Lipstick Pickup Core Inversion for Humbucking Phase Reversal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electromagnetic string vibration pickups for guitars and other musical instruments face challenges in maintaining humbucking circuits when the pickup is inverted, as the mounting system is flimsy and requires complex disassembly, and previous solutions either fail to reverse the coil connections or are inefficient.
Innovation Solution
A modified lipstick-style pickup core with electric contacts on the upper and lower coil form flanges and a housing with mating electrical contacts allows for manual removal, inversion, and reinsertion while maintaining the humbucking circuit's phase, ensuring the external hum signal remains unaffected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional pickup mounting system is used, then the pickup can be installed, but the mounting is flimsy and requires complex disassembly for inversion
Solution Approach 1:
The pickup is divided into separable components: a pickup core that can be removed from the housing, and a mounting structure with separate elements. This allows the core to be inverted independently while maintaining a stable overall mounting system, eliminating the need for complex disassembly of the entire pickup assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The pickup core is extracted as a removable component from the housing. The core can be taken out, inverted, and reinserted while the housing and mounting structure remain in place. This separation allows easy inversion without complex disassembly of the mounting system itself.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the pickup is inverted to reverse magnetic field polarity, then tonal variety is improved, but the coil connections must be reversed to maintain humbucking
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of reversing coil connections to achieve phase reversal, the invention inverts the magnetic core itself. The core contains interchangeable magnet assemblies that can be rotated or swapped to reverse magnetic polarity while the coil connections remain fixed, simplifying the circuit modification process.
Solution Approach 2:
The pickup core contains duplicate magnet assemblies or a magnet assembly designed to be rotated 180 degrees. This allows the magnetic field polarity to be reversed without changing the coil wiring, as the physical copy of the magnet can be repositioned to achieve the desired phase reversal.
3Ease of operation
If manual removal and inversion of the pickup core is enabled, then ease of operation is improved, but additional electrical contacts and housing modifications are required
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is designed with universal features: recesses that accommodate different core orientations, electrical contacts positioned to work with inverted cores, and a mounting structure that accepts the core in both original and inverted positions. This multi-functionality allows easy inversion without requiring multiple specialized components.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing is pre-configured with recesses and contact positions that anticipate the inverted core orientation. The electrical contacts and mounting features are arranged in advance to automatically align with the core whether it is in its original or inverted position, eliminating the need for complex adjustments during inversion.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design provides a robust and efficient method to invert the magnetic core field and string vibration signal phase, maintaining humbucking characteristics without the need for complex disassembly, thus offering a wider range of tonal characters and versatility in musical instruments.
Implementation Method 1
electro-magnetic string vibration pickups, primarily used in guitars and basses
Implementation Method 2
with each pickup responds equally to external electromagnetic fields
Implementation Method 3
electro-magnetic string vibration pickups
Data Source
AI summary
This invention discloses a pickup based upon the core of a common lipstick pickup for an electric stringed musical instrument with a core and housing, the core comprised of a magnet, coil form, and a wire coil connected to electrical contacts on the coil form, and a separate housing providing mounting to the body of the instrument and mating electrical contacts for that core, such that the core can be removed from the housing, flipped so as to reverse the magnetic field towards the strings, and reinserted into the housing, such that any humbucking circuit constructed with other matching pickups will remain humbucking.