

Long story short: You won't get more noise cancelation from a humbucker than you currently get from your neck + middle and middle + bridge selections. But because the two signals are so close, the frequencies cancelled tend to be very high. The two signals from the coils in the humbucker aren't exactly the same, so the combined signal still has the phase cancelation effect. But because the two coils in a humbucker are right next to each other, their individual signals are much closer to each other than in your guitar. This is what accounts for the "gentle lowpass filter" effect you describe.Ī humbucker has two coils, reverse wound with reverse polarity, and so the combined signals of the two coils cancels out the noise just like with the neck + middle and middle + bridge selections you describe.


So when combined, some of the overtones from the two pickups will be 180 o out of phase and again, these will cancel each other out. In other words, the signals coming from each pickup aren't exactly the same (which accounts for why they sound different when you select one at a time). The middle pickup, because it's closer to the bridge, will pick up slightly more upper harmonic overtones than the neck pickup. Suppose you have the neck + middle pickups selected. The unique sound you hear from having the two pickups selected is also due to phase cancelation. It's exactly analogous to the idea that 1 + (-1) = 0. Because they look like a normal single-coil, they are often marketed as 'noiseless' single-coil pickups, retaining the tone of a traditional single-coil while having the hum canceling ability of a humbucker. If the pickups are wound in opposite directions and with opposite polarity, then when their signals are combined, the noise they picked up will be 180 o out of phase with each other and will therefore cancel each other out. As the name entails, single-coil stacks comprise of two single-coils stacked on top of each other, compacted to fit into the size of a regular single-coil. When looking for other differences in the great single coil vs P90 vs humbucker debate, you need to look at the the active electronics that are used, the magnet, and the. When you have two pickups selected at once, the signal you hear is the sum of the signals from both pickups. Differences between Single Coil vs P90 vs Humbucker Pickup After reading this far you should have realized that the first difference between these pickups is size and shape. Here's the basic idea: The coils in your pickups "pick up" noise in addition to the vibration of the strings. The noise reduction you experience is intentional. Fender N3 Noiseless Stratocaster Electric Guitar Pickups Set 199.99 - As Heard on Fender American Deluxe. You're not lucky-well, you might be lucky in many other ways :), but just not in this particular way. As the name suggests, single-coil stacks are comprised of two single-coils stacked on top of each other, compacted to fit into the size of a regular single-coil (as opposed to humbuckers which are two single-coils wound side by side).
