Kodakanjo9 4-string film can resonator:1000' metal film can; oak neck; maple peg head with oak wings and jatoba & maple pinstripes; jatoba fret board with maple dots; bone nut, hand-carved rock maple & jatoba banjo bridge; veggie steamer tailpiece; gold sealed-gear tuners; mini humbucker pickup mounted inside can; volume & tone control; 1/4" instrument jack; 24.75" fret scale.
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No worries. Don't have any inside pics but you just orientate the pup as normal, i.e. perpendicular to the strings not parallel as you have done. For the extender I just used a bit of thin metal from a baking tin. It was really thin so I doubled it over on itself for some extra rigidity. If it's ferrous it will stick to the poles on it's own, but I contact adhered it once I had established it worked. The foot is just wide enough to cover the poles, i.e. about 2mm and the upright is high enough to bring it very close to a fretted string. I assume covering all 6 poles maximises the output so I would do that even on a 3 stringer and step the sides of the upright in if the piece extended beyond the outside strings too much. Then you just need to make certain the extender doesn't contact the lid and you're good to go.
I agree re keeping the lid as clean as possible, which is why I've used this and the P-90 method.
Thanks Glenn. And thanks for the links. You build some real stunners! This is all very good info. I just cranked out three more. Two with simple piezo embeds and another with a stripped-down embedded hum bucker just under the lid. So far, the piezos sound the best. I was going to just give up on the pup-in-a-can method and just move on to just conventional lipstick pickups or something. I was trying to keep from attaching more junk to the lid. I hadn't thought of a pickup-extender type of rig, like you are talking about. Because of the way I put the cans together, It can be a little bit tricky to work on the space between the neck & the lid, once the fret board is attached, but I am now thinking I'd like to try something like that on the next pair. I like the p-90 with the poles coming up through the can idea as well. Do you have any pics handy of the inside of those cans? I am curious about how you configured the L-bracket/pup poles underneath the lid. Thanks again!
Not sure if it will work with humbuckers, but you can use a single coil under the lid by making an L shaped tongue from something ferrous and sitting the foot of the L across the poles. The upright of the L then comes up through a narrow slot in the lid. This way you get close enough to the strings to get good level and tone. An example here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa1oRpgIT60&feature=player_deta...
A pic showing the upright of the L coming up thru the lid:
I'm not sure the problem has to do with the placement of the pickup. It is very much picking up the sound from the lid, but the resonation itself is causing to go all muddy and then start feeding back. I'm sure it is the magnets reacting with the ferrous can, as it kind of turns the whole can into a pickup. I knew this would be the case, I was just hoping for something a little bit brighter/clearer or ...more responsive or whatever. BTW, It's a mini-humbucker with 500k pots and and a .022 capacitor. I built one a while ago with a straight single coil mag pup, mounted the same way, but with no tone control. Otherwise; same can, same fret scale, same bridge setup, etc. and it sounded better than this, but still not as good as a piezo sandwich.
I know I could cut into the lid and mount the hum bucker, proper-like, but I don't really want to mess with the way it sounds un-plugged, and more junk rattling around on the lid will kinda kill that. The one I built alongside this one has some cosmetic flaws anyway, so maybe I'll open up that one and experiment a bit more before I decide to "can it" & go back to the piezos.
What if you cut out the neck, and turn it? You are braced really well with that bottom board being there. The other option is cutting the can open, so that the humbucker can better pick up from the strings. Wonder if the problem is because pick ups use magnets, and your using a metal tin.
Thanks. I am pretty sure the bridge is working fine. The lid is vibrating plenty, and sounds fine unplugged. I really think it is the combination of a relatively narrow can and the normal characteristics of the pup. Here's how it is mounted to the neck, though I have since removed the chrome cover.
Make another bridge, that is solid. The bridge may not be transferring enough vibration to the metal. Watched some videos, and the guy wasn't happy with the sound of his cigar box. He started with one like you have now. Worth a try, before making big changes.
Comments
No worries. Don't have any inside pics but you just orientate the pup as normal, i.e. perpendicular to the strings not parallel as you have done. For the extender I just used a bit of thin metal from a baking tin. It was really thin so I doubled it over on itself for some extra rigidity. If it's ferrous it will stick to the poles on it's own, but I contact adhered it once I had established it worked. The foot is just wide enough to cover the poles, i.e. about 2mm and the upright is high enough to bring it very close to a fretted string. I assume covering all 6 poles maximises the output so I would do that even on a 3 stringer and step the sides of the upright in if the piece extended beyond the outside strings too much. Then you just need to make certain the extender doesn't contact the lid and you're good to go.
I agree re keeping the lid as clean as possible, which is why I've used this and the P-90 method.
good luck and let me know how it works out.
cheers
g
Not sure if it will work with humbuckers, but you can use a single coil under the lid by making an L shaped tongue from something ferrous and sitting the foot of the L across the poles. The upright of the L then comes up through a narrow slot in the lid. This way you get close enough to the strings to get good level and tone. An example here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa1oRpgIT60&feature=player_deta...
A pic showing the upright of the L coming up thru the lid:
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/blind-gee-002-1/prev?context=al...
I tried this same method with humbucker but it didn't work and I didn't have time to figure out why.
The other way to do it is by using a P-90 and bringing the poles themselves up thru the lid. I've done that with a couple of tins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBwRJefHKrk
a pic here - note that I isolated the poles from the tin lid by cutting a slot and having the poles come up thru a thin piece of wood.
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/blind-gee-026-the-bootlegger-ma...
side view
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/blind-gee-026-the-bootlegger-5?...
Hope that helps. I build up the neck around the pickup position so I can recess the pup into it. That might be tricky on your thin can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bwegg805Zk
a pic here
http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/blind-gee-024-cookie-added-stuf...
Nice!
Very nice!
Looks great, very clean.
I'm not sure the problem has to do with the placement of the pickup. It is very much picking up the sound from the lid, but the resonation itself is causing to go all muddy and then start feeding back. I'm sure it is the magnets reacting with the ferrous can, as it kind of turns the whole can into a pickup. I knew this would be the case, I was just hoping for something a little bit brighter/clearer or ...more responsive or whatever. BTW, It's a mini-humbucker with 500k pots and and a .022 capacitor. I built one a while ago with a straight single coil mag pup, mounted the same way, but with no tone control. Otherwise; same can, same fret scale, same bridge setup, etc. and it sounded better than this, but still not as good as a piezo sandwich.
I know I could cut into the lid and mount the hum bucker, proper-like, but I don't really want to mess with the way it sounds un-plugged, and more junk rattling around on the lid will kinda kill that. The one I built alongside this one has some cosmetic flaws anyway, so maybe I'll open up that one and experiment a bit more before I decide to "can it" & go back to the piezos.
What if you cut out the neck, and turn it? You are braced really well with that bottom board being there. The other option is cutting the can open, so that the humbucker can better pick up from the strings. Wonder if the problem is because pick ups use magnets, and your using a metal tin.
Thanks. I am pretty sure the bridge is working fine. The lid is vibrating plenty, and sounds fine unplugged. I really think it is the combination of a relatively narrow can and the normal characteristics of the pup. Here's how it is mounted to the neck, though I have since removed the chrome cover.
Make another bridge, that is solid. The bridge may not be transferring enough vibration to the metal. Watched some videos, and the guy wasn't happy with the sound of his cigar box. He started with one like you have now. Worth a try, before making big changes.
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