I love that you don't even pretend to care about all the garbage tone guys say and instead you prefer to work with actual science that you can prove, thank you for that
Hahaha Thanks bro, I love retro gear and the coolness of something old that has a story, cloth wire is cool, I thinks tubes are cool but yeah, a lot of the things people believe in are not based on science... Its like well maybe the caps in an old guitar get leaky and the guitar sounds better and brighter over time but if you'd have put a weaker cap in on day 1... it'd had been better always. Also If they could build it in the 50s from everyday available items so can you... They were just trying to get the cost down... Thats why they chose that paint or wire or etc etc.. it was cheap or what was available. Thanks again R+.
7:00 "Uh oh, it's not a blend of paraffin and tone wax from magical unicorn bees from the north hemisphere of Venus!" Hahahaha, I died at this. xD Your videos are both hilarious and very informative!
That’s the way I like it - nice and simple explanations. I run a web development company and learned to keep explanations as simple as possible. Love your humor and I’ve learned a lot about magnetization, resistance and output. Awesome!
Thank you so much. I dont know a whole damn lot myself as Im self educated so I may have to self correct but Ill share what I learn and show what I try.
Just saw this in my recommendations, watched and subbed immediately! Great, informative video-I've been experimenting with diy pickups for years, but this has given me some great ideas. I think a lot of tone purists overlook the fact that it all starts in the fingers. Great vid, thank you, and best wishes from 🇬🇧 👍🎸
'djent time!' I'd already subscribed by that point but I'll be looking through your back catalog now, you've got a brilliant mix of humour and crazy good ideas going here. I'll have to keep an eye out for some crappy pickups to wrench on, this looks like an incredibly fun pastime. Looking forward to seeing more, keep it up, this is fantastic!
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to leave such kind words Gareth, I unfortunately was absent for quite a while but I will be making more videos soon. Thanks again
The late Robbie Robertson had a second pickup snuggled against the bridge pickup in one of his Strats. I had always thought he was combining the two coils in a manner similar to what you've done here. But it turned out that he simply hated the way the middle pickup got in the way of his picking style, so he asked his luthier to move it over and out of the way. That said, note that the original Fender Wide-Range Humbuckers *were* essentially two separate pickups, wired up RWRP to cancel hum, and wedged into one shell. I had bought one when they first came out, and dissected it. Where conventional PAF-style humbuckers have a row of slugs in each coil, magnetically coupled underneath by a bar magnet, the WRHBs are two independent coils with their own set of CuNiFe polepieces and *NO* magnetic coupling underneath. It's possible that the baseplate provided *some* degree of coupling, but I can't confirm. After all, it's been 50 years since I took that pickup apart (and later sold the guitar it was in). BUT, the threaded polepieces could be made to protrude out the bottom of the baseplate through holes that were wider than the polepieces and precluded contact between the polepieces and baseplate. So if the baseplate WAS ferromagnetic, and permitted any coil-coupling underneath, it would have been very weak. As an aside, I wired up a dual HB Vantage guitar I bought 2nd hand (I think the double creme pickups are Schaller), using a Peavey T-60 tone control for the bridge pickup. Those pan from single coil, thru to dual coil, and finally dual-coil with treble cut - bright-n-thin to thick-and-dark. I also wired up a phase-reverse switch for that pickup. Much to my great surprise, when in single-coil-only mode, the coil closer to the bridge sounded *quite* different than the coil further from the bridge. Hard to believe such a small difference in bridge-to-coil distance would matter, but it does. Of course, that is precisely why Fender angles the bridge pickups on Teles and Strats, to move the polepieces for lower strings a little farther away. That also seems to be part of the strategy underlying the WRHBs, whose threaded polepieces can be adjusted to mimic an "angled" humbucker.
Thank you so much Carter Kline. I'm so glad you can understand the point of what I'm trying to do here and can handle my weird hack approach and unorthodox attitude. I appreciate the viewership and support. Thanks again.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave such kind and encouraging words Ryan. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I have been very busy with life stuff lately as its just that time of year but when it gets hot the video output will ramp back up. Thanks again
I've watched many videos in reference to all this electricity, synthesis and all that. Watching stuff unrelated to music I started to notice a lot of the music posts were just parrots. Thank you for making feel like I'm not an idiot because I kept questioning what I was watching and just started to think I needed a lot more studying. What's up bud? You wanna start a band? I'm just throwing it out there to random people. Something bluesy, never really had the chance to play much of that with anyone. All my homies grindcore, lol. Cheers and thank you for the experiments. They have definitely pushed me to keep diving in!
Thank you Kenneth. I will try to start gathering up the things I need to do a 1 to 1 comparison with all the diy pickups against similar store-bought counterparts.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment mel. I am glad you found all this info to be useful. Well I am still alive by a thread Hhahahaha naw Im good I was just taking an extended break. I do that from time to tuime but I was working on stuff in the back ground I gots lots of stuff recorded during that time and I got plans for a lot more.
@@heavymetalATCAwesome, glad to hear you are okay and doing your stuff, I know how life is right hahahhaaa I have a question about this humbucker project, would it works if I use the steel backplate on a normal humbucker with their normal magnet bar? I'm not looking for the strongest humbucker in the world for my project, but I really fancy the clarity from the humbucker you built on this video
Hey Clem. I got a lot of stuff to give you. I would like you to have more stuff in the closet so to speak. Amp stuff mostly and guitar parts. How do I get in touch with you? Thanks Jack
I'm making a humbucker out of two of those fake covered humbucker single-coils some of the old Japanese 'lawsuit' guitars had. This vid helped me get my head on straight. Thanks 🤟🤘
I have wondered if sticking two Strat pickups together and wire in series, what it would sound like. The side benefit is you could coil split and have a REAL single coil tone. If you have a single coil guitar, you could wire it with a push pull and run middle in series with the bridge, and middle with the neck. Adding two options to the five way switch. Of course these options wouldn’t involve changing the slug magnets for the back type like you have done. I do think adding a ferrous back plate is a great idea and can be added as well. Very enjoyable video thanks for sharing!
I did this with a pair of regular alnico polepiece Strat pickups a few years ago. Remagnetised one to opposite polarity and wired them like a normal humbucker. I've also done it with two P90 coils.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment JM. ooh I bet those alnicos were sparkly, I love p90s as well, I may have to try some of these out someday.
Yo man, i had the idea of trying this so i looked for a video like this one and im gonna admit i used your method but used a janky backplate and holy shit it does exactly what i want it to lmao, it screams. cheers man.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to come back and type out an update red velvet, That is Awesome. I am soooo Glad it worked out for you! I really appreciate the feedback. Yeah as long as you got something back there holding it all together so it don't rattle your good and if it can help wrangle that magnetism even better. I'm stoked to hear that you tried it and that it worked out to your liking.
