Magnetic Pickups
All magnetic pickups are handwound on the coil winder pictured on the Rewinding page. Standard coil wire is AWG #42 unless the design requires the use of another gauge.
Electric Mandolin
Choosing the Right Pickup
There are three basic types of magnetic mandolin pickups available; single coil, humbucker, and stacked humbucker. All pickups are available with either 4 or 5 poles. Due to their higher permeability, nickel strings are best suited for magnetic pickups than bronze, phosphor bronze or stainless steel strings.
Musicians or builders not familiar with electric instruments can use the following as guidelines for selecting the proper pickup for your instrument.
Are you disappointed with the pickups in your Fender electric mandolin? Get a boost in output, tone and enjoyment with custom wound relacement pickups. Available in single coil and stacked humbucker models.
Single coil Due to the narrow sensing aperture or 'window', single coil pickups produce a clear tone with a strong middle/low end and ringing trebles. Single coils however have the disadvantage of also picking up and amplifying ambient EMR from lights, amps, etc. This 60 Hz hum can be annoying in some situations, especially at loud volumes. Shielding does help but will not eliminate it entirely. Two single coils can also be used in a RWRP combination to emulate a humbucker. . (see The Humbucking Effect )
Humbucker Tonally humbuckers are less clear and bright as compared to single coils due to the magnetic aperture sensing a longer portion of the string. Humbuckers can be electrically split by shorting out one coil to ground making it essentially a single coil. The downside of this is it decreases output and bass end, and negates it's hum-cancelling ability. 4 conductor wiring allows for series/parallel, phase reverse, or split coil options. Can be mounted on a pickguard or black rectangular ring (available separately).
Stacked Humbucker Because of it's narrow aperture this is a good compromise between the humbucker's hum-cancelling ability and the clarity of a single coil. The output is much the same as a single coil.
Electric Dulcimer
3-pole single coil pickup with .500" pole spacing. Stacked humbucker also available.
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Copyright © 2000, Steve Ryder