Demystifying Guitar Pickups: Understanding Humbuckers and Eliminating Buzz

[Wishbone]

This might a little too obscure, but something that confuses me about the guitar is the pickups. I understand how they work, however there are certain types of pickups, called humbuckers, where instead of having 1 coil of wire in the guitar to emit a magnetic field, there is another one.. The point of this is to cancel out a buzz that you get with a single coil pickup when plugged into an amp. My question is why would this do so, and where does this buzz come from in the first place?

 

[minger]

I have read the exact reasoning once, but I forget the details. Basically, the coils in the second pickup are wound the opposite way. The buzz you get from a single coil pickup is just electrical noise from electrical things around you. It turns out that the coils are not only efficient conductors, but decent antenna as well. But, however when both signals are combined, the two signals cancel each other out due to the opposite windings.

 

[Wishbone]

Hmm so exactly what do you mean by the are oppositley wound? I mean does current flow in the opposite direction?

 

[DaveC426913]

Hmm so exactly what do you mean by the are oppositley wound? I mean does current flow in the opposite direction?

I'm thinkin' clockwise vs. counter-clockwise.

 

[Wishbone]

Whats the difference if the current is traveling in the same direction.