This pickup is epic, it has a very high output (bc of neodymium magnets) but still preserved the clarity (bc it's underwounded cheap pickups). maybe with re-adjusting the pickup's pole height it'll sound better, coz i think it's kinda slightly muddy on bass side but nice, clear, PAF like on treble side. i hope, in the next video you'll make a 50s strat pickups out of cheapest strat pickup xD.. this channel is great, just subscribed to your channel
Thank you so much fm146. Yes they have the vintage pole heights all mismatched looking. I just threw this together in a hurry to show a concept to the viewers. Great suggestion! I will put that in the note pad and try to order some alnico pole magnets and If or when I run out of projects I will do that and give you a shout-out on the video. Thanks for subscribing anyone who gets what it is I'm doing here and can handle my unorthodox approach and attitude is awesome in my book.. or crazy like me but, all the best people are. LOL
@@fm1467 I'll try to keep them coming I may have to switch to one upload a week in the spring but I'll try to make it a good one until it gets too hot and I can do 2 again.
Thanks for taking the time to comment Bash. Excellent suggestion I will put that on the video idea list. I think there is a lot of mystique around those pickups but they are VERY simple. I think I have the supplies to make one out of copper. The "Copper Tone SPF45" LOL Thanks bro.
Thank you so much Alex. I don't know what it is in me that makes me have to do this stuff but I might as well share my findings. Feel free to use any of the ideas you see on the channel I don't have patent #s. LOL! Thanks again I'm glad you get what I'm trying to do.
@@heavymetalATC I made a few guitar kit and and did some rebuilt, as well as a lap steel slide guitar out of 2x4s, you are an amazing inspiration for me to start making a guitar from scratch, all the debunking you do give me more confidence in doing so. 🤘🤘
Loved this. I wanted to learn more about pickups before buying a new one (was looking at an invader) but after this video instead of dropping a load of money on a brand I'm gonna buy some magnets and do some tinkering. I'm thinking a neodymium with 2 ceramic magnets either side. Still an insane pickup but not AS insane is what I'm hoping for, unless mixing magnets would cause an issue? Thoughts?
This is kinda like the idea behind the Seymour Duncan SH-3 Stag Mag. It makes for a high output humbucker that splits perfectly into a great sounding single-coil. Your pickup goes beyond that idea a bit though! Btw: Music Man uses neodymium magnets in their modern Stingray pickups (and they sound great). Q-tuner has made both guitar humbuckers, guitar single-coils, bass humbuckers and bass single-coils with neodymium magnets for ages. From what I've heard they have a very hi-fi sound with a balanced frequency range that greatly surpasses the human hearing. A lot of people who like active pickups, but don't want the hassle of using batteries, use Q-tuners. They are becoming especially popular today with all of the extended range instruments like 8- and 9-string guitars that needs a balanced tone with great string separation and good clarity to not sound like muddy shit.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write all this info nj. I have been waiting for the neo pickups to start getting more popular when the amp modeling folks figure out how clean and solid pristine of a signal you can get to manipulate and change itll be on.
Steel backplate vintage coil pickups are sold at a premium for those who like them. GFS sells them under the name gold foil although it also uses that name for other things but...
Just found the channel.this is the best channel I have ever seen on guitar based stuff, every other channel takes things a little too serious.god bless.
Thank you so much. I try to make it all accessable and just hack stuff together on the cheap for knowledge and experimentation sake. Have a blessed day as well. ❤️
Crazy suggestion - try to reproduce the DiMarzio X2N design, the magnet bar (neodimium -- i see you have some) inside the coils, the baseplate 1.5-2mm steel. Baseplate must be like standart hambucker-shape. I hope your magnets have side-edge-polarity magnetisation. )))
I asked myself exactly that about the polarity of the magnets. For it to work "perfectly" I guess the middle one should be side to side like normal humbuckers and the outer ones top to bottom.
Bro I am everybit of the redneck you could imagine I am and maybe worse and also every bit of a nerd one might think I could be. I learned how to hunt, gut, skin and cook squirrels around the same time I was learning how to manually type up directory queries in ms-dos on my tandy 1000 so I could play Advanced dungeons and dragons "hillsfar" > C: DIR _ copyhill.exe _... >C: Hillsfar: Main.exe Now go get a snack while it loads it aint frozen that black screen will go away in a few mins. That sht was skyrim in the 80s like you could enter buildings and pick locks and steal items. Hahahahaha
Like the video and the think outside the box attitude. (Not to mention you sound like you could be related to Hank Hill, but so do I, so I feel like I'm right at home here)
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind comment R Davis. Hey, thats my youtube voice too. The Muscle Shoals area accent is toned waaay down. Ways I figure ifen I tawked tha way I normly does I recon Aint pert nairry a sangle individule gon' know whatn tha sam hell im tryna git at. Hahaha.
I just found your stuff and I freakin love your channel! I stopped subscribing to stuff years ago, but i made an exception for you. I've got a bunch of these single coils and cheap strats. What is the best thing i could do with them? What is your favourites so far?
If you are wanting to really check out how strong a pickup is you could attach it to an AC millivolt meter and checkout how much signal it is actually producing. Maybe do it with a fixed load, that way it would be a fair test between various pickups.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave such an intelligent and well thought out comment Xanataph.You are exactly right, it may be hard to catch a peak on an multi-meter but an oscilloscope would be perfect. I may try this in the future and see what kind of readings I can get. Thanks again.
@@heavymetalATC Definitely an oscilloscope would be better for catching the peaks. Nevertheless a meter would give a very good average signal indication. And that would be a very fair test for comparing the outputs.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Joel. Oh yeah, I aint into just doing what "has been done" we already know how that works. A failure is just a chance to learn and a success is a chance to share and teach, As well as encourage others to take the experiments further. Thanks again.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a nice comment BF. Actually is just copper and plastic, neodymium and steel. HAHAHA Thanks again man I truly appreciate the compliment.
if you take a cheap hot rail style pickup from ebay and remove the magnet you can put it on top of the pickup betweenthe rails and add a magnet to the bottom that may be a job for the test mule
Thank you so much for watching Jeffery and also for taking the time to write a suggestion. I will put this on my list and if when I use this idea in a video I will give you a shout out. Thanks again bro.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave this humorous comment Mall Ninja, I like that name... funny. Do you have a red dot, 45* flip-ups, 2 lasers and a flashlight with strobe function on your guitar? HAHAHAHA. Thanks again bro, gotta use that tone wax a candle wont do... or maybe yes it will maybe I used elmers school glue before and it worked perfectly. Ugh... people.
Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave a comment Dewayne... and we got to. If we don't roll the bean footage who will get 12 inches of rotating shelled legumes?
