wow! what a revelation, i even heard strat tones coming out at times. these instruments and pickups are really challenging the gear snob preconceptions and that's a good thing.
This is a compliment.(no sarcasm) The 'rat rod' of guitars! Just my opinion...If you truly like music...well focus on that instead of how expensive the 'gear' or brand. Example. The concert halls may be packed, but listening to children singing their best...maybe not so great...priceless.🤗
When I saw the first video on the NAILBUCKER I was certain you would get SOME sort of noise or sound it didn't think a nail was enough mass. I was dead wrong, I salute your results. You never fail to impress.
WOW! They sound great! So many unique voicings out of each instrument. I was especially impressed with the Nailbuckers. Great job and thanks for taking us along on these builds.
If I had the money I would buy a set for my GGBO build!!! Love the idea of making custom shaped pickups and not just conforming to "the standard" designs 😀
Strings, too? Seems logical. Tim, there's an idea: If you find a junk piano, take it and make guitars out of it. Bonus points if those guitars sound piano-y.
I have built a couple lyres using the tuning pegs from a 1950s piano. Put in a hardwood they can hold quite a bit of tension. The main downside is having to keep a piano tuning wrench with the intrument.
HAH! I love it, Tim. I've got my own set of experimental/illegal neodymium pickups in an old Yamaha Pacifica I refurbished. I straight up took the existing single coils and replaced the old magnets with neodymium ones. It sounds absolutely killer! And to my knowledge, there's no reason at all why they can't be used other than the "tradition" established over the last few decades of pickup making.
I saw few soviet era guitars with one-slug pickup for each strings. It would be interesting to have those 6 mini pickups, each ones being mounted on a rail so you could use your finger to change each pickup position on the guitar. Also, with 1-slug pickup we'd be able to design a system with 6 switches that could deactivate any pickup we want to perfectly mute a string. That's one of several guitar concepts I imagined.
there was a guy with a biz called Linear Pickups that was basically what you describe about 20 years ago. Last I heard he got in some trouble with the law and shut down. I still have a few of his pickup "bullets" laying around. I was using them for custom electric upright bass pickups.
Cool dude! I'm an old rocker (still rockin) that has started doing creative builds like you. 2018 I said I would start this hobby. Now at 40 guitars and bass's it's turned into a labor of love. I used mostly Duncan's in all of this because of tried and true. I use to push Rio Grande in the past. Building relics has a place for your stuff. Need to sample a guitar HB,,and yes 👍 up on the bass man. I vaguely remembered your first video. Keep on!!! Herndon.
friend ..i would say this was a great success..they did indeed have there own distinct tone and it was actually surprisingly good and dynamic with tonal variations of the phase switches..2 thumbs up on this success..be well my friend.
I love the ethos Tim, you do such great work with reclaimed materials. I'm super excited about the rail pickups. I've always loved danelectro lipstick pickups, and I like the story of them repurposing lipstick tubes. I wonder if there's a modern equivalent. Like old copper pipes or pvc pipes or medicine bottles or something 🤔
Yea, that's what I've been thinking about next: what readily accesible product could I use that's often heading for the waste stream. medicine bottles and pvc pipe cutoffs were two I was already thinking about!
Damn! Those original nailbuckers on the plywood guitar sound amazing! I really, really love the way they sound. On the other hand, my experience has been that any guitar or bass sounds pretty good through a VT-22 (mine's a '72)...
Those sounded fantastic, especially the bass. Really cool. How about some pickups made from meteor rock, crushed by hand, the dust pressed together with black rhino placentae epoxy to form 1 micron thin film which are then laminated to form the shape of the moon. With nails and stuff.
I was quite skeptical, but loved these. They have lots of useful sounds and it felt like Mick got way more inspired playing them than the Les Paul baseline.
