Make A Guitar Pickup

Step 8 Finishing Touches

There are just a couple more things left to do!

After your pickup has totally cooled from the potting process, you can put the magnets on your pickup. The magnets you need are called neodymium magnets(they are also known as power magnets, or super strong magnets).

When you put them on you have to make sure their poles are all facing the same direction. You can check their direction using another magnet, of course. Super glue them in place when you're ready. This is easier said than done, though. Super strong magnets seem to go everywhere except the place you want them.

When you finish doing this, it's a good idea to wrap something around the coil to protect the fine wires. I like to use thread seal tape/ teflon tape because it's easy to remove if you need to fix your pickup.

And that's it! You're done!

Comments

[luneydude]

good instructable dude except for one thing; the washers you put on your pickup are to big for the screws which means it has to much wiggle room and you don't want that. It doesn't matter if its got the washer on it cause even though you got the washer on there and it maybe tight against the washer it can still wiggle. Just a little thing i learned from fixing stuff with my dad on the weekends. I'm not tryin to offend you or nothing i just thought i point it out.

[FurtherThanTesla]

I dont understand the magnets. Im building an electric violin, and i know my way around electriciy, but i cant see why adding magnets would change anything. could someone please explain?

[antoniofracchia]

What DK69 said is right, the bobin core must be magnetizad to sense the strings movement. you are probably confused if you know that a bobin whith an iron core works as a magnet, but it needs a AC to generate the magnetic field. in this case what you are doing is generate that AC by changing the magnetic field of the magnet by the vibration of a string.
and i would like to know haw it worked out to place a magnetic pickup on a violin, because i play the cello and i've heard that pick ups don't work well in this kind of instruments, but i have never seen one.

[DK69]

the magnets set up a stable magnetic field through the windings, the screws concentrate the flux lines beneath the individual strings, the strings(must be metal!) vibrate causing vibrations in the magnetic flux which is transferred to the coil of wire giving a voltage output, but this must go to a high impedance input(amplifier). Too low an impedance, like resistance will load the coil and reduce output, its all similiar to hor a generator works

[ghcmja]

Hello, I've made it, working OK, except I have a terrible hum.... What should I do? Do you made any shielding?

[jmart90]

did u use any kind of capacitor? if u wanted to u could wire a capacitor parallel to the entire circuit, or just parallel to the pickup and jack. if u use the right size, say a .02 microfarad for starters (work ur way up if there is still a hum), that should get rid of the humming sound...

[ghcmja]

No, I don't. I've connected it to the amp directly. My problem is solved by the stronger magnet, and the proper grounding. Proper grounding means, the whole negative supply of the amp is connected to the wall socket's earth. It is important to reduce hum. Without "earthing" the shield of the cable is invisible.

[ghcmja]

OK I know the answer for my q.: the magnets were very weak..... the stronger magnets are improve the output voltage dramatically. So don't forget to use a really strong magnet.

[quietthomas]

Um... you haven't actually said (that I can see) where to PUT the magnets when super gluing them on.

[jmart90]

he is going the "plain screws route", it is possible, but u wont get as strong of a signal...

[11richie21]

you super glue them to the nuts

[mrmerino]

ouch!

[byhalk]

Which orientation?

[Cpt. Caleb]

You mentioned at the begining we could use a bar magnet, that would just be placed over all the nuts. is there a sound difference?

[jmart90]

u dont have to use nuts, u could wind the wire right around the bar magnet or around several magnets, though it will sound the same even if u were to do the several magnet approach

[Zacharydmccrea]

You need to attach the pickup to an output jack and have some kind of string contraption (such as a guitar) to make the sound.

[ryerath]

how do you connect the pickup to an amp after all of this???????

[Zacharydmccrea]

You need to attach the pickup to an output jack and have some kind of string contraption (such as a guitar) to make the sound.

[rravenn]

i can't find this type of magnets but i have a very big strong magnet pole... can i just magnetize the screws or the metal?

[DK69]

No just magnetizing the screws wont work for this

[brandon9271]

I you use individual magnets you have to make sure they are all oriented the same way.  Easiest way is the stack them all together so they all stick to each other.  Then you know all poles are oriented the same way.  Then mark them with a sharpie.

[sarahzelman]

Does it matter which side is - and which is +

[brandon9271]

not really.. but if you were going to have it connected with other pickups they may not be "in phase" with one another. The middle pickup on a Fender strat is magnetically opposite with the other pickups but the wiring is also wound in the opposite direction. That way its still in phase with the other two pickups but any RF interference (aka hum) picked up by the middle pickup will be out of phase. That way when you combine two pickups the hum gets canceled out. This is how Gibson came up with the Humbucker. oh and BTW, magnetic polarity is measured north or south. so just get a cheap compass to tell you which way is which. OR you can sometimes find magnets that are labeled N/S http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/pickups.php

[sarahzelman]

Thank you, that helped a lot.

[swoot]

 hey guys i have a doubt 
look 
i can't find neoudymium magnets but a have a toys called magnetix 
¿i can use de magnet of magnetix toy or i can't use?

[fruitkid101]

You can find super strong magnets at Radio Shack but they are heavily over priced if you don t mind mail, there are cheap ones here. http://www.adafruit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=6&products_id=9&zenid=83f84294ca0c8a44ba7c8d2bb975ac42

[EvilD]

 Can i use the speakers magnets? I realy cant find these magnetss...

[ECC792]

Does anyone know where I may be able to find a couple of the pole style magnets?

[pyrotech25]

wallmart arts and crafts Called NEO BUTTONS 4 pack so get two

[mechaghostman2]

Is the wire connected to the magnets in any way, or is the wire just wrapped around it with the rubber still on it? And where do you pu the magnets? Do you just turn the screws into magnets? I have a lot of questions about the magnets?

[bobbyderf123]

about how many wraps of wire do you need to have? cause im afraid that if i dont have enough, there wont be enough resistance and ill short out my new amp. : )

[mechaghostman2]

5,000 wraps is about good.

[besttails]

hi! i have a question: what happens if i use some long strong magnets instead of the screws? (so i wont have to put magnets on screws but i'll just have a piece of screw coming out from the top of plastic) Will it work the same?

[Formatt]

Alot of single coil pups use Alnico 5 magnets as a cylinder.
They're magnetized after the pick up has been assembled.
You can find a lot of information on pick ups and really guitars in general at Stew Mac.
You can also buy poles and such from that site.
Though it's not as cool as doing it like this.
Possibilities are limitless!
Gave me some knowledge I needed for a project of my own. = D

[maxxxem]

You said in the beginning of the Instructable that you could use "Neodymium (super strong) magnets or one long bar magnet". If I where to use a long magnet would I lay it across the nuts?

[11richie21]

i think so

[Aleques!]

oh. and where do you get the copper wire? i cant find any copper wire above the gauge of 11....

[utfal]

u can get the copper wire even out of an electro magnet......that is out of an oldelectric bell or from an acquarium pump(if u hve fishes)lol

[killerguitarman249]

you can get copper wire at a hardware store like home hardware

[mthw_allen]

This might sound stupid, but where do the red and black wires go? On my pickups there is only one wire to plug into the pickup knob.