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment Chris. WOW! I bet those things bark. If you could get a stronger magnet in there with that much winding you would be able to catch your pedals on fire. LOL
Thank you Petey! I think Seymour Duncan said he wound his first pickup on a record player... that had to take forever. Lets see, if it went to 78rpm and he did 6000 winds that would take. 1 hour 28 mins and 20 seconds. Damn that actually aint bad? Thanks again for watching my junk closet experiment and listening to the accompanying psycho babble LOL
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Yaw. It was just run straight to the jack with alligator clips. Im sure a volume knob and a tone circuit may take the edge off slightly on the high end.
HOLY FUCK, you did what I was thinking about for a while now with Neodymium magnets. Oh, and those keyboard doofuses says they are too powerful, will wreck your tone, man, and at most use Alnico or ceramic, yadda yadda. Love your vid.
Man after reading several of your comments and especially on this one I am so glad to see that you get the point of what I am trying to do on this channel, not all will but when someone does it feels fantastic. Thank you General Awareness.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave a suggestion Najmi. I will put this in my notes and try to remember to get a cheap widerange pickup and If/when I do a video about it I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again for the suggestion.
Thank you Goldey. I could try some experiments off camera and see what I can come up with but that sounds like a tough one. You can tape a peizo element to a drum and get a good out put but building a decent drum mic would be just the same as building a decent mic for vocals but it may be able to be done. A speaker will also work as a mic. Sometime you see a little drum in front of these pro drummers bass drum head (on the audience side) and that is actual a disguised 10-12 inch speaker cone being used as a giant diaphragm mic. The bigger the speaker is the more bass it will record. That's how the Beatles use to record Paul's bass. I will see what I can come up with. Thanks again for the viewership and the kind words as well as the suggestion.
You know, I was thinking on your wax choice, and, well. It's probably the safest wax to use for guitar pickups. It's melting point is lower then paraffin or bees wax, but not so low it'll melt out of the pickups in hot sun. The lower melting point would make it easier to work with, with much less chance for the heat ruining adhesives or enamel coatings or warping plastics. Beeswax would smell better tho. V:
Thank you Alaric. I will admit to not giving it nearly that much thought. Those are great points and observations. Like most things I do its just pretty much a happy accident. I got a huge bag of the pellets at an Amazon return resale place for 50 cents. It was wax so I used it LOL. You are correct about the smell. The first time you melt it, its obnoxious. After about 3 times though it doesn't have much of a smell anymore.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Floyd. You know you may be on to something because it is really a very similar concept of 2 single coils with strong magnets and metal on them in series reverse polarity. I actually didn't think of that? I have done a strat with similar wiring to the red special but I hadn't considered how similar this was. Awesome comment!
Hey clem. Why didn't you take out the original slugs from the pickups is it because they're just stainless steel so that they don't matter or do they have an effect on it? Cool video. I like Neil Diamond pickups myself.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a suggestion Voni. Thats a killer idea, they are very similar to a strat pickup in construction but the look of those shiny tops would be awesome in some kind of like sea-foam green surf caster or something. Im going to put this in my notes... and if/when I use it for a video or in a guitar build on the channel I will give you a shoutout.
I cant djent like it deserves so I just tuned to A and went wacky. I had to laugh at myself. I bet people will think. "Wow he can build a pickup but he sure cant play" LOL
Just a note on a misconception about Magnets and their Magnetic Field: The stronger the magnet, the smaller the geometric footprint of the magnetic field will be. This is due to the fact that what we call the "attractive force" of a magnet, is actually not Magnetism, but rather Dielectric Acceleration. Meaning: there are two phenomenas involved in a magnet: The Dielectric = Pull/Attraction/Centripetal Force & The Magnetic = Push/Repulsion/Centrifugal Force. This means that as the "acceleration" increases (the "pull/strength" of the magnet), the Magnetic field decreases and the field becomes smaller. You can compare it analogously to a form of "compression" of it's strength, making the magnetic field smaller but more powerful. If you put a magnet under a Super-Cell (Holographic Viewing Device that shows the magnetic field) you will see this phenomena with your own eyes. This is why your constriction of the magnetic field results in such a high output. A bit confusing and contrary to popular belief, but clearly evident if you have the correct measuring equipment.
dude I read all this last night and I'm gonna try to soak this in and keep it in mind and yeah i def need to get me one of those little clear rainbow magnet sheets.
Ahh heres another video of building a solid state power amp from a medical device but the technique can be used to make an amp out of almost old any radio or similar device: th-cam.com/video/qiW3ziYSCY4/w-d-xo.html
Does adding more magnets change the sound of the pickup? For example, would the sound have been different if u stacked 3 more magnets either on top of the 3 u already placed on the base plate, or if u placed 3 more magnets on the under side of the base plate?
Oh yeah, everything like that changes the sound... just flipping the magnet to the edge changes the sound... I do plan on getting back to these exact types of experiments on this channel.
With 3 magnets, is it really a humbucker? One set of pole pieces should be north and the other south. Did it work out that way? Also, I found that vinyl coated steel wire wrapped around the pickup (after they're wound of course) does some crazy shit and still sounds awesome. That is kinda-sorta like your steel base plate. Although, what I made was a single coil using square neodymiun magnets in a halbach array.
Thank you so much foe watching and taking the time to comment. I had someone ask the same thing in a pickup building forum and I think it was humbucking in that configuration I had it wired in series and out of phase if my memory serves and it was definitely in phase on the way out? Either way I wouldn't use this much magnet on a guitar for any practical purpose this was just stupidly high output you'd need a noise gate from hell to use it even humbucking. I keep hearing about these halbach arrays, I havent the slightest how it works... need to look into that.
Ok, IF I understand ye correctly, using this shell design with ND magnets and lower output pups allows ye to have the brightness of lower output coils but have a boost in overall output that also doesn't lose as much bass, plus the shape of u-backplate focus more of the magnetic field upwards to where the strings are for more dynamic interaction but due to the distance of the NDs at the bottom, they won't diminish sustain as much as magnetic pole pieces that is right under the strings? Also what's your thoughts on using this bottom design with higher output rail bladed coils? Say for example, the Hot Stack Strat pups from SD?
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and write such an awesome and in depth comment Lance. Yes, you understand the goal I was reaching for and the techniques used perfectly. I am not a professional pickup designer or anything but I think it pretty much achieved what I was going for on this build using those specs. Its kind of like recreating the bridge pickup arrangement of a Telecaster with the metal around it two times but with neo magnets and connecting that as a humbucker. I think this plate and magnet arrangement could be used for many pickups. I will say though I would stay away from the high wind counts (hot winds) as for some reason neo magnets really push out the bass. If you are using active electronics that can be EQed toward the high end by selecting a smaller coupling capacitor OR if it is for heavy metal it could still be a good thing to use hot winds... I would just take some trial and error. I'm sure with a few experiments you can hit on something really nice. Maybe even the first try will be a magic combination? You never know. Thanks again for taking such an interest in the experiment and I hope the info will help you build some awesome unique pickups.
