How To Make a Guitar/Bass Pickup
In this guide we will show you how to make a guitar pickup using neodymium magnets, a couple Popsicle sticks, and some wire. Total cost for this project will probably be less then $5 (depending on the materials you have available). The sound is surprisingly good and will serve you well. You can replace an existing pickup or add one to mix with your existing setup.
This guide is specifically for bass, so there are four magnets required. For a guitar, obviously you will need six smaller ones. Also, it's good to have a bunch of extra magnets lying around as it will make the project go quicker (see below for why).
Materials Needed:
- A spool of insulated copper wire. Different gauges will produce different sounds, but you want something very thin.
- Two Popsicle sticks. These can be new or used.
- 8 neodymium magnets (2 for each string). These should be less then the width of the Popsicle stick. Again, different sizes will produce a different sound. You can see the rough size of what we used here.
- Gorilla Glue
Getting Started:
Start off by eating your two Popsicles. This is probably the most difficult part of the process. You may want to enlist the help of a friend. If they're the kind of Popsicles that have hidden messages on the stick or fortunes, go ahead and read them. Pat yourself on the back, you're done with step one.
Put the Popsicle stick up to the strings, and mark where each string hits. This will be a guide for where you need to place the center of each magnet. You are now ready to begin construction
Construction:
You will need to glue the first four magnets to the Popsicle stick. This is not as easy as it sounds since all the magnets will just stick together until the glue is set. This is where the extra magnets come in handy. The other four magnets can be placed on the other side of the stick from the magnets being glued to hold them in place.
It does not matter if you have negative or positive pole facing up, as long as you do EACH ONE THE SAME.
Once you've got your glue dried, take the placeholder magnets off and stick them to the four magnets you just glued. Then glue the other Popsicle stick to the top.
Now to start wrapping the wire. Leave a foot or two sticking out before you stop wrapping. This is important, because you need to connect your electronics to two leads.
We found it helpful to stick the whole thing to the refrigerator while you wrap it. Get comfortable because you're going to be there a while. Keep wrapping until it gets barely big enough to fit inside the plastic of your old pickup (it isn't necessary to have an enclosure - it just looks nice). This will be several thousands of wraps, but we didn't really count. It should look about like the completed picture here.
If the wire breaks while you are wrapping you will need to start over. So don't break the wire - it's very fragile.
Connect the two leads just like you would a regular guitar pickup and you're ready to wail. Here is what it looks like inside of a guitar pickup enclosure.
UPDATE:
Here are some notes on construction.
We used 42 gauge wire. You need to strip the ends before soldering them to your electronics. You can do this with your finger nail.
The magents we used were .32" or .37" in diameter and .2" tall.
A stronger magnet = hotter output and more high frequencies (better for guitar)
More windings = hotter output. The more windings you do, however, will begin to roll off the top frequencies.
I forgot to mention that you need to dip the entire thing in wax at the end to complete the project. Just heat up some wax to liquid and dip it in. Leave it for a minute and you're done.
UPDATE:
Here is an MP3 of the pickup in action with no EQ or Processing running through a preamp.� If anyone wants to mirror it, please do and leave a comment.
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why do you need to dip the
why do you need to dip the pick up in liquid wax?
That`s to eliminate the
That`s to eliminate the "microphone effect". It`s for tighten the coil. if you don`t wax it, the wire of the coil will be loose on the pick up, and the wire filaments will vibrate with the guitar/bass movements and it will make an additional output. that`s why you have to wax it, just to toughen the coil.
I just finished my first DIY
I just finished my first DIY pick up for an upright bass. I works fantastic, but the output is a bit low because I could only do about 3000 wounds out of a roll of copper (I used 0.15 copper wire).
For the upright bass the sound approved as I added some more magnets to it. I use 8 magnets for teh E, A and D string an d six for the G.
anyway, thanx for the instructions. You've saved me a lot of money by making it by myself.
Greetz,
Ronald de Jong
The Netherlands
Hi I have just written a
Hi I have just written a detailed paper that explains all the design parameters of an electric guitar pickup and helps you choose the dimensions and number of windings and type of wire and so on depending on the sound you're after, please post your comments in my blog (click on my name), here's a link for my article:
http://oxydon.webou.net/guitar/guitar-pickups-design.html
Good post,with a good method
Good post,with a good method of making guitar.
Where can I find these
Where can I find these magnets?
Online seems like my best option but I'm having a hard time finding the right size.
Does this work for a Steel
Does this work for a Steel strings guitar (Acoustic)?
