Inter-winding Distributed Capacitance and Guitar Pickup Transient Response

TL;DR

This paper introduces a detailed electromagnetic model of guitar pickups that accurately reproduces the initial 30 milliseconds of transient response, addressing limitations of simple RLC models in capturing audible features.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel electromagnetic modeling framework linked to spectral graph theory, enabling precise transient response simulation beyond traditional simplified models.

Findings

Model reproduces the first 30 ms of transient response accurately

Connects electromagnetic details to spectral graph theory for analysis

Highlights limitations of simple RLC circuit models

Abstract

Simple RLC circuit models of guitar pickups do not account for audible features that characterize the pickup. Psycho-acoustic experiments reveal that any acoustically accurate model has to reproduce the first 30 milli-seconds of the transient response with extreme precision. The proposed model is impractical for simple-minded model reduction or brute force numerical simulations yet, by focusing on modeling electromagnetic details and exposing a connection to spectral graph theory, a framework for finding the transient response to sufficient accuracy is exposed.