@@heavymetalATC Thanks as Im rebuilding a Squier Contemporary Telecaster HH into a hotter machine that still retains the tele twang and while Ive already chosen the SD Vintage Stack Tele neck. Later on I planned asking SD to build a bladed version of the VST neck pup, because I do a lot of string bends. But I'm still looking for a bridge humbucker that would work. Your experimental pup comes closest to what im looking for sound wise, but I still wanted blade version for the bends. Perhaps if I were to find lower output blade pups, that might do the trick. Thanks for pointing out the way for me!
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a comment Joshua. I just put that suggestion in my notes. It will definitely work and I think it could be a great idea as you could get the power from 2 coils while using the other 1 to offset the phase and kill hum. Much like the great thing that happens in a normal humbucker with 1 coil wound higher than the other as to not cancel each other out but... with MUCH more output. If/when I do an experiment with this idea and make a video I will give you a shoutout. Thanks again for your time and this awesome suggestion.
@@heavymetalATC That's exactly what I was thinking! It would be fun to play around with. I know I have so many cheap singlecoils laying around it would be cool to put them to use. I love your videos, man! So much mythos about tone is utter BS and it's awesome to see you proving that. Definitely subscribed!
hey man wssup, i have 2 doubts. If I want to use this as a 5 wire humbucker, do I just need to solder a ground wire from the plate and its ready to go? And the other one, If i want2 use this in a push pull to make split coil, do I need to wire it as Split Coil or as Series (to the push pull switch, obviously :P) ? and if I wire it as Series, how can I do it so it add the other coil in series when the switch is up and just to use 1 coil when the switch is down? The reason why I ask all this stuff is bc i have a lot of SC's sitting around just making dust and I don´t really want2 buy humbuckers
Thanks for watching and taking the time to post such an in depth comment. You are correct to make this a 5 wire you simply ground the base plate, Its hard for me to figure out the exact wiring scheme without it right in front of me and even then its quite a mind bending task but it will need to be in series to humbuck and also out of phase so you will want to hook them up to the switch where its only one pickup on with the switch in and with it out it connects the two in series with the second backwards... this is just a simple split coil humbucker wiring diagram that you can look up but you will have to figure out the color code for the wires as they will simply be two shield wires and two center wires and the ground but once you figure out the color code from another 5 wire pickup it will be paint by numbers... I know thats not completely helpful but its exactly just that if you find a digram treat the 2 pickups like the 2 humbucker coils and you got it.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Aidan. That is a great question. I think if you replaced the no ferrous plate it would probably make the pickup a little brighter and maybe a tiny bit louder it would be hard to do though because regular humbuckers have threaded slugs that go into tapped holes in the backplate but I have been told that there are some types of humbucker that come with a steel backplate.. If you were to just add the metal backplate to an existing humbucker along with the brass plate i think it would maybe get louder and possibly bassier because it could conduct more magnetic field through the brass plate.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Ryan. Yes they have the same magnetic polarity as far as I can tell but they are put in series and out of phase by the wiring. I have tried to find further info on the difference in sound and operation regarding whether a humbucker was magnetically out of phase or if it was done by wiring, in the pickup winding forums but all I could get was conjecture and disagreement and even told this design would not work at all and you can see and hear that it in fact did? I have done the same with strat coils still in the normal configuration and achieved humbucking when in series out of phase but apparently that is an unknown in the pickup winding community? but yes they are wired in series out of phase. Thanks again.
@@heavymetalATC (First, great video!) I would suggest that you can't confirm/disconfirm hum-cancelling properties simply by the absence of hum. You would have to establish that there was an audible hum with a single coil before humbucking.I have an old MIJ Squier strat that has all three pickups with the same wind orientation (and same mag polarity) and I haven't found any hum, but I also haven't heard any hum on my other guitars. Is that because of the absence of ambient EMI? Is it because the guitar itself doesn't pick up excess EMI, with or without humbuckers, because of sufficient shielding or any other reason? Unless you checked the electrical polarity before you wire two pickups out of phase, it's hard to tell whether they are both clockwise (or, alternatively, both counter-c.w.) or in opposite wind orientation. Since they were N and M pickups on a loaded pickguard, you would think they would be reverse wound in relation to each other (actually, reverse wound and reverse mag polarity), but if they have the same magnetic polarity, they probably weren't a RWRP pair.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write this hilarious comment Klaus, I think a guitar in my hands becomes many parts and pieces laying on tables and in the floor. Then they are then cut and drilled and glued and put together and torn back apart in various configurations endlessly in front of a camera for sick entertainment purposes. HAHAHA! Great comment bro.
Thank you for watching Redneck Hacker. Great username... I think I might be one of those as well LOL The coils are hooked up in series with one out of phase or basically backwards.
Ri I wish it was a very simple thing to explain but its tough to do on a comment. in general for humbuckers you will have one wire from each coil going to the out put and one wire from each coil tied together but one coil wired backwards and this may or may not work depending on the direction the coils were wound and the polarity of the magnets... See its some BS to explain without pictures but I got a video that will explain it perfect: th-cam.com/video/Q-l4HhVdO4M/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment MM. They were wire in series out of phase. An easy way to put that is the positive from one coil is used as the positive the positive of the other coil is used as negative and the other 2 are wired together in the middle.
I cant remember exactly how this one ended up but it would depend on your magnets and how the coils were wound, if its magnetically out of phase you can flip the wires on one of the coils to get it back to bucking hum.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Henrique. Yes, you can use plastic, plexiglass, thickly painted metal, even stiff cardboard. I know that sounds sketchy but the old fender pickups like the most sought after ones in a vintage strat or tele.. fiberboard flat work which is basically thick cardboard. It just needs to hold the pickup together and preferably be non conductive to prevent the pickup from shorting out prematurely as it ages and corrodes.
Great question I could for sure and I had planned on building a super hot preamp (like a 50 watt class d) and putting it in a guitar and blowing an amp or something as a joke if everyone was like... ohhh its not that strong. this was definitely hot to the point of unusable already.
I love that you don't even pretend to care about all the garbage tone guys say and instead you prefer to work with actual science that you can prove, thank you for that
Hahaha Thanks bro, I love retro gear and the coolness of something old that has a story, cloth wire is cool, I thinks tubes are cool but yeah, a lot of the things people believe in are not based on science... Its like well maybe the caps in an old guitar get leaky and the guitar sounds better and brighter over time but if you'd have put a weaker cap in on day 1... it'd had been better always. Also If they could build it in the 50s from everyday available items so can you... They were just trying to get the cost down... Thats why they chose that paint or wire or etc etc.. it was cheap or what was available. Thanks again R+.
alright, the delivery of the way you said "djent time" makes it the best thing you've ever said
Hahhahaa I reckon
7:00 "Uh oh, it's not a blend of paraffin and tone wax from magical unicorn bees from the north hemisphere of Venus!" Hahahaha, I died at this. xD Your videos are both hilarious and very informative!
"if it's twangy, it's....rockin' (?)"
