Abstract: A magnetic recording head for longitudinal rigid-disk recording is described. The recording head is characterized by an I-bar shaped magnetic core which is attached flushly along the side of a slider body. The core has a pole body section around which a wire coil is wrapped for inducing magnetic flux changes in the media during write operations and for sensing magnetic flux which emanates from the disk surface during readback operations. The I-bar design is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, mechanically durable and improves overall head performance.