As far as I can tell, this is the only video on YT that *actually* explains humbucking, and why the signal from the moving string is not canceled out. Congratulations for doing an outstanding work, Marc.

Man that is wonderful, Thank you for explaining that, I have been trying to find an explanation and you covered it nicely.

@aaronstonebeat

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks, you're welcome!

@TheMarlough Thank you for your reply! When I started building guitars I wanted to know how things work. Especially the pickups drove me through studying classical mechanics agian, relativity, quantum mechanics and even string theory. I'm still wondering how things work, more than ever. If I have been able to contribute something to understanding it has been worth it. Thanks!

@thomaseagan4506

4 жыл бұрын

Quantum mechanics....it doesnt get much more interesting than that...I wonder but forgive me if I an being intrusive but what are your thoughts on the overall validity and acceptance of the theory of relativity ? I haven't quite wrapped my head around string theory as it is lower in the que than a good many subjects including the properties of crystals and how they can improve electric guitar outside of the whole piezo thinf... like wrapping coils with addition of quartz dust or amalgamating dust from conductive crystals in the wax used for pick up coating...but I love thet theoretical application of QM and the lectures and books of Bruce lipton joe Dispenza and especially Greg Braden

This is perfect. Just what I was looking for. I have a Yamaha AES800 with a phase shift circuit. It's a bit odd and it has the effect of darkening the tone a bit and I was curious how it worked. By learning the basics from your videos I think I can figure it out.

you ROCK! clear explanation of a fairly complicated concept, even without having to know all of Maxwell's equations....

@Pana6Ion For bridge pickups you need more output because the strings don't move as far as they do in the middle or the neck position; strings move most in the middle and not at all on the bridge or the nut. The movement of the strings is what induces the voltage in the pickups; more movement means higher voltage.

@Pana6Ion I suppose it means the humbucker is connected to the single coil as it is. If you have the right switch and the humbucker has a wire from the center (the connection between the two coils, or two seperate wires for each coil) one of the coils of the humbucker can be disabled when it's combined with the middle pickup. I have explained the wiring in my 'fat strat' video. Two coils can cancel hum; one or three cannot.

great! this is what i was looking for a long time!)

Yes sir. You are good to me. I value your videos much above slight. In fact, way above slight. I like the time you spend on such interests. People don't realize the facts you bring on table. Thank you infinity +1.

Amazing vids, Brilliantly explained :)

This is fantastic! Thank you very very much for this!

@Pana6Ion Well, as far as hum is concerned it doesn't matter where the pickups are. They pick up hum from the electromagnetic environment; a humbucker cancels out some of that hum. It's just because of the position under the strings that the bridge pickup sounds more trebly than the middle or the neck pickup.

Great video for curious .. like me. You explain very well this "magic" and it seems that you are the only one on youtube to do it so nice with pictures. I imagine it was quite a work to do this video. I will anyway suggest some more work ;-)) to make it even closer to the reality. What would be very nice is also to show not just one wire of coil but let say 2 or 3 rounds so one can imagine the way wires are turn on each coil in reality (clockwise or anticlock wise). Such a short picture could be inserted just at a point in time in the presentation and then you would come back to one wire in order to not complicate to much the rest of the images which are very good as they are. I will go trhought the others videos right now. Great contribution.. thank you

@aaronstonebeat

10 жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for your comments and subscribtion. It was indeed quite a bit of work to make the videos. I don't think more work is needed because it doesn't matter which way the pickups are wound, what matters is the way the coils are connected. One can make a humbucker with two coils that are wound in the same direction and with coils that are wound in opposed directions; you'll encounter both in real life.

@Pana6Ion I don't mean the cover (although that should be grounded too) but the 'foot', the base. The pickup has 4 conductor wiring so you could measure the resistance or the inductance (if you have the right tool) seperately. If there is a difference it could explain the hum.

@Pana6Ion If it works it will be just fine. Unless the two coils are exactly the same the hum cancelling effect will not be perfect. Usually humbuckers have a metal mounting bracket. Check if it is grounded; if not it will increase noise.

Thank you so much this really bugged me for quite a long time!

@aaronstonebeat

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. Keep wondering about things.

@Pana6Ion And by the way, the two wires that connect (white and red) are the ones that connect the two coils. If you ground that connection when the bridge and middle pickup are engaged the bridge pickup will have only one coil active; if it is the right one as far as hum cancelling concerns remains to be seen. I could use a schematic for your guitar in respect with this problem; is it a 'Lone Star'?

The trick is the magnetic poles magnetize the strings, the string then Transmits the string magnetic vibrations to the coil , the 60 cycles is not effected by the pole magnets, the 60 cycles is mostly an electric field, the string is transmitting a magnetic signal

@aaronstonebeat

Жыл бұрын

Actually the 60 Hz cycle is an electromagnetic wave/field; the hum it would cause is (mostly) canceled out by the reverse wound coils of the humbucking pickup.

@alnorman6846

Жыл бұрын

@@aaronstonebeat I will stand corrected al

thanx, very good explanation.

Hey, great video! This is very helpful as I am writing about this exactly for school. Do you have any references for this video? And how can I refer to you in my paper?

thanx a lot !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great vid! ..thwo voltsz iz djust an examp'l. Yea, U rule man!

EXCELLENT VIDEO I am thinking of replacing the single coil pickup in my bass with a humbucking hotrails pickup. Are the base magnets in the humbucking pickup already reversed? To get the maximum lower bass sound, should I wire the humbucker coils in series? Should I feed the first coil on the left ..... and then take the exiting wire and feed the second coil on its right side? Thanks

@aaronstonebeat

7 ай бұрын

Thanks! 1) Yes, the magnets/pole pieces are reversed polarity; it wouldn't be a humbucking pickup otherwise. 2) By wiring pickups in series the output will be higher compared to wiring in parallel. In guitars this is most noticeable in the midrange of the sound. Some experimenting might be wise. 3) Which wires should be connected to each other depends on the construction of the pickups and de colour code used. Again, some experimenting might be a good thing; if you get it wrong, the pickups will be out of phase and not much bass tone will be left.

So in principle, for a singlecoil pickup, trading out the number of winds for a stronger magnet (such that the signal output is conserved) would also improve the signal-to-noise ratio right?

@aaronstonebeat

Жыл бұрын

Yes, correct. But it will aso affect the sound. Some manufacturers of cheap pickups use thin wire to get to a certain resistance of the coil (incorrectly equaled to 'output' by many consumers) with fewer windings. In general these pickups sound very trebly and harsh.

Hello Marc again, I am progressing (slowly) in my understanding of pickups. Now I am busy with some hardware. One question for you . Do you know an accurate way to measure that the screws are correctly adjusted (equal level output for each plot/screw of humbucker) and what method can be used to check this out. Maybe it is a stupid idea but if there are screws they must be usefull to something ? I am aware that some people use their ear to check out proper balance between strings but "my" ears are not "your" ears and at the end there is no garantee that it is "optimum" in a way . Other people use a visual check (screw in stairs or following the neck curvature) but I am not convinced by this method. I have some ideas for an objective method but I would need some advise. Also a question related to this point. In case of humb split in single coils and comining singles... Isn't it wise to use preferably the screw single coils of humberckers to combine between 2 coils instead of those without screw. In effect , this would garantee that the "best" adjusted" single is used for combination, ensuring the correct polarity pairs of course (as explained here...kzread.info/dash/bejne/aYma2rN7mNTLnps.html) Brgds Antonio

@aaronstonebeat

9 жыл бұрын

Hello Antonio, You could try measuring the output voltage for each individual string; see where that gets you as far as screw height is concerned. I've never done this, I always do it by ear and eye. You are probably correct using the screw sides when switching to single coils but keep in mind that the individual coils of a humbucker will differ slightly in sound because of their locations with respect to the strings; you might have to turn a pickup around to get the side with screws on the inside, especially the bridge pickup (you'll need your ears, it's a matter of taste).

Good explanation. I somehow now understand the Humbucker princible. But I still have some lack of knowledge. I wonder how the Humbucker princible interacts with out of phase switching. Is the second coil switched out of phase? If yes, why we dont have the out of phase effect? If not, what happens when I switch the second coil out of phase? Is the hum cancelling effect gone then and we just have the out of phase effect? More questions: what happens to single coils which work in hum cancecling mode (one single coil reversed) when I switch them out of phase? Hum cancelling disappears and we just have out of phase? What happens when I switch two single (with the same winding and polarity) coils out of phase? Do I then have hum cancelling effect AND out of phase effect at the same time?