Tim, you always make the neatest gear! You have inspired me: I’ve made a parlor acoustic from a broken acoustic found along the road; an acoustic case from a mobile home panel; and a couple of acoustics from local walnut. Thanks for the inspiration and for the always interesting videos. 👍
Well done Tim! I always like seeing someone buck the trend and go their own way. Those buckers sounded great and with a little more tweaking, you will really have something unique my friend! 👍👍👏👏🎸🎸
A multi effect pick up, with different switches to pick or combine different effects together without even having to have pedals. “Pedals in a Pickup” 🤘🏼
they do make onboard effects you can wire in to your instrument. I did a crazy version of one with a full Sehat effect pedal inside. th-cam.com/video/IeIo1S-end4/w-d-xo.html
@@timsway First off, idk how in the world I missed that video, but pardon my perfect English when I say that was fucking awesome!! On a guitar though, a switch for octave shift (either up or down). A switch to give it sustain. (Or even a button like a kill switch instead of a normal switch, so you can hold it down yourself 🤷🏻♂️) And maybe a good fuzz. You could get some cool sounds out of that combo I bet!
Hey this is great. I reeeeeeeally want to try making pickups as well. Don't have the resources to get a winding machine currently, but I'll keep watching yours and other folks' inspiring work so that when I'm ready to start it'll be a surprise when the first ones don't work. 😆
Turn the bobbin 90 degrees. Sidewinders like Lace Sensors and Q-Tuners have a very narrow aperture, and thus have incredible high end response for a bucker. I think the all nail and bass pickups sound really great. Interested to see where this goes.
would love to see some low-Z, full-range pickups. the ones that are out there are way expensive and over-engineered for what they are. just a simple 400-500 turn balanced output pup that will play nicely with a normal everyday mic pre and capture all those frequencies above 9kHz that normal pickups filter out.
Phenomenal stuff! Always a delight to see/hear what you’ve come up with and never a disappointment 😎 🎸 Mick is a fab guitarist too, what a treat all round!
In Mick’s hands the original Nailbuckers made me think that Rory Gallagher might have liked to try one of yours! The NailOnly ones had a lovley, open sound I liked a lot. And your Bass PUs are complete, no fettling needed! Sadly, I don’t need any of them, but I’ll be sure to share this video with anyone who might!
I am always amazed at your ideas. The nailbuckers are really cool, I love the ascetics, and I was getting some real Lemmy/Rickenbacker vibes from the bass pickups, while having their own voice.
Truly inspired!!! Mr Sway, you're right up there with that other group of guitar makers in terms of overall awesomeness, that being cigarbox guitar makers! Keep up the great work. And those rare earth mag, nail head pickups are it....
I love how these sound! On the guitar, they sound a bit darker to my ears than the ones on the vintage Les Paul, and that's a very good thing. For 11 years I played with a guy who was a Peter Greene disciple and absolutely screamed on the Les Paul Epi. Something like this would have been a nice break. 😁 And the bass set have a nice growl to them that I'm not used to hearing, and that sounds different and cool too. It's fun to listen to Mick play, don't think I've heard him play the same thing twice. That's a good musical friend to have. Looking forward to seeing how your pickups develop. Thanks for sharing!
I'm loving watching you develop as a Craftsman and an artist. Seriously considering grabbing one of those reclaimed nail humbuckers.... Going to have to check the price on the website
Can old wall wart power supplies be used for the wire? Likely too far down the rabbit hole, if not impossible. Great vid.I love it when people challenge what can be done with what is at hand.
What's to say... as by now you managed to build yourself almost every piece of gear, except from tuners (and I guess they're not something that can be done more budget friendly than to just buy them). As for the sounds, that's great... the difference from your takes to the 9nes we heard today is impressive and shows that is is not tonewood, it is not pick ups, but is the actual speakers you use that make the tone.
I like them! Especially the neck pick up was terrific. The bridge on the headless possibly a touch too ice pick for my ears but not a bad sound to be heard
Pretty much all bridge pickups make me want to run away screaming by themselves, lol. But yes, in a live band situation that can be useful. I added an extra 1000 winds to the bridge humbuckers for sale in my store that will help even that out a little.
