Pole piece
The individual magnetic element under each string, whether a magnetic slug built into the pickup or a steel screw threaded through the coil.
Slugs are fixed and set the string spacing, while adjustable screws let a player balance the output string by string, which is useful when a wound third sounds quieter than the plain strings around it. Pole pieces can be raised or lowered individually, and on many designs the whole set can be staggered to follow the fingerboard radius. On a single coil the poles are part of the magnet itself, so their height directly changes how strongly each string is sensed.
Example: raising the pole under a dull-sounding third string evens out the output of a chord without changing the overall pickup height.
See also
Related
- PagePickup height
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock
- ReferenceCircle of fifths