@aaronstonebeat

9 жыл бұрын

In a humbucker the two coils are connected out of phase AND the magnets have reversed polarity (N/S for one coil, S/N for the other); in that way the two sides of the pickup are in phase as far as the vibrating of the strings is concerned and out of phase with respect to outside interference. It doesn't matter here whether you think of one humbucker or two separate single coils, the same principle applies. For example the answer to your last question: yes, they will be hum cancelling and out of phase. If two coils are out of phase they will be hum canceling, they are two out of phase antennae for electromagnetic radiation. It's the magnets that make the strings produce electromagnetic waves (or to put it the other way around: the vibration of the strings disturbs the magnetic field with electromagnetic waves as a result). coils in phase, equal polarity: no hum cancelling, in phase signal coils in phase, reversed polarity: no hum cancelling, out of phase signal coils out of phase, equal polarity: hum cancelling, out of phase signal coils out of phase, reversed polarity: hum cancelling, in phase signal

@raymundbollinger2308

9 жыл бұрын

Wow, this is an even better explanation and I think I understand the principle now nearly completely :-) Can we say "putting one of the two coils out of phase puts the signal and the hum out of phase"? And "reverse the (magnetic) polarity of one of the two coils puts only the signal out of phase"? To understand it completely I want to ask one more question: "out of phase" (I mean swap the two wires of one coil) has exactly the same effect as "reversed wound coil"?

@TheForce_Productions

4 жыл бұрын

@@raymundbollinger2308 Hi. Reverse would is about the orientation of the winding, (clockwise or anti-clockwise). Polarity is about the magnet's poles(N/S - S/N).

Hey Marc!!! Thank you so much for this super thorough, insightful and interesting explanation!!!!! I'm actually having a hard time understanding something you never mentioned in this explanation which I believe might have some significance, and was wondering whether you might have some knowledge about: I learned that in humbucking pickups, a big magnet is placed between the two coils in addition to the six magnets each one of the coils has. Do you know why that is? does it play a factor in reversing the current in some way? Thanks in advance!

@aaronstonebeat

2 ай бұрын

Many well known humbuckers indeed have a bar magnet underneath, between the pole pieces. In this case the pole pieces are not magnets but merely ferromagnetic material. The pole pieces are magnetized by the magnet. I'm not entirely sure why this is done. It is very well possible to use magnetic pole pieces, like in many single coil pickups (In fact, in most single coil guitars, when two pickups are selected, they are humbucking; because of the reversed polarity and connection of the pickups). The bar magnet has nothing to do with reversing the current in one of the coils.

@RamPamParam

2 ай бұрын

​@@aaronstonebeat Thanks for the response! Very appreciated. Not entirely sure what you mean by "when two pickups are selected, they are humbucking; because of the reversed polarity and connection of the pickups". Wouldn't one of the coils need to have a set of magnets with an opposing polarity in order to produce this kind of humbucking effect?

@aaronstonebeat

2 ай бұрын

@@RamPamParam Yes, you are correct in that the pole pieces need to be reversed polarity in the two coils. But they already are because the bar magnet is polarized lengthwise; one row of pole pieces touches the north pole, the other row touches the south pole. So each row of pole pieces becomes an extension of the pole they touch. Basically the rows of ferromagnetic pole pieces and the bar magnet together form a U-shaped magnet.

@aaronstonebeat

2 ай бұрын

In a standard telecaster for instance, when both pickups are on they are humbucking. One pickup has north up magnets, the other one has south up magnets; and they are reverse wound (or reverse connected if they are wound in the same direction; the effect is the same).

@RamPamParam

2 ай бұрын

@@aaronstonebeat Also, correct me if I'm off, but if the magnet bar is the only actual magnet in the pickup, it would mean that each set of ferromagnetic poles would be oppositely charged (6 poles positively and the other 6 negatively). So how would this affect the explanation in your video where both sets of ferromagnetic poles are referred to as individual magnets?

why reversing the magnet on that coil reverses only the sound but not the noise?