It may not have been the intention, and, it may only be to my ears. But, to me, they sounds like Lipstick pickups. They sound like really crisp, really happy pickups.
To me the nail pickups had a bit of that Rickenbacker metalic sound to them wich doesnt sound as smooth as a normal guitar pickup but gives it an amazing tone for some more bitey stuff.
I love the idea of reclaimed materials for use in pickups or guitar building projects, this video was fantastic and the nailbuckers sound great! I was always curious about using reclaimed Cobalt in pickups of some sort, but it doesn't seem like an "easily" reclaimed metal to source (My knowledge of common uses of cobalt is their use in batteries and some other automotive parts...seems a bit less accessible than nails :P )
What a great idea and a resounding success! I liked the pickups, and think you maybe you should contact some other TH-cams that do "blind test" shootouts. It would be fun to find out which pickups we prefer based on tone. The Neodymium bars made me smile. - Brilliant. Regarding design ideas, I think it would be good to have some Humbuckers with adjustable height "screw" pole pieces to help dial in the perfectly balanced sound. Thanks for schooling the tone wood and vintage gear snobs. If it sounds good, it is good. I think Brian May would give you a thumbs up. 👍😎
those humbuckers got a really bright sound, more like single coils. the bass ones sounds nice, bright too, at some point I relate the tone of my idea of a Rickenbacker.
IDEA FOR PICKUPS: It has for sure been done before but pickups that are slidable once in the guitar (or moveable in some way) even rotatable?? Pickup distance and placement plays a huge role in tone (tele middle positions vs strat 2 and 4 position) Would be cool to go down that avenue. Has to be made of unicorn truffle for sure tho
I really liked the bass pickups and those little rail pickups. Unfortunately I don't have anything either of them would fit into! very cool stuff man. I can't wait to see more from you!
A crazy idea that just might work the BC Rich warlock body style but as a 6 string bass and to be extra weird have it be a fretless left handed version
Really awesome sounding pickups! I’m currently fascinated by the alumatone pickups from lace which very expensive but the tech appears very affordable, i played a supro guitar with one in, it sounded fantastic. I’ve tried to make my own but to no avail! Maybe have a crack at that?
@@davidjohnston4240 I would agree, although the guitar I played had plenty of low end as well. I would describe them as ‘clinical’. However with the correct ‘junk’ they should be easy to make and not many people seem to be doing it. I could be wrong all I know is my attempt was unsuccessful to say the least!
Liked & subbed! Making my own gitars for a wile now i cant wait for one of your nailbucker to put in my experimental 🎸👍🤩 Love how they sound! Good video.
cheers. I have a bunch of pickups in stock at newperspectivesmusic.com right now - Not sure if I have any nailbuckers but I will be making more of the newer version again soon.
I probably commented something about screw pole-pieces and how they can be used to tune the inductance of a pickup (although they are probably meant for tuning string to sring balance). This got me thinking... What if there were screws on the bottom side of the pickup between the actual pole pieces that could be screwed in/out to tune the inductance? It would be a bit hard to tune though, as teh pickup would have to be removed for the adjustment.
that is an excellent idea, but I think part of the charm of something like this is how decidedly low tech and low fi it is, yknow? If we want adjustable pole pickups there are much easier ways and plenty of options already available.
I wasn't actually thinking of adjustable pole pieses, but separate adjustable "bit's of core" that would change only the inductance. I can understand the desire for simplicity too though. If it's good and fits the the tone you are aiming for, there is no adjustment needed! Partly I wrote that out just to make myself remember it if I ever decide to try build pickups again. :)
If they weren't so small (from what I've seen), old platter-style computer hard drives use neodymium magnets as the "write" element. If they were big enough, and you had a source from an electronics recycler, you could repurpose them as a source of magnets for the humbuckers. I suspect - based on the ones I've seen - they'd generally be large enough to fit under three poles, so you might be able to create a humbucking strat-type pickup that's polarity-balanced with 3x3 windings.
