Blade pickup
A single-coil-sized pickup whose pole pieces are replaced by a single steel or iron bar running under all the strings.
Because the sensing surface is continuous, there is no pole spacing to misalign with unusual string spread, and the pickup reads the strings equally in every position, which matters on seven- and eight-string instruments and on slant-mounted designs. The blade also tends to give a slightly fuller, more even response than discrete pole pieces, at the cost of some of the scattering and edge that players like in a traditional single coil. The hum-cancelling versions use two coils around the same blade.
Example: a blade pickup mounted in a slant position on a multi-scale guitar senses all strings identically instead of favouring the outer ones.
See also
Related
- PageHumbucker
- PageSingle coil
- PageMulti-scale
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlend control
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley