the Rickenbacker International Corporation. The company introduced its first "Electro-String Instruments" to the public in 1932.

Gibson

The Gibson Guitar Corporation introduced the "bar pickup" in 1935 for its new line of Hawaiian lap steel guitars. The pickup's basic construction is that of a metal blade inserted through the coil as a shared pole piece for all the strings. A pair of large flat magnets were fastened below the coil assembly.

In 1936 Gibson introduced the ES-150, its first electric Spanish styled guitar. The ES-150 was outfitted with the bar pickup. Jazz guitar innovator, Charlie Christian, began playing an ES-150 in the late 1930s with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. This caused the popularity of the electrified guitar to soar. Due to Christian’s close association with the ES-150 it began being referred to as the “Charlie Christian Model” and Gibson’s now famous bar pickup as the “Charlie Christian pickup” or “CC unit”.

Sound

The sound of a single coil pickup can range from the dark and fat midrange sound of the Gibson P-90 to the bright and clear Fender Telecaster single-coil tone.

Common designs

Gibson P-90

The P-90 is a single coil pickup designed by the Gibson Guitar Corporation. These pickups have a large flat coil with adjustable steel screws as pole pieces, and a pair of flat alnico bar magnets lying under the coil bobbin. The adjustable pole pieces pick up the magnetism from the magnets. Moving the screw closer or further away from the magnet affects signal strength, thus tone as well. There are 2 major varieties of P-90 pickup that differ mainly by mounting options:

* Soap bar casing has true rectangular shape and the mounting screws are contained within the coil perimeter, positioned between the pole pieces, between strings 2-3 and 4-5, thus creating irregular and somewhat unusual pattern. Occasionally they are mistaken for pole pieces, thus sometimes P-90 is erroneously said to have 8 pole pieces. The "soap bar" nickname most probably comes from its predominantly rectangular shape and proportions, and the fact that the first P-90s on the original Gibson Les Paul Model of 1952 were white.
* Dog ear is a casing type with extensions at both sides of pickup that somewhat resemble dog's ears. These are extensions of the predominantly rectangular cover that encompass the outlying mounting screws. Dog-ear P-90 pickups were commonly mounted on Gibson's hollowbody guitars like the ES-330 and occasionally on solid body models like the Les Paul Junior. The same pickups were also available on Epiphone models (since Gibson was building Epiphone guitars in the 1950s) and the design is best remembered for its appearance on the hollow body Epiphone Casino of the mid to late 1960s.

The sound of P-90 is somewhat brighter and more transparent than a later Gibson pickup, a humbucker, though not quite as crisp and snappy as Fender's single coil pickups.

Telecaster design

The Fender Telecaster features two single-coils. The neck pickup produces a mellower sound, while the bridge pickup produces an extremely twangy, sharp tone with exaggerated treble response, because the bridge pickup is mounted on a steel plate. These design elements allow musicians to emulate steel guitar sounds, making it particularly appropriate for country music.

Pickups are selected with a 3-position switch, and two wiring schemes exist:

* Vintage: 1) neck pickup with treble cutoff for a bassier sound; 2) neck pickup only; 3) bridge pickup only.
* Modern: 1) neck pickup only, with no treble cutoff; 2) neck and bridge; 3) bridge pickup only.

The Fender Esquire has a variation to the Vintage wiring scheme by using the scheme on a single pickup. This gives a treble cutoff in the neck position, normal in the middle position, and a tone control cutoff in the bridge position.

Stratocaster design

The traditional Stratocaster design guitar features three single-coils. The guitarist can control what pickup or pickup combination to activate with a lever switch. They are usually referred to as the bridge, middle and neck pickups based on their proximity to those parts of the instrument.

Pickup position, number of coil winds, wire types, magnets and other factors shape the tone. Pickups in the neck position usually give louder, mellower and warmer sound, while bridge pickups have lower output and produce a brighter, sharper and more harmonic-rich tone. The reason the neck pickup has the most output is that the string's vibration has a higher amplitude at the neck position. Some manufacturers overwind the bridge pickup for more output to compensate for this difference.

