Guitar
I made a pickup that sits vertically between the strings. Since the bass is two stringed, the pickup picks up one string from each side. It works well, but I have to keep it towards the bridge end, otherwise the strings will hit it.
It is made from an acrylic sewing machine bobbin wound (on a sewing machine) with a very thin copper wire: 0,05 mm which is somewhere in the neighbourhood of AWG44. This wire is thin as human hair and very prone to snapping... it happened more than once, but I've learned to handle the delicate wire.
I measured the DC resistance to 2,3 Kilo Ohm. I'm not sure how much I can deduct about its impedance from that information, but it's only around one fourth of the resistance of the humbucker that I used earlier.
The center of the bobbin contains a stack of small neodymium magnet discs and iron cylinders. This allows me to vary the magnetic force by replacing an iron disc with a magnet if I want it stronger - and vice versa, of course.
I can rest my hand on the pickup while playing, but sometimes it's in my way. Still, I usually find my way around it and I really like the simplicity of having one small coil picking up both strings. I might recess it a bit into the aluminium and I might abandon it in favour of a more traditional pickup, but overall, I'm quite satisfied.
BTW, I also made two tuning screws from ordinary screws fixed in oak dowels with epoxy glue. They have just adequate friction against the fingers, but they'll have to do until I get a couple of knurled nuts. Still, compared to using a screwdriver when tuning, it's a great improvement.
- Hofner Pickup Re-wind
I had a visit from Paul Crowther the other day (always a pleasure to see him). He's rather a legend for amongst other things his 'Hotcake' overdrive pedals and the 'Prunes and Custard' (my favorite for theremin). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emlyn_Crowther...
- Pickup Winding
I often have people bringing me faulty pickups. Sometimes it turns out there's just a loose wire and simply needs re-soldering. But sometimes the pickup needs re-winding.With humbuckers its only usually one coil in which case I can measure the working...
- Reducing Hum - Screening
It is very common for electric guitars with single coil pickups to hum. Humbucking (double coil) pickups get their name from their ability to get rid of hum. A typical 'Strat' pickup will have over 7000 turns of wire on it. I've never worked...
- Strat Pick-up Height
I come accross Strats and Teles a lot - I'm a Fender player myself. Its very common for the pick-up height to be adjusted incorrectly. Its something that's easy to sort out and can make a big difference to your sound. If the pick-up is too...
- A Sliding Pickup
There has been several attempts - by for example Westone and more recently Norton Guitars - to make a pickup that can be moved to the areas of the strings where different antinodes and their corresponding overtones are located. This gives you the sound...
Guitar
A vertical pickup
I made a pickup that sits vertically between the strings. Since the bass is two stringed, the pickup picks up one string from each side. It works well, but I have to keep it towards the bridge end, otherwise the strings will hit it.
It is made from an acrylic sewing machine bobbin wound (on a sewing machine) with a very thin copper wire: 0,05 mm which is somewhere in the neighbourhood of AWG44. This wire is thin as human hair and very prone to snapping... it happened more than once, but I've learned to handle the delicate wire.I measured the DC resistance to 2,3 Kilo Ohm. I'm not sure how much I can deduct about its impedance from that information, but it's only around one fourth of the resistance of the humbucker that I used earlier.
The center of the bobbin contains a stack of small neodymium magnet discs and iron cylinders. This allows me to vary the magnetic force by replacing an iron disc with a magnet if I want it stronger - and vice versa, of course.
I can rest my hand on the pickup while playing, but sometimes it's in my way. Still, I usually find my way around it and I really like the simplicity of having one small coil picking up both strings. I might recess it a bit into the aluminium and I might abandon it in favour of a more traditional pickup, but overall, I'm quite satisfied.BTW, I also made two tuning screws from ordinary screws fixed in oak dowels with epoxy glue. They have just adequate friction against the fingers, but they'll have to do until I get a couple of knurled nuts. Still, compared to using a screwdriver when tuning, it's a great improvement.
- Hofner Pickup Re-wind
I had a visit from Paul Crowther the other day (always a pleasure to see him). He's rather a legend for amongst other things his 'Hotcake' overdrive pedals and the 'Prunes and Custard' (my favorite for theremin). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emlyn_Crowther...
- Pickup Winding
I often have people bringing me faulty pickups. Sometimes it turns out there's just a loose wire and simply needs re-soldering. But sometimes the pickup needs re-winding.With humbuckers its only usually one coil in which case I can measure the working...
- Reducing Hum - Screening
It is very common for electric guitars with single coil pickups to hum. Humbucking (double coil) pickups get their name from their ability to get rid of hum. A typical 'Strat' pickup will have over 7000 turns of wire on it. I've never worked...
- Strat Pick-up Height
I come accross Strats and Teles a lot - I'm a Fender player myself. Its very common for the pick-up height to be adjusted incorrectly. Its something that's easy to sort out and can make a big difference to your sound. If the pick-up is too...
- A Sliding Pickup
There has been several attempts - by for example Westone and more recently Norton Guitars - to make a pickup that can be moved to the areas of the strings where different antinodes and their corresponding overtones are located. This gives you the sound...