No, not Chevys, Fords and Dodges. Guitar pickups. Magnets, wire and plastic that make glorious tones by supercharging the single the string vibrations make. Hand, String, Pickup, Electric – GLORY.
Those squares and tubular coils on all those instruments are varied and different for various reasons. They offer you differences in clarity, girth, sparkle, fatness, thinness – and all kinds of other ‘guitar-speak’ words we could muster.
How many pickups are in our store? In every guitar, every bass… Thousands. So, there is a wealth of exploring you can have.
Here are some basics:
Humbuckers:
“Fat Rectangles” – often covered in a nickel or chrome ‘lid’, but sometimes look like two tubular coils stuck together. Blacks, whites, creams, zebras… Think Les Paul. They are called ‘humbuckers’ because they buck/eliminate or minimize electrical hum. They eliminate the 60 cycle hum that comes from electricity in a ‘single coil’. (More on that in a second). And moreover – they typically have a higher output and fatness associated with their tone. Coupled with gain/distortion they can be outright HUGE sounding. Jimmy Page – the king of the classic rock riff – Led Zeppelin II and forward. And a thousand of other great artists choose the humbucker equipped…
Single Coils:
“Skinny Ovals” – tubular plastic ovals with usually exposed magnets. Whites, blacks, creams, etc. Think Stratocaster and Telecaster. While these do have the inherent ‘hum’ – nothing is as sparkly and cutting as a single coil. They can be fat – but they have a clarifying top end to them that make them sound like nothing else. Hendrix, SRV – need we say more… And boy are there plenty more…
Soapbars/”P90’s”:
“Not Quite as Fat Rectangles” – Usually a black or cream covered plastic lid with exposed magnets. These pups live somewhere between the humbucker and the single coil. Lots of clarity like a single coil, but fatter. Have hum like a single coil but have typically a little more ‘girth’ and ‘bite’. Think Les Paul Junior. Leslie West and Mountain. Look him up if you don’t know…
Others:
Lipsticks: They actually look like chrome lipstick cases. Twangy and bright, think Danelectro – Led Zep’s Kashmir sported the lovely lipstick.
Filtertrons: What name! Somewhat humbucking – aka ‘filter’, These are square-ish pups with a hollow but cool sounding quasi-fat tones. Brian Setzer, the Stray Cats and Gretsch baby!
Active Pickups: Require a battery – but in so they can yield higher outputs, smoother filtering and more ‘even’ tones. EMG’s are the kings of this realm and have been since the 80’s. Lotta metal hath come from an active pup.
Bass Pups: They are as varied as the guitar side. They have humbuckers, single coils and plenty of active and inactive variations. All tailored to the low frequencies of the bass.
