How to Make a Bass Pickup

This instructable will show you how to make a guitar pickup using neodymium magnets, a couple Popsicle sticks, and some wire. Total cost for this project will probably be less then $5 (depending on the materials you have available). The sound is surprisingly good and will serve you well. You can replace an existing pickup or add one to mix with your existing setup.

This instructable is specifically for bass, so there are four magnets required. For a guitar, obviously you will need six smaller ones. Also, it's good to have a bunch of extra magnets lying around as it will make the project go quicker.

Step 1 Materials

Materials Needed:

• A spool of insulated copper wire. Different gauges will produce different sounds, but you want something very thin.
• Two Popsicle sticks. These can be new or used.
• 8 neodymium magnets (2 for each string). These should be less then the width of the Popsicle stick. Again, different sizes will produce a different sound. You can see the rough size of what we used here.
• Gorilla Glue
• Some Wax/beeswax or potting epoxy

Notes

I used 42 gauge wire. You need to strip the ends before soldering them to your electronics. You can do this with your finger nail. If you dont have this around, it will raise the cost of your pickup by about $25.
The magnets I used were .32 or .37 in diameter and .2 tall.
A stronger magnet = hotter output and more high frequencies (better for guitar)

Note 2

You can do the same thing for a guitar, cept you will need 6 rod magnets.

Comments

[bman85]

what do you do for the ground?

[icepick244]

Could you use another material other than wood (popsicle sticks) something like metal or plastic?

[1spartan95]

Yeah, you could, but I want an excuse for eating 2 fudgesicles

[FinchbyFinch]

agreed on all accounts

[bassmonkey]

HI! stupid question, do you just need the extra 1 foot of copper wire to solder to your controls? If not could you explain how to attach the other necessary wires? Thanks!

[haysnail]

i prefer to use hot glue gun.

[haysnail]

is it the ear-phone magnets?

[svend]

were the maganets exposed or is that the wood in the holes of the pickup cover?

[Pedrojoca]

Those are some mad bass skills :D

[artistecher]

So, in the end you have removed  the magnets on the top?
Thanks

[food is goo1]

The magnets on the to were just to hold the pairs in the centre in place while they were being glued, i.e. to stop them all just jumping out of place and sticking to one another.

[efabric]

You have to make something to hold your pickup at the end of your drill. keep the wire roll far away. The wire won't twist or break  that way.  Press the button, it wraps-up nicely... and fast !

[Magnnus]

Do I have to keep the rows perfectly parallel when I wrap the wire

[stukatz]

what will happen if i use 34 guage wire at 5000 or 8000 turns , or do i need less turns ..................... thanks

[The Stumph]

Would if you criss cross the wire Would it effect the pick up?

[Jonny Appleseed]

my local radio shack has it theres also this place called lightning joes that carries all the supplise to make your own guitar- including wire all the way up to 52 guage wire for pickups

[FreudianLemur]

52 is incredibly thin, the thinnest I've heard of anyone using was 44 (the higher the number, the thinner the wire).

[Sparrow40k]

WOW! That would sound mad, my local stores highest is only 32 gauge.

[qballcat]

if it breaks you dont have to restart. just burn off the enamel off both ends and re-attach them with a inline splice and light to tea light so you can dip the splice in wax to seal it up

[maxxxem]

Did you use an entire spool when you made the pickup? 5000 to 8000 wraps? Are you sure, because I would and need 15,625 inches (1,302 ft) to wrap 1 pickup 5000 times for my 5 string. Just wondering

[maxxxem]

My bad My bad i mathed it wrong it would be double that 30 thoudsand inches like 10 dollars for a 6000 foot coil

[mthw_allen]

What are the blue and white wires made of?

[danthemanj1]

Would there be anything different you would have to do when you make a musicman bass pickup, or is it basically the same thing? Is there anything different you would have to do? Just curious, because I'm looking at buying a musicman style pickup and if I can make one, I would save myself a lot of money.

[FreudianLemur]

Musicman pickups are humbuckers which means you'd have to wind 2 coils. Look up more info on making humbuckers to see what I'm talking about.

[laminterious]

To be completely honest, I dont know. However, my gut says that you shouldnt have to do anything different. Take out the old pickup and check the widths... meaning, see if you need to use a flat magnet or more, or use bar magnets.

[gratewhitesmurf]

You say that different gauges of wire and different sizes of magnets make different sounds. How is the sound effected? Thinner wires make the sound more... what? Larger magnets do what to the sound? Thank you much.

[MrCakes14]

It has to do with the resistance of the windings, primarily. Thicker wire (lower gauge) has a lower resistance than thinner wire (higher gauge), but using more windings will also increase the resistance. A higher output pickup has a higher DC resistance then a low-output pickup, and vice-versa. Also, stronger magnets lead to more high-frequency response. Lastly, the height and width of the coil(s) can affect the tone (taller coils are 'clearer' and have less bass...). Hope that helps.

[legolaptop]

Can I use hot glue instead of wax?

[jdeanthecool]

Wow man pretty cool idea, You should totally sell em on eBay or something. Might make a pair just to test them out and use http://www.play-bass.com/online_bass_and_guitar_tuner.html to tune up cause I am tight and can't afford a tuner too haha.

[sgtstadanko]

do you leave the four magnets on top? If so are the four magnets on the top glued down or just held down by other magnets?

[annrrr]

Really awesome instructable. I admire your wire-winding patience, it inspires me. Please clarify something for me: Did you just use two magnets per string because of the size of what you had? If you had a taller cylinder magnet do you think that would be cool? (PS, sorry for the double comment, I share this computer.)

[Extremofile]

I'm tempted to give it a try, but i'll use neodymium magnets like these pups have:http://www.q-tuner.com

[Sgtraccoon]

Does the shape of the magnet have any effect on anything? Or, in other words, do the magnets have to be round or would I be able to effectively use square or block magnets.

[laminterious]

If you used square magnets completely, be careful with your first 300 revolutions as you wind. You have to make it tight, but the edges of the squared magnets *could* cause it to break without you knowing. As well as there could be some tonal differences due to the shape and the wire, but that shouldnt be of a concern if you male sure you have the wire touching all possible sides of the magnets , especially at the ends.

[8bit]

How was the tone in the new pickup different than the old one?

[laminterious]

What i used got be a bass that was able to hit the higher frequencies without getting tinny, but I wasnt hitting the lowest. If you see the comments below, I would use 32 guage next time. Compared to how it used to sound, I prefered the one that i made. it worked better with the amp. much clearer sound.

[RussianGun]

Hey nice instructables but i dont see the tops of the magnets in the pic do i put it on with the magnets facing down??

[laminterious]

No, they were just covered by the old cover that were used.

[jchot]

where is the cheapest place to get said magnet-wire? I haven't seen any for 25$.... hey laminterious, where did you get yours?

[laminterious]

Magnet-wire? Per the Materials... "A spool of insulated copper wire. Different gauges will produce different sounds, but you want something very thin" you just need insulated copper wire, available almost anywhere.