How electric guitar pickups work

How does an electric guitar turn movement (in a string) into that amazing twangy sound you can hear? Like this!

1. Bar magnet (gray) in pickup generates a magnetic field all around it. 2. Magnetic field (gray curved lines) extends invisibly upward through the metal guitar strings above the pickup. (It also extends downward through the guitar, but that's not relevant here.) 3. Guitar string (brown) vibrates from side to side when you pluck it. Since it's made of metal, the string is a conductor moving through a magnetic field, so a tiny electric current is induced in it as it moves. This induced current produces its own magnetic field around the string. 4. Coil of thin wire (yellow) wrapped around the pickup detects ("picks up") this magnetic field and generates ("induces") a tiny electric current. 5. Amplifier boosts electric current, making a larger current big enough to drive a loudspeaker. 6. Loudspeaker turns electric current into sound.

Who invented pickups?

Electric guitars that are use pickups in this way were invented in the early 1930s by George Beauchampthe guy we mentioned up above. Browsing these drawings from his original 1934 patent, we can see just how big a debt modern electric guitars still owe to his pioneering design:

Artwork: George Beauchamp's original "frying-pan" electric guitar design from 1934. On the right, you can see a top view of the guitar with the pickup unit shown in dark blue and the pickup coil (green) sitting underneath the six strings (shown in orange). On the left, there's an end-on, cross-section of the pickup unit (looking down from the head of the guitar toward the bridge). You can see that Beauchamp has used a pair of horseshoe magnets, with their north poles (red) and south poles (blue) aligned and the strings threading between them. The pickup sits between the magnets under the strings. From US Patent 2,089,171: Electrical Stringed Musical Instrument by George Beauchamp (filed June 2, 1934, issued August 10, 1937). Artwork courtesy of US Patent and Trademark Office. Now you might not have heard of Beauchamp or the company he founded to capitalize on his neat idea, which was initially called Ro-Pat-In Corporation, then Electro String. Eventually, the company took the name of its president and cofounder, George's friend Adolph Rickenbacker and the rest, as they say, is history. Many others have built on Beauchamp's work since then, constantly trying to refine and improve the sound. Here's an improved pickup design by another guitar great, (Clarence) Leo Fender, from about a decade later:

Artwork: Improved Fender pickups from 1944. 1) A general view of a guitar with the pickup shown in blue and the strings colored orange. 2) An end-on view (looking down from the head toward the bridge) shows one version with a single pickup coil (green) spanning all six strings. 3) Looking from the side, you can see how the strings thread through the pickup coil. 4) In an alternative design, there are six separate pickup coils, one for each string. From US Patent 2,455,575: Pickup Design for Instruments by Clarence Leo Fender and Clayton Orr Kauffman (filed September 26, 1944, issued December 7, 1948). Artwork courtesy of US Patent and Trademark Office.

What are the main parts of an electric guitar?

Photo: The main parts of a Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. Photo by Bryant Kurowski courtesy ofUS Navy, with inset and annotations by Explainthatstuff.com. 1. Strap connected at base. 2. Tone controls for front and rear pickups. 3. Volume controls for front and rear pickups. 4. Bridge supports strings so they vibrate freely clear of case. 5. Case made from maple, rose, and mahogany woods. 6. Rear pickup. 7. Front pickup. 8. Rhythm/treble selector switch. 9. Fretboard with inlays made from mother of pearl. 10. Headstock. 11. Tuning pegs make strings looser or tighter to adjust pitch. 12. Small dots are magnets in pickups (see also inset photo to the right). 13. Pickguard (also called a scratch plate) protects wooden case from overly enthusiastic fingers plucking downward!