Make A Guitar Pickup

Step 9: It Is Time!

This is the crude rig I use to test my pickups since I don't have a spare guitar to ruin.


Also on this page is a picture of another pickup I made.

Comments

[Cpt.Stripes]

What kind of sound did you get when you put it on the acoustic?

[Leperello Mikesiah]

I'll have to record a video so people can hear what it sounds like since I don't have a microphone or anything. I'll try and get that done soon, just need to find the time!

[Kiteman]

Any news on the video yet? I'm trying to decide between buying a pickup for a project, or making one.

[jenorm1497]

Do you know where can I find neodymium magnet ?

[Kiteman]

Ebay always has them.

[Axtklinge]

Very interesting project! It would be cool if you could show us how it sound! A.

[Sparrow40k]

I Agree, how does it sound? Video would be great!

[neo01124]

Hey great article!!
I built a pickup according to this and it sounds great.
But after the first day there was a terrible hum, i redid all the soldering rechecked all the visible points for any breaks in winding.
What could be causing this sudden buzz??

[jmart90]

u need some sort of capacitor parallel to the entire circuit, i told ghcmja to start smaller in microfarads, then work your way up if there is still a hum

[fret tech]

in reality, though good for some basic info, this is not the realistic way to create a truly viable working guitar pickup. the required materials, build, design "recipe" and tooling for a superb real guitar pickup would take it out of the cheapo diy realm. all that said, humbuzz from a working single coil pickup is expected, since the coil is a transducer that will ferret out 60 cycle hum and radio signals. the amount of humbuzz is related to the pup's orientation with regards to signal interference. if the pickup works - i.e., induces a signal from a vibrating steel string - the noise level will be based on many things, from materials to design to build to usage. it's also possible that the coil has shorted out, effectively reducing the number of coil turns.

[neo01124]

Acrually the end connections were not proper, I think that was causing the massive buzz.
But I disagree when you say that this pickup is not realistic.
Here are some sound samples from a pickup I made exactly according to this procedure
http://soundcloud.com/neo01124/sets/pickup-test

Here is a raw recording
http://soundcloud.com/neo01124/pickup_raw

I have placed the pickup on a $50 acoustic guitar. It sounds OK for the relatively little amount of effort that went into it.

[fret tech]

*EVERYTHING* about guitars (or most anything else in life) is subjective. if yer happy with the tone of yer pickup, well by goll that's super good!!!

[neo01124]

True!!

[jrg3ni0us]

Is there a way I could wire the pickup to an electric guitar jack

[jmart90]

u could wire it directly to a plug, but i would use this schematic here=> http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/electric-guitar1.htm

[Formatt]

Now here's a question.
Say I didn't bother with poles and instead slotted a neodymium (or other) bar magnet in to the bobbin and wound directly on to it.
I'd presume that this would result in a pickup but would there be an adverse and intolerable effect on sustain?
I could certainly see it affecting the strings as such but who knows really?

[fret tech]

there is "recipe" for building *good* single coil pups - this applies to materials, design and process. deviating from "vintage" formulas can be fun stuff, but it's all pioneering and the results can range from horrible to spectacular. there are a number of pup designs that employed wrapping wire directly to bar mags. mags are essentially alnico, ceramic or neodymium - each of these come in a variety of "flavors", and all of this will affect the finished pup's tone and output. so many variables to deal with .....

[Formatt]

Ah, pay no attention to me.
It just occurred to me that bar magnets are typically magnetized through the thickness not the width.
I'd have deleted the comment to save me the egg on my face but some fellow out there may be wondering the same thing sometime.

[themadtreky]

i was looking at pictures of a "mini-humbucker" I might be wrong, but it looked like it had two bobbins wound around bar magnets, the placed on either side of a row of slugs.

[Formatt]

 Similar idea but not the same.
That would work because it's essentially the same as putting the magnets on the bottom.
The N or S is still the same across the poles.
In my scenario the magnet was the poles and both N and S would be acting on the string.
Which may be a problem?
I'm not sure.

