Active Pickup
A pickup that uses an electronic preamp. Increases gain and tone shaping abilities, and reduces output impedance. The advantages are less noise ease of creating new tones, and no high frequency loss from using long cables. Particularly useful for producing a strong, noise free signal for driving multi-effects racks.

Calibrate, Calibrated Set
Each pickup in a set is wound to maintain a balanced output level when switching between the pickups. In a calibrated set the hotest pickup is in the bridge position and the middle pickup is RW/RP (see "RW/RP").

Classic Cover™
Duncan's process of taking one of their great humbucking pickups and double potting it, in a classic gold or nickel plated cover, for "squeal-free" performance.

D.C. Resistance
The resistance to the flow of Direct Current. It's a general indicator of the output and tonality. A higher d.c. resistance usually means more output and less brightness. For single-coils, a vintage d.c. resistance would be around 6.5 to 7k. High output single coils or single coil size humbuckers might have a d.c. resistance of 16k or higher. Humbuckers generally range from 7.3k for vintage tone to 16k or higher for a hot rodded tone.

Dun-Aged™
Seymour Duncan's process of providing custom and stablized magnetic fields in a pickup. Developed in Seymour's Custom Shop.

Epoxy Potting
After vacuum wax potting the coils, sometimes Duncan seals a pickup in epoxy to protect it from damage due to handling, exposure to the elements and normal use. Can also further reduce the tendency towards microphonic feedback in high gain situations.

Four-Conductor Wiring
Beginning and ending leads are terminated from each coil to a cable with a common shield. This allows for very cool wiring and switching configurations, such as series/split/parallel or splitting with coil selection in/out of phase with itself or in/out of phase with another pickup, etc.

Gauss
A unit of measure of flux density which describes the field strength of a magnet.

Ground
A common reference point in an electrical circuit.

Hum Canceling, Humbucker
Pickup design which consists of two coils wired together electrically out of phase and with magnetic polarities reversed. The effect of this configuration is to cancel 60 cycle hum and other higher frequency harmonics, and leave the string signal perfectly intact.

Impedance
The resistance to the flow of Alternating Current. In a passive pickup this figure is variable with frequency.

Milli Volt
One-thousandth of a volt. A pickup's output can be measured in millivolts. A typical passive pickup might have 100 to 300 mV output.

Ohms
The standard unit of electrical resistance. A pickup's d.c. resistance is usually measured in K/Kohms.

Out Of Phase
The electrical linking of two coils or two pickups in such a way as to provide at least partial cancellation of the signal. Think of two identical coils, one of which has its hot and ground reversed (opposite electrical polarity). With pickups wired out of phase, usually the low frequencies are canceled so the resulting sound is thin and sometimes brittle.

Parallel Wiring
The electrical linking of two coils in a series configuration is approximately 40% lower output but with added brilliance and clarity on the high end. A humbucker wired in parallel will sound somewhat like a single coil without losing its hum-canceling quality.

Parallel Axis™
Duncan's patented pole piece system that utilizes four separate small rectangular poles per string (except for the PA-TB1n Parallel Axis Stack, which has two per string). The poles are arranged in a configuration that decentralizes and softens the magnetic field providing smoother highs and greater sustain while minimizing string pull.

Passive Pickup
A type of pickup which uses no internal active electronic circuitry. Passive pickups have the advantage that their attack and overall tonality are more consistent with vintage tones and dynamics. In addition, they do not require a battery to function.

Phase
The relationship of two wave forms with respect to time.

Polarity
The relationship of positive and negative electric currents to each other.

Pole Piece, Non-Magnetic
A ferrous (containing iron and magnetically conductive) metal piece used to control, concentrate and/or shape a magnetic field. Pole pieces usually fall into two broad categories: adjustable and non-adjustable. The physical make-up of a pole piece will vary the magnetic field of the pickup. Generally a more massive pole piece will produce a broader field. Smaller or thinner pole pieces tend to produce a lower field intensity giving less output and a sharper attack. It is possible to combine two or more types of pole pieces in one pickup in order to achieve a subtle balance between attack, definition, and fullness.

Pole Piece, Magnetic
This refers to a pickup in which the axis of the magnet is aimed directly at the strings and the magnet itself is serving as the pole piece. You'll find these most commonly on vintage-style single coil pickups where Alnico rod magnets serve as pole pieces.

Resonant Peak
The frequency at which the impedance of a pickup is at its highest. Within any particular category of pickups, a higher resonant peak usually means a brighter, clearer sound.

RW/RP
Stands for Reverse Wind/Reverse Polarity. This refers to reversing the winding direction and magnetic polarity of one single coil pickup in a two or three pickup guitar. For instance, if the middle pickup in a Strat is RW/RP, you will get hum cancellation when you use that pickup together with either the neck or bridge pickups.

Series Wiring
The electrical linking of two coils in a series fashion producing a higher output, and a fuller and more powerful sound. This is the standard hookup for humbucking pickups.

Splitting, Split Pickup
The process of shorting out one of the two coils of a humbucker, thereby producing a single coil sound. Sometimes erroneously referred to as "tapping" a pickup.

Stack®
Duncan's patented technique of stacking two coils, one above the other, in order to cancel hum and noise but keep a single coil tonality and size.

Tapped Pickup
A coil which has two or more hot leads providing multiple output levels and tones. With a tapped pickup and a switch (like a push-pull pot or toggle), you can access both high-output and vintage output from the same pickup just by switching between the full wind and a reduced wind.

Transducer
Something that converts energy from one form to another. A pickup is a transducer because it converts string vibrations into an electrical signal.

Trembucker™
Duncan's name for a full-size humbucker with wider pole-to-pole spacing for use on many guitars with tremolos or wider string spacing.

Volt
A unit of electromotive force which causes a current of one ampere to flow through a resistance of one ohm.

Wax Potting
A method of saturating a pickup in a wax to hold the coil and any mechanical parts absolutely rigid. This is done to prevent microphonic feedback. Duncan uses a very cool proprietary vacuum wax potting method to insure that any air "voids" inside the pickup get replaced with wax. Just another reason why Seymour Duncan rules!