Patent ID: 8907199

Claim:
A single coil magnetic pickup for detecting the vibration of the ferromagnetic strings of a musical instrument, the pickup comprising: a set of two or more self-magnetized string-sensing pole pieces, each pole piece in the set having an upper, string-sensing surface and an opposing lower surface; a wire coil linking a magnetic flux in all of the string sensing pole pieces in the pickup; a ferromagnetic plate comprising a hard ferromagnetic plate component that is fabricated from a hysteresis material, the ferromagnetic plate being positioned near the lower surfaces of the pole pieces in the set of pole pieces so that at least a portion of the flux in the set of pole pieces traverses the ferromagnetic plate; and a mounting structure that holds the set of pole pieces, the coil and the ferromagnetic plate in stable relative positions and enables the pickup to be mounted on the stringed musical instrument with the string-sensing surfaces of the pole pieces in the set of pole pieces in proximal relationship to the musical instrument strings.