>generic country lick followed by brutal harmonic rectifier noises
Dude, the comedy is high-level. I love this.
This is exactly what I needed to pick my day up.
That pickup sounds incredible. I’m flabbergasted. Amazing.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such a kind comment SSYT.
That’s the way I like it - nice and simple explanations. I run a web development company and learned to keep explanations as simple as possible. Love your humor and I’ve learned a lot about magnetization, resistance and output. Awesome!
Thank you so much. I dont know a whole damn lot myself as Im self educated so I may have to self correct but Ill share what I learn and show what I try.
Just saw this in my recommendations, watched and subbed immediately!
Great, informative video-I've been experimenting with diy pickups for years, but this has given me some great ideas. I think a lot of tone purists overlook the fact that it all starts in the fingers. Great vid, thank you, and best wishes from 🇬🇧 👍🎸
Your knowledge is extraordinarily impressive, and your sense of humor is a perfect complement to it. Thanks for an amazing and fascinating video!
Thanks david I appreciate the kind words.
'djent time!'
I'd already subscribed by that point but I'll be looking through your back catalog now, you've got a brilliant mix of humour and crazy good ideas going here. I'll have to keep an eye out for some crappy pickups to wrench on, this looks like an incredibly fun pastime. Looking forward to seeing more, keep it up, this is fantastic!
Thank you so much for watching and for taking the time to leave such kind words Gareth, I unfortunately was absent for quite a while but I will be making more videos soon. Thanks again
Great humor, keep kicken ass repairing guitars and doing diy pickups 👍
The late Robbie Robertson had a second pickup snuggled against the bridge pickup in one of his Strats. I had always thought he was combining the two coils in a manner similar to what you've done here. But it turned out that he simply hated the way the middle pickup got in the way of his picking style, so he asked his luthier to move it over and out of the way.
That said, note that the original Fender Wide-Range Humbuckers *were* essentially two separate pickups, wired up RWRP to cancel hum, and wedged into one shell. I had bought one when they first came out, and dissected it. Where conventional PAF-style humbuckers have a row of slugs in each coil, magnetically coupled underneath by a bar magnet, the WRHBs are two independent coils with their own set of CuNiFe polepieces and *NO* magnetic coupling underneath. It's possible that the baseplate provided *some* degree of coupling, but I can't confirm. After all, it's been 50 years since I took that pickup apart (and later sold the guitar it was in). BUT, the threaded polepieces could be made to protrude out the bottom of the baseplate through holes that were wider than the polepieces and precluded contact between the polepieces and baseplate. So if the baseplate WAS ferromagnetic, and permitted any coil-coupling underneath, it would have been very weak.
As an aside, I wired up a dual HB Vantage guitar I bought 2nd hand (I think the double creme pickups are Schaller), using a Peavey T-60 tone control for the bridge pickup. Those pan from single coil, thru to dual coil, and finally dual-coil with treble cut - bright-n-thin to thick-and-dark. I also wired up a phase-reverse switch for that pickup. Much to my great surprise, when in single-coil-only mode, the coil closer to the bridge sounded *quite* different than the coil further from the bridge. Hard to believe such a small difference in bridge-to-coil distance would matter, but it does. Of course, that is precisely why Fender angles the bridge pickups on Teles and Strats, to move the polepieces for lower strings a little farther away. That also seems to be part of the strategy underlying the WRHBs, whose threaded polepieces can be adjusted to mimic an "angled" humbucker.
Been watching you channel to get a general ideia of how to make my own pickups and hell those are pretty informative
Thank you so much for watching and leaving such kind words victor. I am so very glad you found them useful.
Love these videos man!
Thank you so much Carter Kline. I'm so glad you can understand the point of what I'm trying to do here and can handle my weird hack approach and unorthodox attitude. I appreciate the viewership and support. Thanks again.
I need to make one of these. So awesome.
The best. Please keep making these videos.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave such kind and encouraging words Ryan. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. I have been very busy with life stuff lately as its just that time of year but when it gets hot the video output will ramp back up. Thanks again
I've watched many videos in reference to all this electricity, synthesis and all that. Watching stuff unrelated to music I started to notice a lot of the music posts were just parrots. Thank you for making feel like I'm not an idiot because I kept questioning what I was watching and just started to think I needed a lot more studying. What's up bud? You wanna start a band? I'm just throwing it out there to random people. Something bluesy, never really had the chance to play much of that with anyone. All my homies grindcore, lol. Cheers and thank you for the experiments. They have definitely pushed me to keep diving in!
sounds amazing
Suggestion: Do a comparison of your creations so we can tell how bad ass they are.
Thank you Kenneth. I will try to start gathering up the things I need to do a 1 to 1 comparison with all the diy pickups against similar store-bought counterparts.
I’m making one thank brother!!!
You are so great. It’s helpful to me.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such a kind comment Chang.
Man are you alive?
Your channel is AWESOME!!
Your experiments are being really REALLY helpful to me
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment mel.
I am glad you found all this info to be useful. Well I am still alive by a thread Hhahahaha naw Im good I was just taking an extended break. I do that from time to tuime but I was working on stuff in the back ground I gots lots of stuff recorded during that time and I got plans for a lot more.
@@heavymetalATCAwesome, glad to hear you are okay and doing your stuff, I know how life is right hahahhaaa
I have a question about this humbucker project, would it works if I use the steel backplate on a normal humbucker with their normal magnet bar?
I'm not looking for the strongest humbucker in the world for my project, but I really fancy the clarity from the humbucker you built on this video
@@mel_163 Yes, It should work just fine. I was told by someone that some model of dimarzio from the old days had a steel backplate.
Hey Clem. I got a lot of stuff to give you. I would like you to have more stuff in the closet so to speak. Amp stuff mostly and guitar parts. How do I get in touch with you? Thanks Jack
love it great video made me crack up a couple times
thanks bro I appreciate the time and kind words.
Nice job....once again!
Thank you so much UD I am glad you enjoyed the video.
I'm making a humbucker out of two of those fake covered humbucker single-coils some of the old Japanese 'lawsuit' guitars had. This vid helped me get my head on straight. Thanks 🤟🤘
Just saw a video short featuring a Harmony with one of those. Good on you for attempting to make them useful, they're pretty bad on their own.
So glad this video came across my feed...I want to make a pickup like this but using two hot rails...
That is awesome ERIC! I hope to get more of these boogers put up in the near future i got plenty recorded.
@@heavymetalATC the twin hot rails could be wired in about a million different ways...
Oh yeah, forgot to mention you have a Hank from King of the hill vibe going. Great stuff!
Good sustain support
I have wondered if sticking two Strat pickups together and wire in series, what it would sound like. The side benefit is you could coil split and have a REAL single coil tone. If you have a single coil guitar, you could wire it with a push pull and run middle in series with the bridge, and middle with the neck. Adding two options to the five way switch. Of course these options wouldn’t involve changing the slug magnets for the back type like you have done. I do think adding a ferrous back plate is a great idea and can be added as well. Very enjoyable video thanks for sharing!
