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New pick up concept.....soon to be tested

Today I was at the hardware store and I was thinking of coils, or other pickup concepts...just walking around trying to get some ideas. So anyhow, I am not sure if this will even work, or if someone else has all ready thought it up, or if it will work at all, or even sound good,, but in theroy, it should work.

I bought two copper pipe caps. About a 1/2 in size. I am going to fill the inside with a thin coating of liquid electrial tape to make a coating between some magnets and the copper cap. Then I am going to drill two holes at the top of the cap to tie in some wire and soder them and then I will let it dry. I will then push some magnets inside the copper cap and see what happens when I plug it in. In theory, the copper cap should act like a coil, and I should get a signal....I have made pickups that sound decent with very little wire and weak magnets.....if this works, it will be really easey to slap some pups together. Now, they will only really be about diddley bow size, but I am beting you could make two or three and tie them all into one single jack. It is worth a shot.

If this works....I am betting you could get a decent peice of copper pipe a couple of inches long and coat the inside, cap off both ends and tie in some wire at the end to the jack...then add your magnets on the inside, and you could have a kind of a lip stick pickup.....again, good concept, but it is worth a shot to try. Testing will start today, as soon as I clean the garage and mow.....lol.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Doug on August 13, 2010 at 4:00am

This is interesting. I don't think it will work, and I don't know why I think that but in my foggy memory I think there is a current running through the wire which is important. Maybe I'm thinking motors. I'm anxious to read your results. Please post pictures also. I hope it works.

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 13, 2010 at 4:29am

Hmmm I dunno if that will work. See, electrically, the copper tube wouldn't have enough 'length'. Kinda like the shortest path between two points. Think of it as a generator. There has never been one constructed if a single piece of copper (else it would be quite common).

I guess what I'm saying is that the copper cap won't create a 'flow' the same way as a long length of wire will. Kinda the difference in creating a flow [current] in a hose versus in a bucket.

-wy

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Permalink Reply by Wes "I'm Baaaaack" Yates on August 13, 2010 at 4:38am

Not only that, I would expect the copper caps to act like shielding for the magnetic fields.

-WY

Naz Nomad said:

... your copper cap will act as a short circuit between the wires?

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Permalink Reply by Salty Sea Empire on August 13, 2010 at 4:50am

basically what a pick up does is generates a voltage...that voltage is generated when you have a conductor with relative motion(vibrating guitar string) cutting the magnetic field in a coil. as has been said the cap will will short circuit and no voltage will be generated. you need to use something that is insulated. to increase the power, you can either increase the strength of the magnet or increase the number of turns in your coil. hope that helps. it was a good idea and very creative...but i just don't think it will work out. but you never know i could be wrong and you have stumbled upon a revolutionary new idea. let us know!

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Permalink Reply by Jerryrig240 on August 13, 2010 at 5:00am

Yeah, well, back to the drawing board.....I could hear a slight tap when I tapped on it with something metal, but nothing amazing.....Oh well, it was worth a shot. If anything this will add fuel to the fire for someone else to think of something really cool.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Stephen Eklund on August 13, 2010 at 2:12pm

Don't know much about current and all so I'm blindly shooting in the dark here. Going along with the same idea of a solid pickup. Could you use two pieces of copper? Shield between both of them and use one as + and the other as -? like cut a copper pipe in half and separate them with a piece of wood. Perhaps use that wood to suspend the magnet inside the pipe so one half will get the positive side and the other the negative.

Still would like to know the workings of a lace censor pickup.

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on August 14, 2010 at 5:01am

If I were going to test this concept, I would skip the coating on the inside and make sure the magnets have good contact with the copper. Then I would make a split in one side of the copper and attach a + lead to one end and a - lead to the other end.

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Permalink Reply by Don Thompson on August 14, 2010 at 10:19am

don't give up those wacky ideas. not much of a coil to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI8sMJVjHrY&feature=related

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Permalink Reply by Wade on August 15, 2010 at 8:50am

very interesting - not much material to it!

Naz Nomad said:

Don Thompson said:
don't give up those wacky ideas. not much of a coil to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI8sMJVjHrY&feature=related

Looks like they just made a transformer, with the aluminium 'shell' acting as the primary winding, with the small secondary winding underneath?

Some insider info on low impedance pups ... http://music-electronics-forum.com/t5447/