To my untrained uncouth ear they sounded great, just as good as the old Gibson to me listening on my phone. So hollow core doors, pallets, nails, have you used the old hinges yet? Maybe a sway-o-matic bridge or tail piece?
my very first electric upright base I made circa 1998) had a hinge tailpiece. I thought I was so damn smart. Then social media came around and showed me I was just one of many thinking this way :)
They sound more “Fender-like” single coil pickups than Humbuckers. Too thin to my liking. I personally would use traditional pole pieces. I’m really a P90 type of player that likes a lot of juicy mids.
I am a subscriber and have been following you for about 2 years now. Why? The first video of yours I saw was you making, I believe, ukuleles from hollow core doors. That is something I tried over 20 years ago. I gave up on it because all I had was a scroll saw to cut the panels. No matter what I did it just shredded the panels. I never thought and probably never heard of a laser cutter at that time. Anyway I like your desire to build from discarded items. Now to learn pick-ups can be built with nails. I may need to invest in one of those winder machines. I'll be watching.
I’d have to say, I think you nailed it!😉
You, my friend, win the comments competition.
Ouch.
And just like that... Extreme puns became a sport
Best coment !
wow! what a revelation, i even heard strat tones coming out at times. these instruments and pickups are really challenging the gear snob preconceptions and that's a good thing.
This is a compliment.(no sarcasm)
The 'rat rod' of guitars!
Just my opinion...If you truly like music...well focus on that instead of how expensive the 'gear' or brand.
Example.
The concert halls may be packed, but listening to children singing their best...maybe not so great...priceless.🤗
well said. If you REALLY want better tone, put away your wallet and practice :)
@@timsway Totally agree!👍
@@timsway now you tell me after 100s of guitars and a undisclosed amount of moolah!!!
@@kirkscobey3031 lol
A whole revolution friend Tim
Wow I love the sound of the all reclaimed nails pickup and the rail pickup! Great job!! What an original sound just amazing..
Those clean tones!!! That was remarkable.
When I saw the first video on the NAILBUCKER I was certain you would get SOME sort of noise or sound it didn't think a nail was enough mass. I was dead wrong, I salute your results. You never fail to impress.
WOW! They sound great! So many unique voicings out of each instrument. I was especially impressed with the Nailbuckers. Great job and thanks for taking us along on these builds.
I love the sound with the "Only Nail Buckets". It sounds pretty dang good.
You did a great job with those. Surprised at how good they sounded
If I had the money I would buy a set for my GGBO build!!! Love the idea of making custom shaped pickups and not just conforming to "the standard" designs 😀
Idea for some pickups: rail-humbuckers. Idea for a guitar: made entirely from an old piano, including tuners and pickups.
Strings, too? Seems logical. Tim, there's an idea: If you find a junk piano, take it and make guitars out of it. Bonus points if those guitars sound piano-y.
I like this idea, minus the tuners. I don’t know anyone that wants to actually try to make those haha
I have built a couple lyres using the tuning pegs from a 1950s piano. Put in a hardwood they can hold quite a bit of tension. The main downside is having to keep a piano tuning wrench with the intrument.
Dude! They all sounded great, but the bass was beastly!
HAH! I love it, Tim. I've got my own set of experimental/illegal neodymium pickups in an old Yamaha Pacifica I refurbished. I straight up took the existing single coils and replaced the old magnets with neodymium ones. It sounds absolutely killer! And to my knowledge, there's no reason at all why they can't be used other than the "tradition" established over the last few decades of pickup making.
Guitarfetish actually makes production neo pickups. Got a set in my tele. So not so crazy of an idea.