Yo this video rules! It's really informative and you're charismatic as fuck, subbed
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such kind words rick. I appreciate the support bro.
I did this with a pair of regular alnico polepiece Strat pickups a few years ago. Remagnetised one to opposite polarity and wired them like a normal humbucker. I've also done it with two P90 coils.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment JM. ooh I bet those alnicos were sparkly, I love p90s as well, I may have to try some of these out someday.
What was your final conclusion.?
I found it to be loud as heck but thats a quality i reckon? hahaha@@MrJohnnyDistortion
@@heavymetalATC
Tonal changes?
Yo man, i had the idea of trying this so i looked for a video like this one and im gonna admit i used your method but used a janky backplate and holy shit it does exactly what i want it to lmao, it screams. cheers man.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to come back and type out an update red velvet, That is Awesome. I am soooo Glad it worked out for you! I really appreciate the feedback. Yeah as long as you got something back there holding it all together so it don't rattle your good and if it can help wrangle that magnetism even better. I'm stoked to hear that you tried it and that it worked out to your liking.
This pickup is epic, it has a very high output (bc of neodymium magnets) but still preserved the clarity (bc it's underwounded cheap pickups). maybe with re-adjusting the pickup's pole height it'll sound better, coz i think it's kinda slightly muddy on bass side but nice, clear, PAF like on treble side.
i hope, in the next video you'll make a 50s strat pickups out of cheapest strat pickup xD.. this channel is great, just subscribed to your channel
Thank you so much fm146. Yes they have the vintage pole heights all mismatched looking. I just threw this together in a hurry to show a concept to the viewers.
Great suggestion! I will put that in the note pad and try to order some alnico pole magnets and If or when I run out of projects I will do that and give you a shout-out on the video.
Thanks for subscribing anyone who gets what it is I'm doing here and can handle my unorthodox approach and attitude is awesome in my book.. or crazy like me but, all the best people are. LOL
@@heavymetalATC can't wait for your next video! 👌👌
@@fm1467 I'll try to keep them coming I may have to switch to one upload a week in the spring but I'll try to make it a good one until it gets too hot and I can do 2 again.
I have a set of fender single coils and I’m gonna try this out
awesome! yo did you try it, did it feedback like crazy? hahaha?
Excellent video! Would you be interested in experimenting with those low impedance pickups that use transformer like lace alumitones?
Thanks for taking the time to comment Bash. Excellent suggestion I will put that on the video idea list. I think there is a lot of mystique around those pickups but they are VERY simple. I think I have the supplies to make one out of copper. The "Copper Tone SPF45" LOL Thanks bro.
🤘🤘🤘 watch you channel religiously now , people who swim against the current are the best people. Rock on brother.
Thank you so much Alex. I don't know what it is in me that makes me have to do this stuff but I might as well share my findings. Feel free to use any of the ideas you see on the channel I don't have patent #s. LOL! Thanks again I'm glad you get what I'm trying to do.
@@heavymetalATC I made a few guitar kit and and did some rebuilt, as well as a lap steel slide guitar out of 2x4s, you are an amazing inspiration for me to start making a guitar from scratch, all the debunking you do give me more confidence in doing so. 🤘🤘
Loved this. I wanted to learn more about pickups before buying a new one (was looking at an invader) but after this video instead of dropping a load of money on a brand I'm gonna buy some magnets and do some tinkering.
I'm thinking a neodymium with 2 ceramic magnets either side. Still an insane pickup but not AS insane is what I'm hoping for, unless mixing magnets would cause an issue? Thoughts?
yo that's SOOO fucking good OMG. i actually want one
This is kinda like the idea behind the Seymour Duncan SH-3 Stag Mag. It makes for a high output humbucker that splits perfectly into a great sounding single-coil. Your pickup goes beyond that idea a bit though!
Btw: Music Man uses neodymium magnets in their modern Stingray pickups (and they sound great). Q-tuner has made both guitar humbuckers, guitar single-coils, bass humbuckers and bass single-coils with neodymium magnets for ages. From what I've heard they have a very hi-fi sound with a balanced frequency range that greatly surpasses the human hearing. A lot of people who like active pickups, but don't want the hassle of using batteries, use Q-tuners. They are becoming especially popular today with all of the extended range instruments like 8- and 9-string guitars that needs a balanced tone with great string separation and good clarity to not sound like muddy shit.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write all this info nj. I have been waiting for the neo pickups to start getting more popular when the amp modeling folks figure out how clean and solid pristine of a signal you can get to manipulate and change itll be on.
Steel backplate vintage coil pickups are sold at a premium for those who like them. GFS sells them under the name gold foil although it also uses that name for other things but...
Yeah, aint it wild all the stuff that is a "gold foil" nowdays. Hahahaha
Just found the channel.this is the best channel I have ever seen on guitar based stuff, every other channel takes things a little too serious.god bless.
Thank you so much. I try to make it all accessable and just hack stuff together on the cheap for knowledge and experimentation sake. Have a blessed day as well. ❤️
Crazy suggestion - try to reproduce the DiMarzio X2N design, the magnet bar (neodimium -- i see you have some) inside the coils, the baseplate 1.5-2mm steel. Baseplate must be like standart hambucker-shape. I hope your magnets have side-edge-polarity magnetisation. )))
Cool idea!
I asked myself exactly that about the polarity of the magnets. For it to work "perfectly" I guess the middle one should be side to side like normal humbuckers and the outer ones top to bottom.
you have the same accent combination as soup from the goons and slackjaw and its beautiful
Bro I am everybit of the redneck you could imagine I am and maybe worse and also every bit of a nerd one might think I could be.
I learned how to hunt, gut, skin and cook squirrels around the same time I was learning how to manually type up directory queries in ms-dos on my tandy 1000 so I could play Advanced dungeons and dragons "hillsfar"
> C: DIR _
copyhill.exe _...
>C: Hillsfar:
Main.exe
Now go get a snack while it loads it aint frozen that black screen will go away in a few mins.
That sht was skyrim in the 80s like you could enter buildings and pick locks and steal items. Hahahahaha
Damn the uploads are just flowing out now
Thanks for watching and commenting Lego Master. I'm going to try to hit it like it stole something this year and see where it takes me.
Like the video and the think outside the box attitude. (Not to mention you sound like you could be related to Hank Hill, but so do I, so I feel like I'm right at home here)
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind comment R Davis. Hey, thats my youtube voice too. The Muscle Shoals area accent is toned waaay down. Ways I figure ifen I tawked tha way I normly does I recon Aint pert nairry a sangle individule gon' know whatn tha sam hell im tryna git at. Hahaha.