[DK69]

Yea you are basically right, it would cause major problems with many aspects of a pickup, drastically affect the sustain, harmonics, string vibration, resonant frequency, just about everything. The screw acts as a flux concentrator creating a sorta bump of flux lines beneath each string, the screws side by side sorta squeeze these bumps together making them more narrow, but extending them further outward and the string passes through the flux field. Your idea of a bar magnet is not as bad as you thought, but also not the best, but magnets CAN be polarized not only end to end but side to side as well, thing is, the flux it more outward in the middle and would really affect the outer strings. Just for curiosity sake, a ring magnet or donut shaped magnet can be made with multiple alternating poles on outer edge, it has to be a multiple of 2, like N&S, or a 4 pole N,S,N,S or an 8 pole is NSNSNSNS, they use these to measure turns or 1/4 turns or speed etc... along with magnetic sensors such as hall effect switches, HEY I just had an idea a linear hall effect electronic guitar pickup??? Its theoretically possible! Thanks for making me think LOL

[ski4jesus]

you dont have to have a microphone to record, the guitar IS the microphone. just plug your guitar into the amp, then plug the amp into your computer in the microphone input. then open the program "recorder"(the name varies on computers, but it is a default program) and record it into a file then post the file. good luck, ima try this when i get a chance haha

[GuitarPIayer]

Can you give me a little more detail on how to make the "crude rig"? (like what materials you used and how to put them together) I want to make one without ruining my guitar also :)

[DK69]

One easy thing to do to check that the pickup works, take a Guitar cord, plug it into your amp, the other end I would use 2 small gauge jumper wires (auto jumper cables too cumbersome LOL), or tape 2 wires, one to the other end of cords tip, and one to the shaft of plug, make sure tip and shaft are not shorted though (it wont harm anything,it just wont work) then the two wires or jumper wire clips should be connected to the pickup, make sure if magnet wire coating is removed, if regular hookup wire remove insulation, connect the wires/jumper clips from guitar cord to pickup, turn on amp, adjust to normal to slightly high volume, maybe increase gain, and hold a cell phone to pickups, you should hear a tic toc,,, from the internal clock when phone is on, or make a phone call with it against pickup, its cool! But this will NOT assure you didnt reverse 1 magnet or something even so it wont hurt, more or less it proves the pickup has no breaks internally and no major bad shorts, the ultimate test IS still connecting to a guitar, or holding the setup rig over guitar strings with hand and strumming! Its cool try it! Even with a regular guitar and amp hold your cell phone up to a pickup with amp on! HAVE FUN, AND many thanks to Leperello Mikesiah for publishing this article

[Leperello Mikesiah]

I used speaker wire and attached the leads from the pickup to that. Then I attached the other end of the speaker wire to a 1/4 plug (the real name of it is escaping me at the moment...you can see it in the picture, it's the black thing). It's one of those that you don't have to solder. Then I plugged it into my amp, held the pickup over my guitar and strummed a bit, and it worked. I know this isn't the best explanation, let me know if anything needs clearing up. xD

[DK69]

1/4 inch mono phone plug, preferably shielded and again thanks for taking the time to publish this and answer so many questions, if only we could live as long as this article will : ) your name will be remembered forever now! take care, Dwayne Kimak

[Glockenator]

how do you keep it mounted to the guitar?

[schecterdevil666]

You can either direct mount it by screwing it into the body or use a pickgaurd and springs.

[Glockenator]

Yeah, I guess that would make sense

[BOOJAN]

this would fit in great on my project for making electric guitar at home....i just need to find how to make the guitar neck....and everything will be 100% home made...

[la-main]

maybe this is useful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_jg6p6LhVE

[blrosenberg]

You never said when or where to use the magnets

[Leperello Mikesiah]

it's on step 6. :)