Abstract: An electrical pickup for a stringed musical instrument comprises a cylindrical permanent magnet and a coil surrounding the magnet and wound lengthwise thereof. The ends of the magnet are fixed to two rigid mounting wires, and the coil is wound on a former comprising a central tubular core and two parallel plates fixed to the tube on diametrically opposite sides thereof. The tube, and thus the former and coil as a whole, can turn on the magnet. The magnet is magnetized so that the magnetic poles thereof are positioned at diametrically opposite edges of the magnet, i.e. at the ends of a diameter of the circular cross-section of the magnet cylinder. Thus the former and coil can be turned between two positions 180.degree. apart in order to reverse the winding direction of the coil around the fixed magnetic axis H of the magnet.