Thanks for the guide ;)
i was wondering about making
i was wondering about making it into an active pick-up would this require a non magnetic di-pole or any other work
what if i use a bar magnet
what if i use a bar magnet in place of little neodymium magnets for guitar, not bass? i saw a pickup with a long bar magnet, not 6 cilindric magnets (as regulary)...is it going to work? thanx a lot
Can my neodymium magnets
Can my neodymium magnets 1/2" be installed on my guitar?
my magne wire is ony 36gauge?
Although any size of magnet
Although any size of magnet or magnet wire would make the pickup work, but when ull be giving thousands of turns using thicker wire, the pickup would probably become too big to fit inside the case of your old pickup, or even the guitar. same goes with magnets of more diameter. make sure that the pickup you make can fit inside your guitar.
Were can i buy copper wire
Were can i buy copper wire that thin? the thinest i can find is 24ga would that work?
You can get the right gauge
You can get the right gauge wire at a hardware store, crafts store probably, etc.
You can get 24-guage wire at
You can get 24-guage wire at a hardware store, crafts store probably, etc.
That's a great tutorial.
That's a great tutorial. There are also some lazier ways to wind the PUP. For me, at any rate, winding the PUP while it is stuck to the fridge would make my arm tired and make me lose focus, since I would be wondering if there were any more popcicles on the inside. You can also wind using a dummy spool on an open-faced fishing reel (the PUP mounts to the top of the spool). You can do much the same thing if you happen to have an old turntable. Mount the PUP to the reduction gear (the one that turns fast, and is small), and use your hand to rotate the "platter" of the turntable. (If you're brave, you could simply attach the PUP to the spindle area and fire up the record player, but you get more control using the manual method, and with the difference in gear ratio, you don't have to turn it that many times anyway. The fishing reel method has the advantage of winding the wire in an even distribution, since that's what it has to do when you're reeling in that bigmouth bass on the weekend.
I have a glockenspiel (with
I have a glockenspiel (with 27 keys) and I'd like to build some pickups for it.
I could make a lot of single pickups, or less pickups with more magnet in them.
How does the number of magnets (and the length of the coil) affect the sound?
Using single pickups will make the sound louder? Would I be able to connect 27 single pickups to a single exit without significant loss? Will an high impedence of a too long pickup avoid the metal keys to vibrate properly? Uhm...
Thanks =)
Pickups sound is varied
Pickups sound is varied greatly by thier size. a short and fat pickup (i.e. hieght of the magnet or popsicle to popsicle distance) would produce a bassy sound, however a tall and skinny pickup would give a much clearer sound with higher frequencies. the length would however not matter that much.
http://galileo.spaceports.com/~fishbake/buck/humbuck.htm
you can see this for more info
can this pickups affect my
can this pickups affect my amp? do the bass pickups work the same way?
i really dont want to damage my amp cuz i once connected a bass to a guitar amp and now it sounds terrible and i dont want this to happen again.
The thing that can ruin amps
The thing that can ruin amps is distortion. I don't mean the good kind that you get when you want to play some punk rock music, I mean the kind that you hear when you turn up a clean signal too loud.
On an amp not designed for low end, the signal from the bass could have been too powerful and blown out the speaker.
As with everything, use caution - keep everything turned down at first, and then turn it up to a reasonable volume. You should be fine.
I have an pretty important
I have an pretty important question: will this work for nylon acoustic guitars?will it sound or would nothing happen?if you are kindly enough, please reply to my email: szekelymihai@yahoo.com
No this will not work for a
No this will not work for a nylon guitar as the magnets use the vibration of the metal above them to create the sound.
do i have to drop the whole
do i have to drop the whole pickup into the double boiler and let the popsicles also be covered with wax, and wat to do after that(plzzz help stuck at that point)
Potting the pickup in wax is
Potting the pickup in wax is to make sure that the windings stay in place. if there is any loose winding, it will vibrate by any sound produced in the guitar (even the sound of your hand moving over the guitar!! this is called acoustic effect)and would lose the advantage of the electric pickup over acoustic pickup. if not wax, u can laminate the coils using laminatin film. tightly wrap the film over the coils and heat it to make it almost like potting it in wax.
so, can this be applied to a
so, can this be applied to a single pickup, or do you need more then one magnet to wrap around?
i dont play bass, i play
i dont play bass, i play guitar. so its kinda hard to do this thing without propper instructions! can i plzzzzzz get some
For a regular guitar, just
For a regular guitar, just increse 2 pairs of magnets on the popsicle sticks (1 pair under each string). or use a long bar magnet oriented side to side instead of end to end. winding would be done in the sane way.
how do you do this for a
how do you do this for a precision pickup?? just asking of its any different to make one?
where can I buy this wire
where can I buy this wire needed? for less than 5$ you say?!
