Abstract: The present electromagnetic pickup and method, and the piano incorporating the pickup, make use of a protuberant magnetic pole piece portion which is so constructed and related that (a) the lines of magnetic force loop back therefrom, and (b) the concentration of such lines is sharply more dense on one side of such portion than on the other side thereof (the magnetic field adjacent such portion being therefore highly asymmetrical). The tine tip is caused to vibrate adjacent such portion, which produces in an associated coil a musical signal characterized by a high degree of brilliance and piano-like musicality -- without an excess of the second harmonic. The pole piece portion is preferably offset from the axis of the coil. Preferably, there are two such offset portions, spaced on opposite sides of the coil axis, and each has a peak shaped as a substantial point or edge.