cheap and easy guitar pickups

Step 7 Yet another solenoid

if you notice most of the coils i have tried have come from solenoids.while im not sure where this one comes from it works too but its kind of tall for use as a guitar pick up
you would have to have one of this type centered beneath each string because its so narrow
the wider fat coils like the first one i showed covers two or three string easily
but you can wire multiples together to form a pickup to cover most any arrangement of strings. reversing the coil directions between one coil and the next is how a humburcker works .

Comments

[benrubish]

Actually I think if you looked at a humbucker setup top to bottom the coils would be wound in the same direction in relation to the strings and with the outputs connected on one side putting them in series. Then you use an output from each coil on the other side as your hot and ground. Usually doesn't matter which way you wire it but if it sounds terrible swap the hot and ground, this will change the phase shift a bit and clean up your sound. I think if your coils where wound in different directions and connected in series the frequencies would cancel each other out.

[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