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building pickups

Posted by Ken Henry on August 24, 2012 at 1:40am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

Is there an appreciable difference between using alnico magnets and neodymium magnets for pickups? And is there a preferred size? Also is 42 AWG wire ok for pickups?

Thanks for the input on this and the radiusingquestion guys.

Ken

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Tags: alnico, magnets, neodymium, pickups
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Replies

  • Walter Cengia August 27, 2012 at 6:25am

    Ant if you wanna get real technical about pickup winding an winders you can check out this place, these guys will blow your mind with what they know about pickups.

    http://music-electronics-forum.com/f11/

  • joe cerroni August 24, 2012 at 9:04pm

    Listen to Skeesix, she knows what she's talking about. Her pups are totally smokin. One of these days i'm gonna get one of her scorch and twangs to put in a guit for my very own.

  • The Phrygian Kid August 24, 2012 at 1:20pm
    That's good advice too about smaller neos. You can get em quite cheap on eBay, small discs only a couple mm thick. I've used nails on this one, snap one of those little discs on the bottom of each one. If you use screws for the pole pices the tape around em might be a good idea or the threads can cut thru the insulation and short the coil. The little pins you see there are for terminating the coils and soldering to. Just give em a quick kiss with the dremel to knock the tops off em and it makes em real easy to solder to. You definitely want to do something like this or soldering to the ends of the coil can be quite frustrating.
    146fd87f.jpg
    Some times I make pickup bobbins just out of cardboard, then you can punch a couple staples in after you wind it to solder to, wrap the whole thing in tape and cover it in veneer or something ;)
    • Skeesix > The Phrygian Kid August 25, 2012 at 1:17pm

      Yes you will want to cover the screws somehow if that's what you use. You can also make a bobbin core from plastic or wood, with holes drilled in it to accept the screws.

    • Ken Henry > The Phrygian Kid August 24, 2012 at 2:30pm

      Wow!!! How cool is that!! Thanks a lot man. The 1" Neo sticks are a bit expensive to use so this would be a great money saver!!! Thanks for the pic and the tips!!  BTW why do you have 5 pins????

      Ken

      • The Phrygian Kid > Ken Henry August 24, 2012 at 3:09pm

        Thats a good question, you only really need two.

        the first coil was tapped after about 3k of the 4k winds for a rhythm sound, so theres the third.

        the other two are for a seperate coil i wound around the outside which drives a preamp for a sustainer unit, it doesnt get wired to the output jack but is amplified and fed into a piezo which is glued on the resonator cone for a controlled feedback / sustainer generator, this is a hidden extra pickup just sharing the other ones magnets and chassis..

        • Ken Henry > The Phrygian Kid August 24, 2012 at 7:44pm

          Oh OK! Sounds way too complex for my tiny brain!!! Thanks for the explanation.

          Ken

  • Skeesix August 24, 2012 at 12:12pm

    Basically what the Kid said, but I disagree with needing a counter if you make your bobbin about the standard size of commercial bobbins. In that case, you can just fill up the bobbin and it will be in the right ballpark. Assuming you're doing a Strat style bobbin, 8000 winds is more typical for 42 awg wire.


    Instead of less winds for the neo's you can also try the same amount of winds, but smaller neo's. You can try using steel polepieces, i.e., steel machine screws, and sticking the neo's to the bottom.

    I haven't had good luck with a homemade counter. The calculator I tried didn't count faster than 200 rpm, and my winder winds at about 800 rpm, so I ended up with a commercial counter.


    What are you using for a winder?

    • Ken Henry > Skeesix August 24, 2012 at 2:33pm

      I haven't decided yet but I am thinking about maybe salvaging the motor and pulleys out of a VHS player or something or maybe getting a cheap sewing machine from GoodWill and maybe just sstealing the motor and foot pedal off that and building a custom job.

      Thanks for the help you guys!! I am really excited!!

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