DIY guitar/bass pickup project

[dragoman]

Pretty cool: http://www.diyhappy.com/how-to-make-a-guitarbass-pickup/

[sinister]

Thats interesting, its a bit unclear where the second set of magnets should be stuck on though.

should it be like (assuming all magnets polarities are facing the same way):

0 0 0 0
-------------------
0 0 0 0
-------------------

And does the wire really need to be that thin? What would happen if i used a thicker one?

[mutant!]

Sweet, helps me understand the workings of pups better.

[moghes69]

Originally Posted by sinister

Thats interesting, its a bit unclear where the second set of magnets should be stuck on though.

should it be like (assuming all magnets polarities are facing the same way):

0 0 0 0
-------------------
0 0 0 0
-------------------

And does the wire really need to be that thin? What would happen if i used a thicker one?

depends on how thick, if it's too thick i'm pretty sure it would sound horrible

[shred_like_me]

dude that is so mad do they actually sound good

[Billie'sBouncer]

here is a sample of that pickup [URL="http://www.myplanet.net/gthing/ifa/bass.mp3"]http://www.myplanet.net/gthing/ifa/bass.mp3[/url]
with no EQ just straight to a speaker.

Also this is cool.
[URL="http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html"]http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html[/url]
I made one and stuck it on the bridge of my upright and it sounds pretty good. Also if you put one of those under your bridge on an electric it sounds good.

[lateralus423]

Thats really cool.

[nopicks4me]

Originally Posted by Billie'sBouncer

here is a sample of that pickup [URL="http://www.myplanet.net/gthing/ifa/bass.mp3"]http://www.myplanet.net/gthing/ifa/bass.mp3[/url]
with no EQ just straight to a speaker.

Also this is cool.
[URL="http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html"]http://home.earthlink.net/~erinys/contactmic.html[/url]
I made one and stuck it on the bridge of my upright and it sounds pretty good. Also if you put one of those under your bridge on an electric it sounds good.

whats the second link. it looks interesting but i dont understand what it does

[LewsTherin]

Originally Posted by nopicks4me

whats the second link. it looks interesting but i dont understand what it does

Its a microphone, basically. You stick it to some part of your bass (ie, bridge on upright) and it picks up vibrations.

[nopicks4me]

oh. cool. thanks

[Billie'sBouncer]

Originally Posted by nopicks4me

whats the second link. it looks interesting but i dont understand what it does

^^ you can also put those in practice pads for drums and hook them up to a drum module to make an electric kit.

Ill probably post some soundclips of my upright soon so u can hear the contact mic.

[wells902]

in that second link, it says that they(the piezo) could be used as a speaker, how would that work?

[LewsTherin]

Originally Posted by wells902

in that second link, it says that they(the piezo) could be used as a speaker, how would that work?

If you ran current through it, it would make noise.


All speakers and microphones work both ways, actually.

[SamGarfield]

The magnet placement confused a lot of people.

As you can see, there are 3 magnets in each series - two on the inside, and one on the outside. You don't really need the outside one at all, it just helps when you're trying to glue the first 4 magnets down because it keeps them in place. I probably should have taken those off in the final picture...

Anyway, your final setup should look something like this

----------- <--Popsicle Stick
0 0 0 0 <-- Magnets
0 0 0 0 <-- More magnets
----------- <-- Another popsicle stick

We are experimenting with different types of magents, too and you can get some very interesting tones using hollow magnets (like cheerios-shaped), and we're about to build one using thinner rod type magnets, with holes drilled in the popsicle stick. Doing it that way will at least make it look like a regular pickup, and will allow for a lot more wraps of magnet wire.

If you guys have any other questions, feel free to post a reply to the article - I will usually see it there and try to get a somewhat helpful response to you.

[mutant!]

Yo Sam, sweet article man. I'm thinking of building one of these for my friend who plays double bass - she's been talking about getting a pickup system forever.