@@heavymetalATC 😅😂👍
I just found your stuff and I freakin love your channel! I stopped subscribing to stuff years ago, but i made an exception for you. I've got a bunch of these single coils and cheap strats. What is the best thing i could do with them? What is your favourites so far?
very nice
Thanks bro. We got a lot more experiments coming in the near future some were great ideas commented by the viewers and subscribers.
If you are wanting to really check out how strong a pickup is you could attach it to an AC millivolt meter and checkout how much signal it is actually producing. Maybe do it with a fixed load, that way it would be a fair test between various pickups.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave such an intelligent and well thought out comment Xanataph.You are exactly right, it may be hard to catch a peak on an multi-meter but an oscilloscope would be perfect. I may try this in the future and see what kind of readings I can get. Thanks again.
@@heavymetalATC Definitely an oscilloscope would be better for catching the peaks. Nevertheless a meter would give a very good average signal indication. And that would be a very fair test for comparing the outputs.
Somebody who's not afraid of experimenting!
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Joel. Oh yeah, I aint into just doing what "has been done" we already know how that works. A failure is just a chance to learn and a success is a chance to share and teach, As well as encourage others to take the experiments further. Thanks again.
This is gold
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a nice comment BF. Actually is just copper and plastic, neodymium and steel. HAHAHA Thanks again man I truly appreciate the compliment.
if you take a cheap hot rail style pickup from ebay and remove the magnet you can put it on top of the pickup betweenthe rails and add a magnet to the bottom that may be a job for the test mule
Thank you so much for watching Jeffery and also for taking the time to write a suggestion. I will put this on my list and if when I use this idea in a video I will give you a shout out. Thanks again bro.
Your channel should be named "Pimp my Strat".
I'm definitely adding "tone wax" to my vocabulary
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave this humorous comment Mall Ninja, I like that name... funny. Do you have a red dot, 45* flip-ups, 2 lasers and a flashlight with strobe function on your guitar? HAHAHAHA. Thanks again bro, gotta use that tone wax a candle wont do... or maybe yes it will maybe I used elmers school glue before and it worked perfectly. Ugh... people.
And by the way I like your style!
Thanks bro. Its definitely different Hahaha
Roll that beautiful bean footage!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to leave a comment Dewayne... and we got to. If we don't roll the bean footage who will get 12 inches of rotating shelled legumes?
just had my tech measure the pups in my 79 epi genesis, and the neck measured 12 OHMs BR 11.7!!!!
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment Chris. WOW! I bet those things bark. If you could get a stronger magnet in there with that much winding you would be able to catch your pedals on fire. LOL
@heavymetalATC well, I do have a 90s Russian muff. ♨️ I hear they cause lots of fires lately. but srsly those pups spank nearly tele like in a HB.
well good god damn seymoure duncan hines you did it !
Thank you Petey! I think Seymour Duncan said he wound his first pickup on a record player... that had to take forever. Lets see, if it went to 78rpm and he did 6000 winds that would take. 1 hour 28 mins and 20 seconds. Damn that actually aint bad? Thanks again for watching my junk closet experiment and listening to the accompanying psycho babble LOL
Sounds great! Did you run it through a tone pot or straight through to the jack.
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Yaw. It was just run straight to the jack with alligator clips. Im sure a volume knob and a tone circuit may take the edge off slightly on the high end.
HOLY FUCK, you did what I was thinking about for a while now with Neodymium magnets. Oh, and those keyboard doofuses says they are too powerful, will wreck your tone, man, and at most use Alnico or ceramic, yadda yadda. Love your vid.
Man after reading several of your comments and especially on this one I am so glad to see that you get the point of what I am trying to do on this channel, not all will but when someone does it feels fantastic. Thank you General Awareness.
i get you, buddy. great job !!!👍🏻
Try rewound Cheap wide range humbucker till the bobbin full and use neodymium magnet.
Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave a suggestion Najmi. I will put this in my notes and try to remember to get a cheap widerange pickup and If/when I do a video about it I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again for the suggestion.
That guitar is more metal than Slayer, honest. Kudos.
Thanks Ed Im glad you dig it its definitely chopped up as hell and not nearly done being tortured.
You should build a drum microphone next bro... my buddy wants to record his drums. Keep up the good work! 👍🏻
Thank you Goldey. I could try some experiments off camera and see what I can come up with but that sounds like a tough one. You can tape a peizo element to a drum and get a good out put but building a decent drum mic would be just the same as building a decent mic for vocals but it may be able to be done. A speaker will also work as a mic. Sometime you see a little drum in front of these pro drummers bass drum head (on the audience side) and that is actual a disguised 10-12 inch speaker cone being used as a giant diaphragm mic. The bigger the speaker is the more bass it will record. That's how the Beatles use to record Paul's bass. I will see what I can come up with. Thanks again for the viewership and the kind words as well as the suggestion.
@@heavymetalATC I have had great results using speakers (small and medium size…)
@@heavymetalATC never knew that about Sir Pauls tone. Love that
Depending on each type of single coil, how would you solder it to the rest of the guitar if it had two wires coming from each single coil?
Ted Nugent 🐈 scratch fever hell yeah baby !!!
Love the video you get a new subscriber 👍
thanks diablo i appreciate it gotta have that old school rock
You know, I was thinking on your wax choice, and, well.
It's probably the safest wax to use for guitar pickups. It's melting point is lower then paraffin or bees wax, but not so low it'll melt out of the pickups in hot sun. The lower melting point would make it easier to work with, with much less chance for the heat ruining adhesives or enamel coatings or warping plastics.
Beeswax would smell better tho. V:
Thank you Alaric. I will admit to not giving it nearly that much thought. Those are great points and observations. Like most things I do its just pretty much a happy accident. I got a huge bag of the pellets at an Amazon return resale place for 50 cents. It was wax so I used it LOL. You are correct about the smell. The first time you melt it, its obnoxious. After about 3 times though it doesn't have much of a smell anymore.
@@heavymetalATC
It gases off?
than not "then".
Try making a mighty mite motherbucker in a similar way ( 3 coils).
good suggestion bro maybe I need to do a crazy experiment!
I think you have just unlocked the secret to Brian May of Queen sound with a Humbucker
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Floyd. You know you may be on to something because it is really a very similar concept of 2 single coils with strong magnets and metal on them in series reverse polarity. I actually didn't think of that? I have done a strat with similar wiring to the red special but I hadn't considered how similar this was. Awesome comment!
Used the good Shinto ruler in this one
Hey clem. Why didn't you take out the original slugs from the pickups is it because they're just stainless steel so that they don't matter or do they have an effect on it? Cool video. I like Neil Diamond pickups myself.
Thats text to speech right there, neil diamond instead of neodymium. I may like it better wrong ;)
I’d like to see this with telecaster neck pickups
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a suggestion Voni. Thats a killer idea, they are very similar to a strat pickup in construction but the look of those shiny tops would be awesome in some kind of like sea-foam green surf caster or something. Im going to put this in my notes... and if/when I use it for a video or in a guitar build on the channel I will give you a shoutout.
