Of all the guys who do cool How-To projects on RU-vid, you are the most Knowledgeable and can actually solder right. You have gained my respect wich is saying a lot.
Can't thank you enough for this video Dean. I wanted to add a modification to my strat type guitar for playing pub gigs here in UK. I had been searching for a small pickup (to cover 2 strings only) to no avail. Now, thanks to you, I can wind my own. The resulting signal will be sent through a pitch shift pedal and on to a bass amp. This will enable me to add bass, while backing guest singers, or busking a request song. Thanks again, I have subscribed.
I reall think that this has been the most helpful explanation of the whole process of making a pick up. THe bit with the white board at the beginning was really helpful and I now feel like a fully understand how a pick up works. A lot of other tutorials made it look pretty difficult also your method of wainding the wire onto the pick up was genius haha! Excellent video man!
Very cool DIY on how pickups are made and how to make them. I love your single string guitar! It sounds like it belongs in a southern outback woods hillbilly setting! :)
@rsusummoner Thanks... and, yes I did consider using a neodymium magnet. That was my first choice but I couldn't seem to find one in time so I simply used what was on hand. :)
Nice man, i love how you actually gave some of the science behind it. Helped me understand the concept a LOT better. And what was the altoid can you plugged into?
yeah you would want a piezo pickup for that. electric strings are pretty cheap though. im gonna try with a broken one. Ive got a hard drive magnet that is gonna completely ruin my sustain but its still worth a try!
Great job. The only thing I'd do differently is to leave the bolt attached until after the hot glue is used to seal the coils - might save a few burnt fingers?
@Broommaster2000 It will work and have it's own unique sound. You should experiment with placement in relation to he bridge as well. Lot's of difference in tone near the bridge vs neck. :)
@GenericPurpleTurtle Yes it has to be "magnet wire" which has a very thin enamel coating to insulate it. The thin coating allows the wires to be wound very close to each other which is important for the induction effect. Radio Shack sells this wire as do other electronics supply sources. Search for "magnet wire". :) Good luck.
I was wondering.... if you have played around with different strengths and types of magnets and would tell me how the end result affects the sound. that would be awesome. great video. thank you
Great video! very informative. I was wondering if you could show us how to build a sustainer driver and circut as well. love all the videos ive watched so far really fun stuff.
@hemax1000 The key to a good sounding pickup is to have coated enamel wire wrap around a magnet, the wire has to be fairly tight and for a better sounding pickup you want to randomize the spooling. You might not have enough wire wound or might have too much or a bad magnet. I would check first the connection to the amp.
Very informative - thank you! I was looking for good, simple instructions for DIY pickups for my new foray into cigar box guitars. Best part of this project at 12:08 -- it goes to 11!!
Does this pickup handle distortion or OD well? I understand that you may not have tested it, but I'm just wondering. This looks it'd come in very handy on the go!
I enjoyed this very much and it was the first time it was did and explained that even a novice like me could understand. Thanks. I would like to make a set for a 3 string guitar so how would you make an under and through for a 3 string? Thanks again, Jim
Hello, Perfect sound! But I have a question. Do You have something between pickup and amp? Which cable is used and how to connect this pickup to amp, please? Thanks
hey man, great vid, has anyone suggested dipping the pickup in wax to seal it, rather than hot glue, I'd imagine it would be easier to remove if you needed to repair the coils
this is great. I found some old elevator switches from an elevator. the electro magnets have a very nice gauge of copper wire i can wind around some monster headphone magnets i found. My question is , can i use uninsulated copper wire for the coil?
ive asked about this before, all I was really told was that it would depend on it the pickup its in, but its not advised in any as its a reaaaally strong magnet and the pull on the strings may cause unwanted noise and lack of definition.
thanks! that is awesome. i need to make a pickup for an upright bass neck, it has to be rounded on top a bit to the curve of the fretboard. if i used 4 magnets for the bass, does the magnet wire have to go around all 4 pickups at once or can i wind each magnet individually then proceed to wire them together in series?
Since watching this excellent video, I am wondering why some pickups fail? Is it a break in the wire, or the coating has come off in areas? What would be the most common reasons and logical steps to repair? Thanks!
magnet wire to thick ? use .38 AWG or thinner. a broken wire would cause a fail, but if you have a Ohm meter, you can check for resistance, if there is no resistance then the wire is infinately open.. or prolly broken. damaged enamel coating ? if two adjacent wires both had exposed areas & were touching it could lower the resistance . if your using metal plates or pole pieces , ect. the exposed copper could be shorting to ground. but this can be tested with an Ohm meter. are you connecting the 2 wires from the pup thru a pot or other routing, or strait to a female TS 1/4" mono jack ? these pups are called passive & are concidered "High-Z" or high impedance so the actual electrical signal will be very small ( millivolts) so they wont work going into a line level input without a preamp. so a real guitar amp is needed , as they actually contain the preamp in them, although, my powered PA system has 2 dedicated High-Z input channels that could be used. and i think the powered karaoke machines would work as a microphone is also High-Z , as ive seen some mic inputs use 1/4" mono. also if you had a cheapo guitar effects pedal like a distortion or overdrive, they would probable boost the signal up to line level to plug into , lets say an old set of powered computer speakers. and lastly.. the magnets themselves have a north & south pole , the magnetic field flux travels from the N. to the S. if using more than one magnet, make sure the orientation is correct in relation to the copper windings & the METAL guitar strings... lorentz's law covers the tech'y stuff if you need to look it up. if the mag. field flux is traveling in a vertical motion around from N. to S. , then the windings should be at 90 degrees wrapping horizonal thru the mag. flux field in order to disrupt the most electrons out of thier valence . and the strings should be 90 degrees purpendicular to the copper windings...and also the strings , moving & at rest, should reside within the mag. flux field.... i hope this gives you a little help... and you can look up the electromotive force & electromagnetic force laws by the great guys like; lorentz , maxwell, lenz, faraday, tesla, ohm, henry, among others.. 😎🤟🏻
So, from looking at this and some other things I saw on this subject, you can also coil the wire around a bunch of screws, and then glue some of those lil' magnets on top of them? What would happen if I made two "half" pickups and position them slightly angled, one in slot one and one in slot three (leaving slot 2 open for something else)?
Could you please help me out with this situation? I took apart a single coil to rewire, but I forgot where the two colored( red and white) wires connect to. I know the ground goes to the metal base of the pickup, but not sure of the other two. Thank you, Michael.
Hi. I would try to build an axe pickup using either a magnet bar on the bottom of the bobbin or steel poles inside the coil; but I don't get about two points: #1 what other parts should need to get magnetized; magnet bar with non-magnetic slugs is sufficient enough or is it mandatory get magnetized slugs too? #2 what kinda metal should I use as slugs? a non-magnetic metal or a magnetic one? thanx
Love old T-top Gibson pickups they have an airy sound i can't find any where, is it due to being not wax potted ??? and heard if a pickup is made popularly in the 1st place they wouldn't need wax potted ??
Does the magnet have to be a really strong magnet (like neodymium) or can it be slightly weaker, like a ceramic magnet? Would the magnetic range be too weak, and the pattern not pick up enough of the string?
Think electromagnet, if you've ever built one, it wont work without insulation. If you dont have enamel coated wire you could spray paint it, technically.
@HackaweekTV As a matter of fact, I am finding out. I am building a couple of different ones as we speak. I'm making a low wide one, and a tall one. :D
I just made a 6 string pick up from some alnico magnets. I'm getting a really weak signal. Occasionally I get a sound from the higher pitched strings, but usually there's only silence. What do I do??
