Brass pickup covers?

Hi folks, I had an idea the other day and, knowing very little about the electronic side of things so far, I was after an opinion as to whether it would work. Trying to think of a cool look for self wound 3 or 4 pole pickups, I wondered about having each pole capped with the brass end of a bullet cartridge and have them sunk flush into my cigar box. Basically from the outside it would look like 3 or 4 separate brass disks. I found someone on eBay selling packs of 20 shells for £2.99. My question really is; a) does anyone think it would work? And; b) any suggestions as to how to go about creating one? Would I need to drill out the centre to replace it with the magnet etc. Thanks and please excuse my beginner's ignorance. What is it they say about not running before you can walk?

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Replies

  • I would just go head and do it.

    Why don't you try a normal pickup you make with a thin brass plate over it between the strings just to see how a test would sound

  • Thanks guys. I've got some neodymium magnets that I was thinking of using and thanks for the size recommendation. With the U.K. gun laws I could picture in my head the size of want but had no idea what they actually were!
  • Those look like shotgun shell so the brass part will be over 0.55" or 14mm for the smallest which would be 32 gauge. If they are standard 12 gauge then they would be more like 0.75" or 19mm.

    Might be a little to wide. Standard guitar pickups are space about 0.4" apart so you would need to be less than that. 

    0.177 cases might be better if you are going to do that.

  • Brass is a tone sucker, at least for alnico magnets. You can either drill holes through them so the magnets are exposed, or try neodymium magnets which are five times stronger than alnico. 

  • These are the ones I was thinking of using

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