Maybe this is obvious, but for emphasis... Not only does the tester provide the convenience of not having to re-string the guitar, for testing pickups, the tester also provides a consistent, static, repeatable test tone, with which to do precise characterization of a pickup. That would be very useful for folks that wind their own pickups, in search of their own signature sound. For that type of testing, the function generator approach might have additional merit.
Super clever!!! Thanks for sharing! You claim that you used a square wave, in order to hear all the harmonics. But, you aren't fooling me... You just want to rock out! lol... I take it that the purchase/use of the Telecaster pickup was simply for the convenience of not having to wind a coil for the purpose. I imagine that the coil needs to be little more than a wooden stick, having a length of the width of common pickups, and so many turns of magnet wire of a sufficient diameter. It would be great, if you/OHEE, or another commenter, would give us the details for the wire and windings. I do not have that knowledge. Another cheap and useful tool for generating the needed frequency might be to build one of those Asian Function Generator kits. They are so inexpensive as to be price competitive with ordering the needed 555 parts. You would gain the extra functions of the generator for other uses. Should someone want to build/use such a generator, please know that the Asian kits have quirks. There are several YT videos on the corrections to be made. Those bodges are not too complicated. Of course, you would not use the the 555 timing portion of OHEE's circuit; you would probably want to keep the amplification portion, though. Perhaps OHEE would clue us in on how to tie the function generator to the amplification circuit? All good fun and very inspiring; thank you, OHEE! Cheers.
Yet another thought... For folks that have a signal injector function on their signal tracer, might that be used as the signal source? I know that the older ones use tubes/high voltage. Would there be dangers lurking about? That is not an issue, with OHEE's battery operated/isolated solution. The narrow contact point of the injector's probe might also be useful in finding an individual weak/unbalanced magnet.
Very clever! I couldn't be bothered about getting so close to 1000Hz; I don't keep a complete E96 assortment on hand and it's just a test signal with some high frequency hash. I'm sure it would work just fine at a slightly lower frequency with an 8.2K resistor. In fact, this is just a whisker away from the octave above A-440. (EDIT because I didn't bother doing the math first.) I wonder if the probe calibration signal on an oscilloscope spits out enough current to drive a pickup coil. If not, it could easily be passed through an emitter follower. Not quite as portable, but it's a convenient signal source if you already have the scope nearby.
Thanks for the comment. The choice of 1kHz was quite arbitrary. I should have pointed that out in the video. My modern day DSO probe calibrator puts out 5V, which would be plenty. I didn't think of that. I imagine most guitar tinkerers would not have an oscilloscope.
@@oldhackee3915 I know it's a nominal 5V, but what I don't know is if that's at enough current for a pickup coil to produce enough of a signal for another coil to pick it up; a vibrating guitar string dissipates a lot of energy. Anyway, I have a background in classical music, so I was more than a bit amused to find that E12 values give a frequency so close to standard concert tuning. (In fact, it would probably be a more stable reference than a pitch pipe, and this could easily be used to induce vibration in the A string. Imagine an orchestra tuning to the guitar instead of the oboe! lol) I wonder what topology modern DSOs use for the probe cal signal: I've never looked into that. I wouldn't be surprised if it's this.
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Maybe this is obvious, but for emphasis... Not only does the tester provide the convenience of not having to re-string the guitar, for testing pickups, the tester also provides a consistent, static, repeatable test tone, with which to do precise characterization of a pickup. That would be very useful for folks that wind their own pickups, in search of their own signature sound. For that type of testing, the function generator approach might have additional merit.
Super clever!!! Thanks for sharing! You claim that you used a square wave, in order to hear all the harmonics. But, you aren't fooling me... You just want to rock out! lol... I take it that the purchase/use of the Telecaster pickup was simply for the convenience of not having to wind a coil for the purpose. I imagine that the coil needs to be little more than a wooden stick, having a length of the width of common pickups, and so many turns of magnet wire of a sufficient diameter. It would be great, if you/OHEE, or another commenter, would give us the details for the wire and windings. I do not have that knowledge. Another cheap and useful tool for generating the needed frequency might be to build one of those Asian Function Generator kits. They are so inexpensive as to be price competitive with ordering the needed 555 parts. You would gain the extra functions of the generator for other uses. Should someone want to build/use such a generator, please know that the Asian kits have quirks. There are several YT videos on the corrections to be made. Those bodges are not too complicated. Of course, you would not use the the 555 timing portion of OHEE's circuit; you would probably want to keep the amplification portion, though. Perhaps OHEE would clue us in on how to tie the function generator to the amplification circuit? All good fun and very inspiring; thank you, OHEE! Cheers.
Thanks for the comment. You could wind your own, but for $11, I couldn't resist the Tele neck pickup.
Yet another thought... For folks that have a signal injector function on their signal tracer, might that be used as the signal source? I know that the older ones use tubes/high voltage. Would there be dangers lurking about? That is not an issue, with OHEE's battery operated/isolated solution. The narrow contact point of the injector's probe might also be useful in finding an individual weak/unbalanced magnet.
What I use is my smartphone loudspeaker. Once it is close enough to the pickups, whatever plays through the loudspeaker is received by the pickups.
Very cool.
Very clever! I couldn't be bothered about getting so close to 1000Hz; I don't keep a complete E96 assortment on hand and it's just a test signal with some high frequency hash. I'm sure it would work just fine at a slightly lower frequency with an 8.2K resistor. In fact, this is just a whisker away from the octave above A-440. (EDIT because I didn't bother doing the math first.)
I wonder if the probe calibration signal on an oscilloscope spits out enough current to drive a pickup coil. If not, it could easily be passed through an emitter follower. Not quite as portable, but it's a convenient signal source if you already have the scope nearby.
Thanks for the comment. The choice of 1kHz was quite arbitrary. I should have pointed that out in the video. My modern day DSO probe calibrator puts out 5V, which would be plenty. I didn't think of that. I imagine most guitar tinkerers would not have an oscilloscope.
@@oldhackee3915 I know it's a nominal 5V, but what I don't know is if that's at enough current for a pickup coil to produce enough of a signal for another coil to pick it up; a vibrating guitar string dissipates a lot of energy. Anyway, I have a background in classical music, so I was more than a bit amused to find that E12 values give a frequency so close to standard concert tuning. (In fact, it would probably be a more stable reference than a pitch pipe, and this could easily be used to induce vibration in the A string. Imagine an orchestra tuning to the guitar instead of the oboe! lol)
I wonder what topology modern DSOs use for the probe cal signal: I've never looked into that. I wouldn't be surprised if it's this.