Abstract
The first sections develop humbucking circuits for K = 2, 3, 4, and 5 matched, single-coil pickups and show that they can produce 1, 3, 19, and 365 humbucking no-load tone circuits, respectively, per pole configuration. When pickup poles can be reversed, they can produce 2K−1 = 2, 4, 8, and 16 tonally different pole configurations. When pole configurations are included in the calculations, this produces 2, 12, 52, and 2720 different tone circuits. When smaller circuits of J ≤ K are accounted, this offers 2, 18, 112, and 3120 different tone circuits, all humbucking. The next sections cover embodiments for reversible-magnet pickups, including vertical and horizontal coils. Figures show simulated fields for various pole configurations in horizontal pickups and suggest ways to optimize the field across the strings.
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Notes
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Ansoft Corp. (1984–2002). Maxwell, Student Version 3.1.04. Pittsburgh, PA: Ansys. Ansoft Corporation, © 1984–2002 (Acquired by Ansys, 2008). Retrieved from www.ansys.com.
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The horizontal-coil pickup is a less efficient design; the string signal output tends to be an order of magnitude less than for the standard vertical-coil design.
References
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Baker, D.L. (2020). The Tonal Advantages of Pickups with Reversible Magnets. In: Sensor Circuits and Switching for Stringed Instruments. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23124-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-23124-8_7
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