I saw few soviet era guitars with one-slug pickup for each strings. It would be interesting to have those 6 mini pickups, each ones being mounted on a rail so you could use your finger to change each pickup position on the guitar. Also, with 1-slug pickup we'd be able to design a system with 6 switches that could deactivate any pickup we want to perfectly mute a string. That's one of several guitar concepts I imagined.
there was a guy with a biz called Linear Pickups that was basically what you describe about 20 years ago. Last I heard he got in some trouble with the law and shut down. I still have a few of his pickup "bullets" laying around. I was using them for custom electric upright bass pickups.
gd
i sure love everythign about those nail humbuckers and the modularity of them and the availability and clarity gd
Cool dude! I'm an old rocker (still rockin) that has started doing creative builds like you. 2018 I said I would start this hobby. Now at 40 guitars and bass's it's turned into a labor of love. I used mostly Duncan's in all of this because of tried and true. I use to push Rio Grande in the past. Building relics has a place for your stuff.
Need to sample a guitar HB,,and yes 👍 up on the bass man.
I vaguely remembered your first video.
Keep on!!!
Herndon.
friend ..i would say this was a great success..they did indeed have there own distinct tone and it was actually surprisingly good and dynamic with tonal variations of the phase switches..2 thumbs up on this success..be well my friend.
Very cool. There are not many options for 5 string bass pickups. Now I'm getting ideas.
Those Bass pick-ups were fire, great set of tones there to work with. Keep up the experimentation. Loved the sounds of the all nail buckers as well.
I love the ethos Tim, you do such great work with reclaimed materials. I'm super excited about the rail pickups. I've always loved danelectro lipstick pickups, and I like the story of them repurposing lipstick tubes. I wonder if there's a modern equivalent. Like old copper pipes or pvc pipes or medicine bottles or something 🤔
Yea, that's what I've been thinking about next: what readily accesible product could I use that's often heading for the waste stream. medicine bottles and pvc pipe cutoffs were two I was already thinking about!
Damn nice. Sounds like a lipstick made with goldfoil inards. I would love a set of singles to try in a jaguar.
They sound beautiful. Love the idea of a guitar made with reclaimed materials. So much demystification in one video.
Damn! Those original nailbuckers on the plywood guitar sound amazing! I really, really love the way they sound. On the other hand, my experience has been that any guitar or bass sounds pretty good through a VT-22 (mine's a '72)...
Well done Tim this is exciting! That rail pickup was my favorite. You are right, your bass sounds awesome.
Sounds amazing , I like those pickups and this clean tone they produce is so clear and beautiful
Great work man
Tim, your amazing! I love the sound of the all nail hum-bucker.
Those sounded fantastic, especially the bass. Really cool.
How about some pickups made from meteor rock, crushed by hand, the dust pressed together with black rhino placentae epoxy to form 1 micron thin film which are then laminated to form the shape of the moon.
With nails and stuff.
I was quite skeptical, but loved these. They have lots of useful sounds and it felt like Mick got way more inspired playing them than the Les Paul baseline.
Those bass pickups are AWESOME! Love that neck pickup.
Tim, you always make the neatest gear! You have inspired me: I’ve made a parlor acoustic from a broken acoustic found along the road; an acoustic case from a mobile home panel; and a couple of acoustics from local walnut. Thanks for the inspiration and for the always interesting videos. 👍
That bass sounded very unique. Great stuff, Tim! Always inspirational.
Mick reminds me a lot of what Randy Rhodes might look like if he had lived
Well done Tim! I always like seeing someone buck the trend and go their own way. Those buckers sounded great and with a little more tweaking, you will really have something unique my friend! 👍👍👏👏🎸🎸
A multi effect pick up, with different switches to pick or combine different effects together without even having to have pedals.
“Pedals in a Pickup” 🤘🏼
they do make onboard effects you can wire in to your instrument. I did a crazy version of one with a full Sehat effect pedal inside. th-cam.com/video/IeIo1S-end4/w-d-xo.html
@@timsway First off, idk how in the world I missed that video, but pardon my perfect English when I say that was fucking awesome!!
On a guitar though, a switch for octave shift (either up or down).
A switch to give it sustain.
(Or even a button like a kill switch instead of a normal switch, so you can hold it down yourself 🤷🏻♂️)
And maybe a good fuzz.