How would i wire this if i
How would i wire this if i was to use it with an acoustic guitar? Also, is the steel of the strings reacting with the magnets what makes it work, or would the pickup work with nylon strings? Thank you
As they discussed in the
As they discussed in the comments above, you could not use it on a guitar with nylon strings, however, it should definitely work on an acoustic guitar with regular steel strings.
I suppose if you wrapped the wire a little loose or left a loop loose then it would pick up all sorts of sounds, but you would also get noise from, as Faraz said above, your hand moving over the strings, depending on where you place the pickup. my suggestion would be to go look up how to make an acoustic guitar pickup instead of looking at this site and trying to figure it out. It's always good to experiment a little bit.
Hi, I was looking over these
Hi, I was looking over these instructions on how to make a pick up, and you say that you use 8 magnets. BUt in looking at it and reading the instructions, do you actually use 8 between the popsicle sticks, and 4 more on the outside of the popsicle stick? Thanks
I've been looking around the
I've been looking around the internet to see how to make a pickup and I noticed that about half of the sites do not let the wire come into actual contact with the magnets, yet some appear to allow it. Will letting the magnets touch the wire change anything?
Thanks.
how can you test the pickup
how can you test the pickup once it's done?
This is awesome! I'm very
This is awesome! I'm very much a DIY'r when it comes to electronics. I have gutted several gamepads and rewired them to arcade controllers for example.
Anywho, longstory short, this guide is the first I found in a google search -- very rarely do I look at a DIY guide found on google, and feel no need to look for more and get more info. This opens the door to a wide-range of guitar-pickup experimentation, without the $50+ it would cost for each pickup.
I have a Les Paul-style guitar kit I'm putting together, and the first thing on my mind has been to replace the two humbuckers; maybe even route out one additional slot for a strat-style.
I want to use those one popsicle sticks with the horrible lame jokes on them. You know, those ones where you don't get the punchline until you eat the popsicle? I believe it would be best to leave that exposed. On a humbucker you could have the question on one, and the answer upside down on the other.
"What animal should you never play cards with?"
. . .
"A Cheetah!"
i was just wondering how
i was just wondering how much wire it took to build this and if you used magnet wire or just copper wire
Very good job and so funny
Very good job and so funny !!!
To make Telecaster pickups:
http://www.lutherie-amateur.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3639&st=0&sk=...
Argh..... Annoying! I can't
Argh..... Annoying! I can't see the pictures! Also, you mentioned to start wrapping the wires around the magnets. What about the second lead? Does there not have to be a + & - lead? Where does the second lead to complete the circuit come from?
I would just like to know
I would just like to know how 'powerful' the magnetic field should be...That's where I am a little stuck.
Where are we supposed to tie
Where are we supposed to tie the othere end of the wire after wrapping them? ....its important isnt it?..i need to know..
hmmm im curious about the
hmmm im curious about the height of the magnets and 42 guage wire?thats like as thin as a strand of hair are you sure thats what you used?
Awesome! It will be even
Awesome!
It will be even better if you put bigger images.
Thanks anyway for your tips!
hey this pickup works
hey this pickup works well!!! :)
Great tutorial! I've been
Great tutorial! I've been trying to figure out how to electrify an autoharp, and this looks like it could be the hot tip.
I saw mention once of a pickup winder made out of an old fishing reel...sounds like it wouldn't be too hard to work out, although maybe not worth it for a one-off project.
Regarding comment #64: well,
Regarding comment #64: well, it will certainly be hum-free. ;)
that's some comment storm
that's some comment storm going on
this is a good intro to building your own pickups! I'm definitely going to bookmark this one. The comments are going to take a while to read.
I'm curious what sort of adjustments can be made to make the pickup produce different tones. This pickup seemed to lack a lot of lows.
and really, one could you can always try out making electro-magnetic (active) pickups, I'm sure that's a whole different ball game.
a mirror of this file can be accessed at http://maxopedia.org/?q=diyhappy_bass_pickup
What would be the effect to
What would be the effect to use ring magnets for this?
this is awesome. i just made
this is awesome. i just made one of these for my mandolin and it sounds great. i am amazed that i could make a pickup in only about 4 hours. kudos to you my friend, kudos to you.
i made it wow iam
i made it wow iam sooooooooooooooo happy i being working in it from 4 months and i finished it.wow
Do you have to use separate
Do you have to use separate magnets, or could I use just one long rectangular one. (I'm not planning on using this pickup for a guitar)
ok so can someone email
ok so can someone email instructions and pics of how to make a humbucker out of two long magnets?
buzzman_47@hotmail.com
thx to anyone who can