How can I make a simple electric guitar?

So I tried to make a very simple electric guitar today, using instructions from online. It was made from a board with two screws, a guitar string (steel) in between them, connected by copper wires on either screw to a small speaker. Under the string was a neodymium magnet. When I pluck the string, it says it should make a nice sound, however, I got no sound, and I verified with a multimeter that there was no voltage whatsoever. Here is a link to the discussion: http://www.mimf.com/archives/make_pickups.htm

Comments

[Re-design]

The voltage from a pickup is very small and not enough to pickup and display with a multimeter. It would display on an oscilloscope though.

You have to run the output from the pickup thru an amplifier to be able to hear sound from it.

[jeff-o]

you could try "plugging" it in to one side of a pair of earbud headphones. Otherwise, move the magnet closer to the wire to increase the magnetic field strength acting on the wire.