Shielded Coils...Purpose?

Mrkensei

Mrkensei

New member
I've bought a LOT of pickups in my time, from a number of makers, however i noticed something that appeared weird yo me when I installed my Nazgûl/Sentient set.

Underneath the black tape round the windings there appears to be a copper foil shield round each coil. The two shield are connected by a really fine buss wire.

I doubt its unique to these pickuos but it's the first time I've ever seen it. Any clues why each coil is individually shielded in this way?
 
Re: Shielded Coils...Purpose?

It's to reduce RFI (Radio Frequency Interference). The shield is grounded and that creates a farraday cage around the coil to reduce interference. Sometimes only one coil is shielded if that coil will be the one that is most often used for coil splitting.
 
Re: Shielded Coils...Purpose?

Ta, i had assumed that was the purpose, same as with the other shielding in the guitar, but i've never seen it done this way before.
 
Re: Shielded Coils...Purpose?

Original Gibson Dirty Fingers humbuckers from the Eighties had copper screening around the bobbins. (One piece surrounding both rather than individual screening per coil.)
 
Re: Shielded Coils...Purpose?

You don't need it for shielding if you do humbucking anyway. It would do nothing.

The (one?) reason why this changes the sound is eddy currents. It's a bit like a humbucker cover but closer to the coils. The positioning probably matters. There are also pickups that have this inside the coil.
 
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