You could get some cool sounds out of that combo I bet!
Wow Tim Love the nailbuckers and they are perfect for a project guitar I have on the bench!
god i love hearing him play your guitars man
Hey this is great.
I reeeeeeeally want to try making pickups as well. Don't have the resources to get a winding machine currently, but I'll keep watching yours and other folks' inspiring work so that when I'm ready to start it'll be a surprise when the first ones don't work. 😆
That rail pickup sounded great!
Turn the bobbin 90 degrees. Sidewinders like Lace Sensors and Q-Tuners have a very narrow aperture, and thus have incredible high end response for a bucker. I think the all nail and bass pickups sound really great. Interested to see where this goes.
would love to see some low-Z, full-range pickups. the ones that are out there are way expensive and over-engineered for what they are. just a simple 400-500 turn balanced output pup that will play nicely with a normal everyday mic pre and capture all those frequencies above 9kHz that normal pickups filter out.
Neodynium magnet is very good!
Love it!
Would love to see some more recycled plastics ideas, maybe even multi layer coloured plastics sandwiched together like skateboard timber.
today's video is literally a plastic guitar with a cloth micarta fingerboard. lol.
Phenomenal stuff! Always a delight to see/hear what you’ve come up with and never a disappointment 😎 🎸 Mick is a fab guitarist too, what a treat all round!
I really love the sound of the second guitar! I guess the sort of hybrid nailbuckers
In Mick’s hands the original Nailbuckers made me think that Rory Gallagher might have liked to try one of yours! The NailOnly ones had a lovley, open sound I liked a lot. And your Bass PUs are complete, no fettling needed!
Sadly, I don’t need any of them, but I’ll be sure to share this video with anyone who might!
They sound 😃 great!!!!!
Love your philosophy to making anything. Very cool
16:50 Kudos ... obviously
I am always amazed at your ideas. The nailbuckers are really cool, I love the ascetics, and I was getting some real Lemmy/Rickenbacker vibes from the bass pickups, while having their own voice.
Oh, forgot to mention the rails. They were super cool.
Truly inspired!!! Mr Sway, you're right up there with that other group of guitar makers in terms of overall awesomeness, that being cigarbox guitar makers! Keep up the great work. And those rare earth mag, nail head pickups are it....
Love the bass sounds and the rail pickup at the end.
Hey, can you make a tutorial on those Beautiful X dots on the headless guitar?
different more complex design, but this shows you exactly how I do them: th-cam.com/video/xWYXznqhgGU/w-d-xo.html
@@timsway thank you, you're amazing
Yes Cinderalla! You can use neodynium magnets. The universe will not collapse.
Nissssssssssssssssssce 🍻
Sounds fantastic!🏆
I love how these sound! On the guitar, they sound a bit darker to my ears than the ones on the vintage Les Paul, and that's a very good thing. For 11 years I played with a guy who was a Peter Greene disciple and absolutely screamed on the Les Paul Epi. Something like this would have been a nice break. 😁 And the bass set have a nice growl to them that I'm not used to hearing, and that sounds different and cool too. It's fun to listen to Mick play, don't think I've heard him play the same thing twice. That's a good musical friend to have. Looking forward to seeing how your pickups develop. Thanks for sharing!
in fairness to the bass, half the growl is the vintage bassman being pushed :)
I'm loving watching you develop as a Craftsman and an artist. Seriously considering grabbing one of those reclaimed nail humbuckers.... Going to have to check the price on the website
The clean sound @6:06 is just phenomenal. I want one of these in my next jazz box for sure. Oh, and a set of single coils for my strat too please!
Can old wall wart power supplies be used for the wire? Likely too far down the rabbit hole, if not impossible. Great vid.I love it when people challenge what can be done with what is at hand.
Entertaining. Enticing. If you can use nails and rails, could you use springs?
Hmmm…. ;)
The original nailbucker in the headless guitar sounds gnarly. That’s something id gladly buy and mess around with.
