Are hum-canceling pickups just humbuckers?

It's a common question we hear from guitarists and bassists alike: "Are hum-canceling pickups just humbuckers?" This is a great question, and it's something we feel can be a bit misleading in the world of pickups. While all humbuckers are designed to cancel hum, not all hum-canceling pickups are humbuckers. Let's dive into the details! The Original Humbucker

The name "Humbucker" was first coined by Seth Lover and Gibson back in 1957. They introduced the Les Paul guitar with dual-coil, hum-canceling pickups which they famously called the Humbucker. We also know them as the PAF (Patent Applied For) humbucker, which has become the quintessential humbucker sound that countless pickup makers strive to mimic.

Humbuckers work by using two coils wired together. Each coil acts like an antenna, picking up external interference, often referred to as 60-cycle hum (or 50-cycle in some parts of the world). To combat this, the two coils in a humbucker are designed with reversed winding direction and opposite magnetic polarity. This ingenious design allows the hum signals to cancel each other out, while the signal from your strings remains strong and in phase.

Beyond the Humbucker: Other Hum-Canceling Designs

Here's where the distinction becomes important. While humbuckers are a specific type and shape of a dual-coil, hum-canceling pickup, they aren't the only pickup to achieve hum cancellation. In fact, the very first hum-canceling guitar pickup for stringed instruments was actually invented by Arnold Lesti in 1935 and patented way back in 1936, long before the Gibson Humbucker!

Today, there are several ways to achieve hum cancellation in pickups:

• Split-Coil Pickups: A classic example is the Fender Precision Bass, which introduced a split-coil, hum-canceling pickup in 1957. This design splits a single coil into two segments, with each segment wired to cancel hum.
• Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity (RWRP) Single Coils: Many single-coil pickup sets (like those found in Stratocasters) feature an RWRP middle pickup. When you combine this pickup with either the neck or bridge pickup (positions 2 and 4 on a Strat selector), the two pickups work together as a hum-canceling pair. This gives you that classic "quack" while simultaneously reducing hum.
• Stacked Coils: Some hum-canceling pickups achieve their effect by stacking two coils vertically. This allows for hum cancellation while maintaining a smaller footprint, often to fit into a single-coil routing.
• Dummy Coils/Active Systems: Other methods involve using a "dummy" coil that picks up hum but not the string signal, or active circuitry that inverts and subtracts the hum. These designs can offer hum cancellation while aiming to preserve a more "single-coil" tone.

The Sonic Differences

While the primary goal of all these designs is to eliminate hum, they often have different sonic characteristics compared to traditional single-coil pickups.

• Humbuckers: Generally known for a fatter, more powerful, and often more compressed tone. They tend to have a strong mid-range presence and less high-frequency sparkle than a true single coil.
• Hum-Canceling Single-Coil Style Pickups: Modern versions like the Brickhouse Toneworks P-90 have led to hum-canceling pickups that get so incredibly close to the open and dynamic tone of a true single coil it can be almost impossible to distinguish the difference. 

In conclusion, while humbuckers are a very popular and effective form of hum-canceling pickup, the term "hum-canceling" encompasses a broader range of designs. If you're looking to eliminate that annoying hum from your rig, we have more options than just the classic humbucker!