cheap and easy guitar pickups

here is a little tutorial about improvised guitar pickups
made from easy to find junk

Step 1 Pickup basics

simply a guitar pickup is just a coil of insulated copper wire with a magnet in the center.
most things that seem simple dont always turn out this way but here is an exception(sort of).
now im not recomending that you rip the pickups out of your strat and replace them with the herein mentioned contraptions. but if your building a diddly bow or a frankenstein guitar or just looking to make a new noise then thise is for you

Comments

[acdc126]

[spark light]

[abadfart]

try i lipstick pick up like in a old telie

[freeza36]

tele you mean

[abadfart]

ya sorry auto correct strikes again

[freeza36]

nah its good

[pfred1]

I thought humbuckers had coils wound in different directions over each other? Although that is just something I have read several times, I have never had the occasion to actually dissassemble a guitar pickup yet. I'll have to keep my eyes open at garage sales for some dollar instruments I guess. I've changed some pickups, and rewired some guitars, just never bothered ripping a pickup apart yet. Humbuckers do have 3 wires coming out of them though as I can recall. It is good to leave one of the wires detached, in case you ever forget the words!

[lennyb]

most humbuckers have the two coils side by side but wound in different directions . some are stacked one coil on top of the other{although that may be just something i heard . ive never seen one like that} the coils need to be separated a little bit so they dont counteract each other. im not sure if those makeshift pickups would work as a humbuckers but its worth a crack if you try it and it works let us know. if i try it ill post it later

[lesgibbs]

a humbuckers got two single coil pickups wound in the same direction but sharing a magnet there for using opposite poles to cancel out the humm.

[lennyb]

ahh so thats how it works.
my apologies to anyone i might have confused.

[jphoton]

do not mess with coils from tv picture tubes!! tv's can store THOUSANDS of volts even after being unplugged for YEARS!! there's far better safer sources!! ;)

[Kiteman]

The coils don't store the charge, capacitors do, but it's still good advice to wear gloves and then use an old screwdriver to short things out before you play.

[lennyb]

crt tubes themselves can also hold a charge for a long time.i got a good zap from one 30 years ago my arm was numb for hours.
lucky it didnt kill me
always wear insulating gloves when handling them.
once the tube has been safely discharged you can handle it then

[DrThousand]

I like coils from old TV sets, The older the better. If you find an old tube set in the alley, grab it before I do. There are a lot of coils in the old sets, but my favorites are on the neck of the picture tube. The adjustment (convergence) coils are the ones I'm after. They come in 3 sets of 2, 3 sets 'cos they use 3 colors. This gives you one pickup per string, which is exactly what you want for MIDI guitar. If you want hexaphonic fuzz (1 fuzz per string so the strings don't interfere with each other), this is the way. Note that the coils are mounted on ferrite cores, which are very hard, or should I say brittle. Ferrite is a kind of ceramic which will yield to a determined person with a cut off wheel in their Dremel. Just put the whole thing on a piece of magnet. I like the ceramic ones on the back of dead speakers or inside microwaves. More ceramic shaping, but at least you'll learn a new skill.

[Gergory]

A quick note:

DO NOT OPEN A TV WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

The cathode ray tube can carry enough voltage to kill you even years after the TV has been unplugged. I strongly advise heavy research before you pop open an old TV or, best of all, avoidance of it altogether. (This doesn't apply to newer, LCD, plasma, etc. sets but I would still take caution.)

[lennyb]

indeed the CRT can hold a charge of thousands of volts for years.
i learned this myself the hard way many years ago.
take all precautions while hunting for useful coils {insulated gloves come to mind} do not touch the neck and side contacts {cathode and anode} at the same time, thats how i got zapped.

[charles.david.sutherland]

the best way to disharge a CRT is to take a lead with an alligator clip and a 1 ohm resistor arrangement and short it out on a ground strap from the cup attached to the picture tube. You should hear a loud pop and perhaps see some arcing when this occurs. You could repeat the procedure to be absolutely sure no charge remains. the problem of CRT's are that it has capacitors with high values, once these loose their charge, it should be plain sailing. Also of hazard is mercury in the tube that could leak if the tube is old or compromise is some way.

[chrisreeve]

Surely if you are taking the tv apart anyway, you could just throw a bucket of water over it. I'd think that should short out and ground any voltage left?

[charles.david.sutherland]

water, not advisable, you could still shock yourself.

[Lazy Ape]

do you have any instructables?

[crankflip]

Well, I found one out in the woods! how cool is that! :P

[DjProToJeeX]

i beat you to it last week for that teebee

[mzpo]

D835==>

[Jack HUmmer]

nice crack man... i cant wait ti try these for myself... keep rocking....long live!!!! =D

[mateolegba]

Great!!! Looking for a coil!!! Buenisimo, felicitaciones!!!! Gracias!

[johnnyx9]

Do you know if a newdymium n50 magnet would be too strong?

[lennyb]

im not familiar with the size and strength of that magnet.
but it should still work.
though if the magnet is hugely strong it may dampen down the vibration of the strings some .
let us know if you try it and how it works.

[musicman]

hi michael here iv got the pickups made but i dont know how to wire then in to the guitar and everything else.can you please healp me.

[lennyb]

sure micjael all you need to do is install a 1/4 inch guitar jack and wire it to the ends of wire coming from the pickup i will email to you a diagram that shows the usual configuration. and while those are more complicated than you need it will tell you exactly howit is done.

[beatlemack]

Mack here. Could you also send me the diagram or post it online?

[ckurcon]

so could i just get any magnet and wrap some copper wire around it and use it as a pickup? im trying to make a diddley bow and just need something really cheap to use as a pickup

[drummer_on_fire]

What did you put the pick up on? is it a homemade electric stick guitar or stick bass?

[lennyb]

you mean in the last picture? that was on a homemade diddly bow. its one string slide guitar commonly used to play blues. as in the famous song ' im too poor to afford a real guitar blues" lol

[catter44]

where can u listen to that ' im too poor to afford a real guitar blues" song

[lennyb]

sorry mate i just made that up. be a cool song though. id write it except it would eat .

[catter44]

lol

[mattyuke]

Could you take a smallish speaker and use it??

[lennyb]

i suppose you could although a earphone bud will work better.

[zourza]

can you use magnet wire?

[lennyb]

sure if its the laquered type