What's to say... as by now you managed to build yourself almost every piece of gear, except from tuners (and I guess they're not something that can be done more budget friendly than to just buy them).
As for the sounds, that's great... the difference from your takes to the 9nes we heard today is impressive and shows that is is not tonewood, it is not pick ups, but is the actual speakers you use that make the tone.
I have some plans to make better bridges in house and the tuners will come, some day. That's a tougher one to crack without a full machine shop
That rail sounds really nice...lots of possibilities there.
I like them! Especially the neck pick up was terrific. The bridge on the headless possibly a touch too ice pick for my ears but not a bad sound to be heard
I think it could work well with the right pedal and amp. In a band situation, it could be great to cut through.
Pretty much all bridge pickups make me want to run away screaming by themselves, lol. But yes, in a live band situation that can be useful. I added an extra 1000 winds to the bridge humbuckers for sale in my store that will help even that out a little.
Height adjustment would probably solve that issue.
It may not have been the intention, and, it may only be to my ears. But, to me, they sounds like Lipstick pickups. They sound like really crisp, really happy pickups.
To me the nail pickups had a bit of that Rickenbacker metalic sound to them wich doesnt sound as smooth as a normal guitar pickup but gives it an amazing tone for some more bitey stuff.
That has to be the coolest thing ever with the pickups
I love the idea of reclaimed materials for use in pickups or guitar building projects, this video was fantastic and the nailbuckers sound great! I was always curious about using reclaimed Cobalt in pickups of some sort, but it doesn't seem like an "easily" reclaimed metal to source (My knowledge of common uses of cobalt is their use in batteries and some other automotive parts...seems a bit less accessible than nails :P )
With the headless axe, I think I heard some Tom Sholz Rockman gear sounds.
Wow - those sound awesome.
I agree, you nailed it!!!!!
Absolutely love the nail head pickups ❤️
What a great idea and a resounding success! I liked the pickups, and think you maybe you should contact some other TH-cams that do "blind test" shootouts. It would be fun to find out which pickups we prefer based on tone. The Neodymium bars made me smile. - Brilliant. Regarding design ideas, I think it would be good to have some Humbuckers with adjustable height "screw" pole pieces to help dial in the perfectly balanced sound. Thanks for schooling the tone wood and vintage gear snobs. If it sounds good, it is good. I think Brian May would give you a thumbs up. 👍😎
Great video. Nice way to compare and analyze. Pickups are awesome. Mahalo for sharing! : ) P.S. I use my CENTERSQWAYRE all the time!
Awesome to hear
I think you nailed it🤘
those humbuckers got a really bright sound, more like single coils. the bass ones sounds nice, bright too, at some point I relate the tone of my idea of a Rickenbacker.
love it
Those rail pickups... wow!
IDEA FOR PICKUPS: It has for sure been done before but pickups that are slidable once in the guitar (or moveable in some way) even rotatable?? Pickup distance and placement plays a huge role in tone (tele middle positions vs strat 2 and 4 position) Would be cool to go down that avenue. Has to be made of unicorn truffle for sure tho
I’ve seen a few designs like that. It’s a fun concept
I really liked the bass pickups and those little rail pickups. Unfortunately I don't have anything either of them would fit into! very cool stuff man. I can't wait to see more from you!
cheers. I may make a drop in P-bass style pickup eventually, I have some ideas...
The nail pickups sounds good!
Sounds beautiful! Safe to say I preferred the tones from yours more than the Les Paul in this video!
Awesome work Tim.
A crazy idea that just might work the BC Rich warlock body style but as a 6 string bass and to be extra weird have it be a fretless left handed version
I made a 5 string very similar to that, once. There's a video on my channel about it. If someone orders it, I'll make it for them!
You totally should try half-rail half-dot pickup, dots for 6,5,4 and rail for 3,2,1.
Really awesome sounding pickups!
I’m currently fascinated by the alumatone pickups from lace which very expensive but the tech appears very affordable, i played a supro guitar with one in, it sounded fantastic. I’ve tried to make my own but to no avail! Maybe have a crack at that?
