Flexible Printed Coil for Stringed Instruments

Traditional inductive pickups, such as those used in electric guitars, feature one or more permanent magnets surrounded by a wire coil. String vibrations cause the electromagnetic field to oscillate and induce a voltage in the stationary coil. The electric signal generated is then carried to a power amplifier and speaker. Unfortunately, the wire coils in the pickup often produce undesired feedback and need to be potted with wax or a polymer. In addition, manufacturing the coils involves winding copper wire, with the diameter of a human hair, around thousands of turns, which makes the process tedious, time consuming, and difficult to produce coils with identical shape and sound.

Researchers at Purdue University have developed a flexible, printed circuit board that emulates the wire coils of a traditional pickup. A conditioning circuit is also in place to ensure that the output signal matches that of a traditional pickup, but with greater sound quality and reliability. By eliminating the coil, the weight of the pickup is reduced and the manufacturing process is greatly simplified.

Advantages:

-Reduces undesirable feedback

-Greatly reduces weight of pickup

-Can be used in a larger range of stringed instruments

-Simplifies and reduces cost of manufacturing process

Potential Applications:

-Manufacturing

-Electrical Industry

TRL: 4

Intellectual Property:

Keywords: Flexible PCB pickup, printed circuit board pickup, inductive pickup alternative, electric guitar pickup, reduced feedback pickup, simplified manufacturing pickup, lighter weight pickup, stringed instrument pickup, coil-less pickup, guitar electronics