[CapeGuitarman]

Same thing....what is a humberbucker and what does it do? Also, I have a pickup switch on my electric with like 4 positions, not sure xactly what they do, but I'm assuming each position shuts off or turns on each pickup. What position is best for good, quality sound?
One more thing, my practice amp doesn't have a gain control on it but it does have overdrive and clean controls along with a simple push button that says "drive" with an on and off position. It also has "equalization" (tone/bass) controls. Can this amp (4 watt) offer any type of decent distortion for rock music? Or do I need to get a bigger amp with "gain" on it?

[allthumbs]

Humbucker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[allthumbs]

The selctor switch does change the pick up selectiom. Assuming you have a 5 way switch and standard wiring and single coils they go top to bottom, neck, neck+ middle, middle, middle bridge, bridge. How usable all positions are depends on the guitar and quality of the pickups.
Humbuckers have, usually a 3 way switch. Neck, neck+ bridge, bridge. If you have a splitter or coil tap you can mimic a single coil or blend combinations of humbucker and single coils to add various tones.

The neck and neck middle are good for cleaner lead tones. In my opinion the rest are basically a matter of taste. You get a darker chunkier sound with the other positions.

[CapeGuitarman]

so is a humbucker a good thing? or bad thing? I don't think I have one on my guitar ....even if I did....I'm not sure I'd understand it. I read the wikpedia thing and I still don't get it....sorry, but ty just the same.

[CapeGuitarman]

splitter? coil tap? etc? I have absolutely NO clue what u're talking about lol.....as I've said, I know basic chords and some majors and minors, I strum the strings, read chords from paper and HOPE I get it right....the rest is scientific mumbo jumbo..... Guess I'll never get it, but that's cool...it's about the music, right?

[jon_stggt]

Keeping it simple, a humbucker will give you high output with little noise. (by noise I mean the nasty electrical noise such as humming etc.... I don't mean the nice noise you produce from playing guitar)

Allthumbs>> that was a good read at Wikipedia.

[jimmyzowens]

i dont know the exact def of a humbucker either , all i now is something about hand wound. and i have them on my les paul and they are amazing, i wonder if u put a good set of humbukers in my strat , thta should be pretty coool

[allthumbs]

Ok. Humbuckers have thick warm distortion and no hum, which is their main point. Single coil pickups, the skinny ones thnd to sound harsher. Think Jimmy Page for humbuckers on a Les Paul and S. R. V. on a stratocaster with 3 single coils pickups.

[Doug]

hmmm, it's not intuitive to me how the magnetic induction of the string moving across the coils is additive and yet the 60 cycle electomagnetic radiation is subtractive. Maybe there's a difference in how magnetic and electro-magnetic interference works - maybe they work in the opposite direction.
I'll just accept the fact that it works.

[allthumbs]

The single coil has a 60 cycle hum if that helps.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by allthumbs

The single coil has a 60 cycle hum if that helps.

yup, got that part. And I guess the two coils are wired up reversed so that the 60 cycle pickup in one coil is positive and the pickup in the other coil is negative so that they cancel each other out. That's fine. But if the coils are wired reversed like that to cancel out the 60 cycles, how does it not cancel out the pickup of the string moving? Which leads me to believe that electromagnetic and magnetic work in opposite directions.

Maybe I'll spend time browsing wiki...
or maybe not

[jimmyzowens]

ok you guys just blew me off the map you frekin rocket scientist lmao

[Doug]

from Jay's find...
"The polarity of a signal generated in a conductor depends on the magnetic polarity of the flux lines and the direction of travel. In a humbucking pickup, the two coils are wound with opposing electrical polarity, but the magnetic polarity for each coil is also reversed. Therefore, in a humbucking pickup we have two coils of wire, each of which is carrying two electrical signals. Each coil has the intentional signal generated by string vibration within the magnetic field and the unwanted noise signal picked up from ambient electromagnetic radiation. The polarity of the desired signal is dependent on both the polarity of the magnet and the direction of the coil winding so this signal is "in-phase" across the two coils. The polarity of the noise signal is independent of the magnets -- it depends only on the direction of the coil winding -- so the noise signal across the two coils is cancelling, or out-of-phase. "

thanks, JayJay, fish!

[knight46]

Great thread guys, great information.