Guitar Pickups
Ever noticed the rectangular blocks in the middle of the body of the guitar? Don't they look nice? Those are known as guitar pickups and are the core of the guitar's tone. They come in singular to three pickups in total depending on the versatility of the guitar, as regularly guitarists prefer to switch between treble and rhythmic tones between the neck and bridge pickups (N, 2011). Other guitarists prefer their consistent tone using a singular pickup.
Based on guitarist's preference, there are guitars that either are manufactured or modified with either single coiled pickups or hum-buckers, as industry standard pickups. There are other types of pickups made available, but single coil ordinarily is the most simplistic of the pickups as it is made thinnest and allow room for more pickups as well as being made for treble based guitar tones. (Eichenberger, 2013).
Sometimes these pickups may come powered by batteries themselves. Excluding hybrid pickups, there are two types of pickups that are manufactured either to be passive or active. Passive pickups were the original magnetic made pickups for guitars made as transducers by wrapping a permanent magnet with coil. They perform as they are placed near to the strings by having the strings disturb the magnetic field when struck. However, the less popular option of active pickups are made with fewer coils, but feature a 9V battery to power a pre-amp that boosts the signal level, filters and EQ of the pickups (Joe, 2013). Tonally, active pickups are made to have a more aggressive sound or "bite" than passive pickups, as passive pickups are made with a much warmer sound.
References:
Eichenberger, D. (2013). Cage Match: Single Coils vs. Humbuckers. Seymour Duncan. Retrieved from http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/the-tone-garage/cage-match-single-coils-vs-humbuckers
Joe. (2013). What Is The difference Between Active And Passive Pickups?. Dawsons Music. Retrieved from http://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-active-and-passive-pickups
N, M. (2011). Using the pickup selector switch | Matt Notley Guitar. Mattnotley.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.mattnotley.co.uk/guitar/2011/08/using-the-pickup-selector-switch/
