Pickups & Pickup Selector Switch
Single-coil pickups and dual-coil pickups (humbuckers) convert your guitar’s string vibrations into an electronic signal that is processed by your amplifier.
Selector switches are used to quickly change between pickups or combinations of pickups. Typically switches are 3-way slotted, 5-way slotted or 3-way toggled. Series selections, typically found on humbucker models, combine two coils of full output. Parallel selections combine two coils to simulate a single coil while acting as a hum-canceling humbucker. Some guitars feature a push-pull volume control in place of a switch that allows for single pickup selections.