Guitar Pickups 101: A Beginner’s Complete Guide
Checking out different options for sweet tones
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Guitar Pickups 101: A beginner's complete guide · Source: Cristian Storto Fotografia / Canva
Guitar pickups give players their voice and choice when it comes to sound. The different types of pickups all have different sounds and uses. Let’s check out which could be best for you.
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Guitar Pickups 101: A beginner’s complete guide
Pickups give us the freedom to express our guitar’s sound. They’re the gateway to accessing the use of thundering amps and cool pedals. Above all, they put the electric in electric guitar.
But why does a group of magnets make such a difference? Just walk into your local guitar store and you’ll see so many different shapes and sizes mounted to a pickguard. Looks are important, but what we’re interested in is the sound.
So, let us check out some varying guitar pickups that are all available from *Thomann right now. Moreover, we’ll look at which guitars typically use certain pickups, and the impact that they have on tone and playability.
What are guitar pickups?
Guitar pickups date back to the early 1930s where George Beauchamp, who was working for Rickenbacker at the time, came up with a rudimentary design of what we now know as a guitar pickup.
What is a single coil pickup? Essentially, one singe coil pickup contains a base plate, attached to one coil of copper wire that wraps around the pickup, which sits beneath six magnetic strips.
From here, we have two cables, live and earth, which work with the rest of the guitar’s wiring to complete the circuit. When plucked, the strings on the guitar vibrate. It’s the responsibility of the magnets to collect those vibrations and relay the sound through the amplifier.
Single Coil Pickups
Now that we’ve looked a little bit at how they work and where they come from, let’s look at a few single coil pickups that you can choose from.
Typically, your Strat and Tele style guitars come with single coil pickups. A single coil pickup usually produces a relatively thin sound. Players love these pickups for their glassy and twangy characteristics.
Naturally, on a Telecaster you’d find two pickups, neck and bridge positions. The position governs what kind of sound will be produced. A pickup closer to the neck will provide a deeper sound, whereas a pickup closer to the bridge gives us a higher pitched sound.
For anything from country and western to pop and rock, you can get hold of a Telecaster in many different shapes and sizes. Such as a Harley Benton TE-5 Vintage, all the way up to a Fender Player Telecaster.
However, should you already have a guitar laying around that needs a a bit of a refresh, you could always do a bit of DIY? Let’s say you’ve got a comfortable and fast neck on your old Strat, but the sound is lacking. Now could be the perfect opportunity to switch out those old pickups for something fresh.
Humbuckers
Single coil guitar pickups are great. But what if you want a heavier, thicker sound? This is where humbuckers come to say hello.
In the early days of pickups, electric guitars used to make a humming sound when not being played. Therefore, the goal of the humbucker was to combat that annoying sound. However, they do a lot more than just eliminate unwanted noise.
Essentially, humbuckers contain an additional wound up copper coil, and now has a north and south pole with the magnets. Twice the magnets, twice as powerful. Overall, giving players more power.
Historically, you’d find humbuckers on Les Pauls and other single cut guitars. Moreover, Gretsch also pioneered early humbucker designs. They don’t just have to be for heavy guitars, the additional power provides further versatility.
Check out these options, to either upgrade or buy the complete package:
P-90 Pickups
From the world of single coils, there are other guitar pickups available to you. Whereas a single coil provides a bright sound, a humbucker a warm sound, P-90s give more of a neutral sound.
What are the benefits of P-90 pickups? Well, just like with humbuckers, they aim to eliminate unwanted humming thanks to two bar magnets. Therefore, you get the thin sound of a single coil, without the unnecessary sound. However, they have nothing to do with humbuckers.
A lot of your favourite styles of guitars can come with P-90s. They’re a great alternative to a straight up humbucker as they’re less likely to distort under load, but still have a great top end. Thanks to their appearance, they’re often referred to as soapbar pickups.
Rail Pickups
Rail guitar pickups are a brilliant way to upgrade your single coil equipped guitar without disturbing the look of the instrument.
What are rail pickups? A brilliant device, they’re humbuckers in the size of a single coil pickup. As we’ve seen, humbuckers are twice the size of a single coil pickup. Therefore, if you wanted to add a humbucker to the bridge of your Strat, you would have to drill out the body and pickguard to accommodate the upgrade.
However, with a rail you can retain the original dimensions of the instrument. Rails provide a higher output, resulting in a more responsive playing experience.
Lipstick Pickups
Somewhat of an unusual design here, but it still has its uses. Lipstick pickups are typically seen on Danelectro guitars.
Here, there’s nothing too dissimilar from what we’ve already looked at. A lipstick pickup gets its name thanks to the aesthetic. Resembling a lipstick tube, these are single coil pickups with the magnets totally encased in a chrome metal tube.
Overall, they’re great for high highs and cool bass frequencies, but really lack any power in terms of mids. They’re really popular on the surf scene for single melody lines as the twang really soars. You can also get lipstick humbuckers, whereby two singles are stacked next to side by side.
Guitar Pickups 101: Time to upgrade?
Whether its a fat humbucker you want, or a sleek P-90, there are loads of options out there. As we’ve seen, it’s easy to get hold of a new set of pickups to throw into your existing guitar.
Looking for more bass? Why not add a humbucker to your neck. Or, add some twang with a lipstick in the bridge. The combinations are plentiful!
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3 responses to “Guitar Pickups 101: A Beginner’s Complete Guide”
On https://www.gearnews.com/guitar-pickups-101-a-beginners-complete-guide/ in the picture, the names neck and bridge pickup have been mixed up
Whoops! Caught us napping. Thanks for the nod! All sorted now. 🙂
I am far from the sharpest tool in the box. 🔨 📦
But I still don’t get it?
How does them pick up the sound?