@aaronstonebeat

2 ай бұрын

The noise is independent of the magnetic field in the pickup; it is canceled because the coils are connected out of phase. To produce a signal from the metal strings, the coils need a magnetic field. If the coils are only connected out of phase, they would be out of phase for the string signal too; by reversing the polarity in one coil, they are in phase relative to the string signal. I just had a long conversation with RamPamParam about exactly the same thing. And the answer is in the video 😉

@CharafB1

2 ай бұрын

@@aaronstonebeat thankyou

Marc Van Oppen, That doesn't make sense why the guitar signal passes through but cancels out the hum noises, I don't get it. If the Hum noise is +2volts + (-) 2 volts = 0 vac. But the guitar signal Passes though how so? The HUM noise is getting pickup by the Magnetics pole pieces or the coil of wire is like an antenna? Each coil is 6K DC resistance and when wired in series 6K + (-) 6K = 0 ohms but since the coil is grounded and wired in series the formula is 6K / 6K = 3K DC resistance of the humbucker coil?

@aaronstonebeat

4 жыл бұрын

The guitar signal passes through because of the magnets in the coil, without the magnets the vibration of the strings would not be transduced. As antennas for external electromagnetic noise the coils function with or without magnets, the noise is picked up by the wire in the coils; that is why they are connected out of phase. The reversed polarity of the magnets in each coil puts the guitar signal in phase again. Two coils of 6 KOhms in series make 12 KOhms (in parallel they would make 3 KOhms). I hope this helps. If not I'll try to explain further.

@waynegram8907

4 жыл бұрын

Coils of wire"without magnets" doesn't have a polarity. The starting of the coil and the ending of the coil is the same because its just a wire wrapped around a bobbin. So how does the electrical signal know that the coils starting or ending because its just wire wrapping in a circle so it doesn't have a polarity.

@waynegram8907

4 жыл бұрын

Humbucker pickups are two signal coil pickups that are 6K ohm per single coil. Humbucker coils are wired in series which is 6K + 6K = 12K ohms Humbucker coils are wired in series plus one coil is out of phase reversed wound which is 6K divided by 6K = 3K ohms?Humbucker coils are wired in series plus one coil is out of phase reverse wound which the formula should be 6K + (-) 6K = 0 ohm?

@waynegram8907

4 жыл бұрын

Watch the video at 1:40 time its shows the dummy coil with no magnets no pole pieces. The Dummy Coil can be wired in series or in parallel with the guitar pickup. The pickup will measure 6K and when he turns down the tone pot to turn ON the dummy coil its will measure 3K. The Dummy Coil is not reverse wound or out of phase. So I don't know how it cancels out the hum noises. He wired the guitar using the tone pot to mix in the dummy coil or turning it off and on. It will measure 6K when the dummy coil is OFF and measures 3K when the dummy coil is ON. But how does the dummy coil cancel out the hum noises?kzread.info/dash/bejne/iqOEr8l6fdqngM4.html

@aaronstonebeat

4 жыл бұрын

@@waynegram8907 The orientation of the magnets causes the signal to move through the wire in one direction or the opposite at any given moment.

Who's doing the hoovering 😢

thanks a lot , but the sound is not so good , it sounds like it was recorded through a microphonic single-coil pickup 😂

@aaronstonebeat

Жыл бұрын

It was a long time ago ;-)

did you just growl death metal a night before you made this video?

dear Aaron, don't you mind speaking your natural voice without trying sound big and mature? sorry but this is disturbing some way when trying to figure out what vowel or something it was within next group of throat convulsions.

@aaronstonebeat

10 жыл бұрын

I was born in '62 so I really do not worry about being mature. English is not my native language but I try my best to speak it as well as I can, my native language is a Dutch dialect that sounds German or Flemish to most Dutch. Thank you.

@Galova

10 жыл бұрын

Marc van Oppen I mentioned speaking in lower octave than it should be. I am sorry, no offence

@nutnfan1

9 жыл бұрын

Galova I like it. He sounds like a scientist.

@Galova

9 жыл бұрын

nutnfan1 I figure scientists are those who studied and graduated in science... Not just one who got meningitis and throat syphilis at once

@nutnfan1

9 жыл бұрын

Galova *an exotic european scientist