I have alumatone pickups in one of my guitars. They sound like normal pickups. Maybe on the bright end.
@@davidjohnston4240 I would agree, although the guitar I played had plenty of low end as well. I would describe them as ‘clinical’.
However with the correct ‘junk’ they should be easy to make and not many people seem to be doing it. I could be wrong all I know is my attempt was unsuccessful to say the least!
I have plans of making a diddlybo this summer. Perhaps I need to build my own pickups for it.
Thanks, & once again- the nails nailed it !
Brilliant! Here's to busting myths about magnets and wood and making cool art!
Liked & subbed! Making my own gitars for a wile now i cant wait for one of your nailbucker to put in my experimental 🎸👍🤩
Love how they sound!
Good video.
cheers. I have a bunch of pickups in stock at newperspectivesmusic.com right now - Not sure if I have any nailbuckers but I will be making more of the newer version again soon.
I love your channel! These pickups are awesome!
7 and 8 string versions of your nail-buckers.
Sounds like success!
So many ideas come to mind. I'm wondering how those uniquely shaped antique metal lipstick tubes would sound?
I love the sound of them
I probably commented something about screw pole-pieces and how they can be used to tune the inductance of a pickup (although they are probably meant for tuning string to sring balance). This got me thinking... What if there were screws on the bottom side of the pickup between the actual pole pieces that could be screwed in/out to tune the inductance? It would be a bit hard to tune though, as teh pickup would have to be removed for the adjustment.
that is an excellent idea, but I think part of the charm of something like this is how decidedly low tech and low fi it is, yknow? If we want adjustable pole pickups there are much easier ways and plenty of options already available.
I wasn't actually thinking of adjustable pole pieses, but separate adjustable "bit's of core" that would change only the inductance. I can understand the desire for simplicity too though. If it's good and fits the the tone you are aiming for, there is no adjustment needed!
Partly I wrote that out just to make myself remember it if I ever decide to try build pickups again. :)
If they weren't so small (from what I've seen), old platter-style computer hard drives use neodymium magnets as the "write" element. If they were big enough, and you had a source from an electronics recycler, you could repurpose them as a source of magnets for the humbuckers. I suspect - based on the ones I've seen - they'd generally be large enough to fit under three poles, so you might be able to create a humbucking strat-type pickup that's polarity-balanced with 3x3 windings.
yes! I used store-bought bar magnets, but there's no reason I couldn't use more, smaller magnets upcycled from other things.
To my untrained uncouth ear they sounded great, just as good as the old Gibson to me listening on my phone. So hollow core doors, pallets, nails, have you used the old hinges yet? Maybe a sway-o-matic bridge or tail piece?
Hinges for bridges are a staple on cigar box guitars.
my very first electric upright base I made circa 1998) had a hinge tailpiece. I thought I was so damn smart. Then social media came around and showed me I was just one of many thinking this way :)
Holy Cr@p Tim! You Nailed It!!
Looks like you took like a duck to water as far as winding pickups goes. Way to wind brother.
They sound more “Fender-like” single coil pickups than Humbuckers. Too thin to my liking. I personally would use traditional pole pieces. I’m really a P90 type of player that likes a lot of juicy mids.
Now, a Nail 90 would get my interest.
I got a cheapo "strat" with p90's, and it has really piqued my interest. There's some good tones in there!
I am a subscriber and have been following you for about 2 years now. Why? The first video of yours I saw was you making, I believe, ukuleles from hollow core doors. That is something I tried over 20 years ago. I gave up on it because all I had was a scroll saw to cut the panels. No matter what I did it just shredded the panels. I never thought and probably never heard of a laser cutter at that time. Anyway I like your desire to build from discarded items.
Now to learn pick-ups can be built with nails. I may need to invest in one of those winder machines.
I'll be watching.
You need to sandwich the door between scraps to avoid blow-out when cutting thin plys.
I think they sound great!