The poles have different heights. This staggering is done to compensate for the output of each string for two reasons. The first reason is because the fretboard has a radius (also called "camber") of between 7 and 12 inches. Naturally the strings will follow the radius of the fretboard and so must the magnets, generally speaking. The second reason is that some strings have naturally higher output, the plain or unwound G string being the most significant and this calls for these magnets to be further compensated, resulting in an apparent odd looking stagger. Fender Strat pickups generally follow the traditional design and have the G string's magnet as high as the D string's, but this causes the G string to overly dominate all the other strings due to its higher output. Traditionally in the 1950s and 1960s, string sets came with a wound G string, but it was difficult to bend across the fretboard in modern rock and blues styles of music. In the 1970s, string manufacturers introduced the non-wound G string, which was easier to bend, but had a much higher output. In order for the G string to have the same output the G pole should have the greatest gap between the string.

The pickup selection switch has 5 positions. Positions 1, 3 and 5 activate only one pickup (bridge, middle or neck respectively), while positions 2 and 4 activate a combination of two pickups (bridge and middle, or middle and neck, respectively). Some pickup sets have a reverse wound and reverse polarity middle pickup that when in combination with the normal bridge or neck pickups will cancel electromagnetic interference (noise/hum). The sonic effect of positions 2 and 4 is sometimes referred to as a "quack", and some guitar notation includes directions to use these pickup combinations. One example is "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits which is played in position 2 (bridge and middle). [cite journal
author = Steve Cobham
title = NECK AND NECK - Gibson Les Paul and Fender Strat Compared
url = http://users.powernet.co.uk/guitars/axecopy1.htm
journal = Sound On Stage
year = 1997
month = June] Early Stratocasters had only a three-way selector, but innovative guitarists found they could get an interesting tone by carefully balancing the selector switch lever between positions. Later on, Fender introduced the now standard 5 way selector switch.

Notable single-coil pickups

There are several well-known single-coil pickups that have a distinctive sound:

* Rickenbacker pickups (including the original 1930s "horseshoe" pickup as used in lap steel and solidbody upright basses, and later 6 string electric guitars, pedal steels, and electric bass guitars; also the "Toaster" and "Hi-Gain")
* Gibson bar pickup (1935) — later called the Charlie Christian pickup (1938)
* Gibson P-90 (1946)
* Gibson H-90, which appears on the Billie Joe Armstrong Les Paul Junior. It is a hum-cancelling single coil, produced by stacking 2 single coil pickups.
* Fender Telecaster, Stratocaster, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and other pickups
* Danelectro Lipstick
* Gretsch pickups (including the "HiLoTron")
* DeArmond pickups (found on various 50s and 60s guitars by various manufacturers including Gretsch, Guild, Epiphone, Martin, Kustom, Harmony, Regal, Premier, and others, but produced by the Rowe - DeArmond company of Toledo, Ohio; the trade name is now owned by Fender; single coil models including the 200 aka Dynasonic, 2K, and 2000, "mustache", various "gold foil" types, and many clip on, rail, or screw mount pickups designed for acoustic guitars and other instruments)
* Epiphone "New York" pickups
* Lace Sensor pickups (1987)
* Kinman Hx, patented noiseless passive Fender-like pickups by Kinman Guitar Electrix (1997)
* Fender Vintage Noiseless pickups (1998)

See also

* Humbucker

References

* cite book
last = Batey
first = Rick
title = The American Blues Guitar
publisher = Hal Leonard
year = 2003
isbn = 063402759X
* cite book
last = Duchossoir
first = A. R.
title = Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years
publisher = Hal Leonard
year = 1998
isbn = 0793592100
* cite book
last = Millard
first = Andre
title = The Electric Guitar: A History of an American Icon
publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press
year = 2004
isbn = 0801878624
* cite book
last = Hirst
first = Tom
title = Electric Guitar Construction
publisher = Hal Leonard
year = 2003
isbn = 1574241257
* cite book
last = Smith
first = Richard R.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The History of Rickenbacker Guitars
publisher = Centerstream Publications
date = 1987
location =
pages = 9-14
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0931759153
* cite book
last = Fjestad
first = Zachary R.
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Blue Book of Electric Guitars
publisher = Blue Book Publications, Inc
date = 2005
location =
pages = 397
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 1886768579

External links

* The history of Gibson pickups [http://www.gibson.com/whatsnew/pressrelease/2001/jan11a.html]