Abstract: A surface finish, displacement and contour scanner comprising an arm with a stylus pivotally attached to a housing, and a transducer with a blade attached to the arm and an E-shaped ferrite core mounted to the housing. The arm is biased with the stylus out of the housing. The high permeability blade moves outside of the core, relative to the open faces of the three legs of the core. The blade is a flux carrier changing the coupling between the primary winding and the secondary windings, controlling the secondary windings output signals. The blade has a section adjacent to and completely covering the primary leg face, and two sections adjacent to the secondary leg faces. In the null position, both leg faces are half covered so that the secondary windings outputs are the same. As the stylus moves, the area of one secondary leg face covered by the blade increases as the other decreases, changing the secondary winding output signal in opposite directions.