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Pick up help

I've never made a pick up but I like the look of the correct number of poles to strings (Ya OCD is strong within me) which is why I'm thinking I want to make a humbucker pick up with 3 or 4 poles.

First I need some clarification on Pup anatomy, a single coil the pole pieces are the the magnets vs the steel slugs and a bar mag in the bottom of a HB, Right?

In my thinking I'm wondering about the effect of a shortened bobbin on the length of wire used. While the # of wraps would stay the same it it will use less wire thus give less resistance right? Is this going to effect the field enough to worry about perhaps needing to overwind?

How much of an effect do you think shortening the magnet will cause? I know magnets are tough to cut, that's a hurdle I'll have to overcome and worry about either weakening or killing it all together in the process. I've also though of just finding the right size magnets but that maybe cost prohibitive. Which leads me to the thoughts of using neodymium because I've actually found some in what I think would be the correct size. Any thoughts on this part would greatly appreciated.

I'm sure I'll have more questions but these are the ones I've come up with so far.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on October 11, 2012 at 12:36pm

Thanks for the feedback. I'll have to experiment to see how easy it is to remove the magnets; I've never tried. Hopefully they are not glued in and just sit in some how. I'll let you know in a couple days what I find. I bet if I search a bit harder on Taobao.com, I can find hum-bucklers for around 2x the price. So I'll give that a try as well. Likely it will be easier to buy than doing micro-surgery on cheap pickups to reverse the magnets.I'll first have to learn how to say (read/write) "hum-buckler" in Chinese! Google Translate should help.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on October 11, 2012 at 2:15pm

Here's what I got for hum-buckler pickup:

电吉他双线圈双芯拾音器 (diànjítā shuāng xiànquān shuāng xìn shíyīnqì)

电吉他 (diànjítā) = electric guitar

双 (shuāng) two / double / pair / both

线圈 (xiànquān) = solenoid, coil

双 (shuāng) two / double / pair / both

芯 (xìn) = core

拾音器 (shíyīnqì) = pickup (electro-acoustic transducer)

Should anyone want to brave all the Hanzi (Chinese characters) on taobao.com to find a cheap Chinese "humbucker". You'd think it would be easier to search Hong Kong's e-Bay (www.ebay.com.hk), but that's all in Hanzi as well. So, maybe the U.S. or U.K. eBay might have them advertised in English. Good luck, The easiest way is to buy American.

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Permalink Reply by Rand Moore on October 11, 2012 at 4:20pm

I looked at one of the cheap hum-buckler mag pups and it looks like I'll have to destroy the plastic case to gain access to the magnets, and the magnets seem pretty solidly attached, so likely they are glued into place. I think the easier route will be for me to buy hum-buckler pups rather than to try to adapt two single coil mag pups. But its nice to know its theoretically possible.

-Rand.

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Permalink Reply by TruckDrivingFool on October 12, 2012 at 6:35pm

The cheap pups are really temping and that's what I went with for my first build but as I said I really like the look of the correct number of pole pieces. As for the bass pups I believe I'm seen them used here for four stringers but can't recall how they've sounded. I've wonder if being a for a bass wouldn't make them really dark and gritty. That could be a plus though on CBGs as they tend to sound good with some distortion.

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Permalink Reply by TruckDrivingFool on October 12, 2012 at 6:40pm

Nothing much new to add on this so far as the 2nd coil I did had some sort of internal problem (short or a poor solder on a break?) and only worked sporadically. It got stripped for another try and I have yet to get time to do it.

Thanks to all for the kind words on the winder and the first coil. And thanks for looking in me guys and gals.

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Permalink Reply by David L. on October 12, 2012 at 10:38pm

Hi Ross,
I like the Idea of winding a pickup but wondered how much you estimate it costs to produce one yourself in terms of wire, magnets, bobbins etc?
Regards,
David

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on October 13, 2012 at 12:10am

Probly about $10. It depends entirely how many you set itself up to do, things are cheaper in bulk for sure especially the wire

You guys know about my fake pole piece extender trick right?

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Permalink Reply by David L. on October 13, 2012 at 12:41am

Hi PK,
What is the trick please?
David

Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on October 14, 2012 at 1:17am

Rand, re the 2 piece pbass pups...Don't flip the magnet, nor flip phase on either, the two are already hum cancelling, that's how they're made it's already a bucker straight out of the box.

Interesting bit of trivia about those two piece Pbass pups (1957??) they were originally the pickup on fenders solid body mandolin.. Leo took two and flipped one over for the noise cancellation. The original Pbass pup for the first few years was just like a teles neck pup.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on October 13, 2012 at 1:32am

Well first let me say that I've been making my own pups for a couple years and it is a very satisfying experience and thi is no substitute by any means...
But as it addresses the issue of 'redundant' pole pieces exactly...

I've never like those extra pole pieces either and sometimes time or budget restraint may prevent you from winding a pickup for a project.
So lets say we have a cheaply six string stratty syle job like you can get from Ben for a couple bucks, but you're only doing a three or four string axe...
Well what I've done a few times is mount that pup like usual but a little deeper, so it's covered by the box lid ( and with no hole cut for it)
Then i make a 'fake' three or four pole piece bobbin top with nails for the poles.. These stand on top of the pickup and extend the magnetic field... Simple really.. Make it as custom as you like and without all that fiddly winding nonsense. ;)

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Permalink Reply by TruckDrivingFool on October 13, 2012 at 3:10am

If I've seen it I hadn't paid enough attention to realize what was going on the thanks for posting that up Phrygian.

As for the cost David I didn't buy in bulk, But it's not bad until I figure my time. Then again as a hobbyist I never really figure that in since I'm going to be tinkering in the shop anyway.

The break down for a single coil (double for the HB)

Wire - $30 for a roll from StewMac. discounting waste I'm going to say/guess enough for 5 coils so $6.

Magnets - Alnico5 from Ebay. I don't remember the exact cost but I think I paid about $10 for 18 so $1.65

The bobbins, flatwork, and cover I'm making from scrap left over from making guitars, amps, and various modeling modeling projects. I'd say free but for arguments sake I'll tag it at $2.

Which puts me just under the $10 that PK said for a single and I'll be about $20 for a custom matched humbucker. Granted that's just materials throw the tools and time in I know it moves higher but I'm still happy about it.