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Resonator... not sounding right

Hey guys. Just finished my first resonator and I'm not happy with the sound.

1-it is very tin-y sounding... too much

2-Any abrasion or tap on the body is picked up... even my voice if I talk at the body or pickup.

The body is hand made with poplar, 1/2 inch thick. Hollow body. Dog Bowl resonator. Pick up is hand wound and epoxy'd to the inside of an altoid lid.

To attempt to mute it some I put rubber on the inside of the altoid lid around the outside and added some hot glue under the surface. I also added two small strips of some light foam materisl to the underside of the body around the pickup. No change...

Any ideas how to remove the sensitivity of the pickup?

http://www.kasteneric.com/WWII%20Dog%20Bowl%20Resonator%20-%20Under...

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 17, 2014 at 11:50am

Yeah, that's kinda what I was thinking, but I don't want to over-dampen the body or take away from the resonator. The foam I put under the altoids lid is thicker than the sides of the lid... so the lid floats on the foam. The screws are the only solid thing connecting the lid to the top of the guitar... but the foam is kinda think so maybe its too thick.

I'm wondering if I have to make a new pickup out of wood...

This is the second flat pickup I made with an altoids lid... the first does not have this problem... but that guitar is out of a cigar box and is thicker and smaller... so less vibrations?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 17, 2014 at 11:51am

To add.... this pickup is made with the mag wire wrapped around a 1 inch bar magnet itself... then epoxy'd under the altoids lid.

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Permalink Reply by Thumper on October 17, 2014 at 2:14pm

String your middle wire(s) and bring it up to tune, then see if the problem goes away.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 18, 2014 at 1:29am

All 3 strings are in place and tuned. Sounds bad...

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on October 17, 2014 at 5:55pm

Hmmm. Hand wound pup, 1" bar magnet, inside an Altoids tin, attached beneath a presumably steel metal dog bowl resonator: you've just created a much bigger magnetic field, and therefore a much bigger mag pup. In my opinion. If it's not attached to the dog bowl, the same still applies, because I bet that Altoids tin is actually steel (just looked at the pic, now I see). Wood or plastic pup housing next time, maybe?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 18, 2014 at 1:28am

Possibly. If I cannot fix this, I will make a wood PU the regular way (with 3 slugs).

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on October 17, 2014 at 8:38pm

i think you've made a microphonic coil. There is every chance you can remove this altoid tin, remove the coil from every other component, wire it up and it'll still be microphonic.....

microphonics in pickups is not necessarily a bad thing, most of my fav coils I've wound have some flaw in that respect. You just gotta ride the feedback wave is all.

theres music in those handling noises. don't give up, embrace and use it

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 18, 2014 at 1:28am

ride the feedback wave... lol... I would if it sounded good.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 18, 2014 at 1:27am

The magnet is maybe 3 inches from the dog bowl. The lid is maybe 2.5 inches from the dog bowl. Yes, I would bet the lid is some sorta steel. But I did not have this problem with the first PU I made like this... the first one sounded GREAT (... but no dog bowl resonator)

I'm not looking for a microphonic PU. I'll end up selling this one and just want it to sound normal.

I'm wondering if the lid ground may be the cause... I grounded the lid with the negative wire from the PU. Should I run a separate lid ground straight to the jack? Thoughts? I think this was how I did the first one... will have to open it up and see.

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Permalink Reply by Scott aka Farmer Ted on October 18, 2014 at 2:33am

Interesting. You mention you connected the ground wire (negative) from the pickup to the Altoids lid. But does the ground from there continue in any manner to the ground lug of the jack (either from the pickup or the lid)? If not, then you have an open ground issue.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kasten on October 18, 2014 at 8:41am

The neg pickup lead goes to the vol pot then to the neg term on the jack. It's wired as it should be, but I just extended the neg pickup lead to be the ground... since it is neg...