Where do u buy the alnico magnets at?
Besides, ordering on eBay or Amazon. Is there any way you can just go to a store and buy them?
How did you wire the pickup with the two separate wires?
🤘Yeeeeahhh!!!🤘
I cant djent like it deserves so I just tuned to A and went wacky. I had to laugh at myself. I bet people will think. "Wow he can build a pickup but he sure cant play" LOL
Just a note on a misconception about Magnets and their Magnetic Field:
The stronger the magnet, the smaller the geometric footprint of the magnetic field will be.
This is due to the fact that what we call the "attractive force" of a magnet, is actually not Magnetism, but rather Dielectric Acceleration.
Meaning: there are two phenomenas involved in a magnet: The Dielectric = Pull/Attraction/Centripetal Force & The Magnetic = Push/Repulsion/Centrifugal Force.
This means that as the "acceleration" increases (the "pull/strength" of the magnet), the Magnetic field decreases and the field becomes smaller.
You can compare it analogously to a form of "compression" of it's strength, making the magnetic field smaller but more powerful.
If you put a magnet under a Super-Cell (Holographic Viewing Device that shows the magnetic field) you will see this phenomena with your own eyes.
This is why your constriction of the magnetic field results in such a high output.
A bit confusing and contrary to popular belief, but clearly evident if you have the correct measuring equipment.
dude I read all this last night and I'm gonna try to soak this in and keep it in mind and yeah i def need to get me one of those little clear rainbow magnet sheets.
Also thank you so much for taking the time to type out all this information. I appreciate it.
Can you make a video about making a poweramp???
Ahh heres another video of building a solid state power amp from a medical device but the technique can be used to make an amp out of almost old any radio or similar device: th-cam.com/video/qiW3ziYSCY4/w-d-xo.html
Does adding more magnets change the sound of the pickup? For example, would the sound have been different if u stacked 3 more magnets either on top of the 3 u already placed on the base plate, or if u placed 3 more magnets on the under side of the base plate?
Oh yeah, everything like that changes the sound... just flipping the magnet to the edge changes the sound... I do plan on getting back to these exact types of experiments on this channel.
Is the N-S orientaton of the neodymium magnets underneath the coils the same?
With 3 magnets, is it really a humbucker? One set of pole pieces should be north and the other south. Did it work out that way?
Also, I found that vinyl coated steel wire wrapped around the pickup (after they're wound of course) does some crazy shit and still sounds awesome. That is kinda-sorta like your steel base plate. Although, what I made was a single coil using square neodymiun magnets in a halbach array.
Thank you so much foe watching and taking the time to comment. I had someone ask the same thing in a pickup building forum and I think it was humbucking in that configuration I had it wired in series and out of phase if my memory serves and it was definitely in phase on the way out? Either way I wouldn't use this much magnet on a guitar for any practical purpose this was just stupidly high output you'd need a noise gate from hell to use it even humbucking. I keep hearing about these halbach arrays, I havent the slightest how it works... need to look into that.
Ok, IF I understand ye correctly, using this shell design with ND magnets and lower output pups allows ye to have the brightness of lower output coils but have a boost in overall output that also doesn't lose as much bass, plus the shape of u-backplate focus more of the magnetic field upwards to where the strings are for more dynamic interaction but due to the distance of the NDs at the bottom, they won't diminish sustain as much as magnetic pole pieces that is right under the strings?
Also what's your thoughts on using this bottom design with higher output rail bladed coils? Say for example, the Hot Stack Strat pups from SD?
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch and write such an awesome and in depth comment Lance. Yes, you understand the goal I was reaching for and the techniques used perfectly. I am not a professional pickup designer or anything but I think it pretty much achieved what I was going for on this build using those specs. Its kind of like recreating the bridge pickup arrangement of a Telecaster with the metal around it two times but with neo magnets and connecting that as a humbucker.
I think this plate and magnet arrangement could be used for many pickups. I will say though I would stay away from the high wind counts (hot winds) as for some reason neo magnets really push out the bass.
If you are using active electronics that can be EQed toward the high end by selecting a smaller coupling capacitor OR if it is for heavy metal it could still be a good thing to use hot winds... I would just take some trial and error. I'm sure with a few experiments you can hit on something really nice. Maybe even the first try will be a magic combination? You never know.
Thanks again for taking such an interest in the experiment and I hope the info will help you build some awesome unique pickups.
@@heavymetalATC Thanks as Im rebuilding a Squier Contemporary Telecaster HH into a hotter machine that still retains the tele twang and while Ive already chosen the SD Vintage Stack Tele neck. Later on I planned asking SD to build a bladed version of the VST neck pup, because I do a lot of string bends. But I'm still looking for a bridge humbucker that would work. Your experimental pup comes closest to what im looking for sound wise, but I still wanted blade version for the bends. Perhaps if I were to find lower output blade pups, that might do the trick.
Thanks for pointing out the way for me!
Just wondering how would I be able to purchase one of your DIY pickups like the one in this video?
I'm not really offering anything for sale at this time but I do have my workshop finished and set up so it likely may be something I end up doing.
How these are connected? Serial or paralel?
So, how about three coils as one giant humbucker?
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a comment Joshua. I just put that suggestion in my notes. It will definitely work and I think it could be a great idea as you could get the power from 2 coils while using the other 1 to offset the phase and kill hum. Much like the great thing that happens in a normal humbucker with 1 coil wound higher than the other as to not cancel each other out but... with MUCH more output. If/when I do an experiment with this idea and make a video I will give you a shoutout. Thanks again for your time and this awesome suggestion.
@@heavymetalATC That's exactly what I was thinking! It would be fun to play around with. I know I have so many cheap singlecoils laying around it would be cool to put them to use. I love your videos, man! So much mythos about tone is utter BS and it's awesome to see you proving that. Definitely subscribed!
Exactly what I was thinking! Subscribed! 👌
Fender actually did this on that Made-In-China Marauder they put out for one year only in 2012 or so.
@@whssy Mighty Mite also made the 'Motherbucker' that was a three coil pickup.
I wonder would epoxy work as a potting material instead of wax?
I believe both Bill Lawrence and EMG use epoxy instead of wax
hey man wssup, i have 2 doubts.
If I want to use this as a 5 wire humbucker, do I just need to solder a ground wire from the plate and its ready to go?
And the other one, If i want2 use this in a push pull to make split coil, do I need to wire it as Split Coil or as Series (to the push pull switch, obviously :P) ? and if I wire it as Series, how can I do it so it add the other coil in series when the switch is up and just to use 1 coil when the switch is down?
The reason why I ask all this stuff is bc i have a lot of SC's sitting around just making dust and I don´t really want2 buy humbuckers
Thanks for watching and taking the time to post such an in depth comment. You are correct to make this a 5 wire you simply ground the base plate, Its hard for me to figure out the exact wiring scheme without it right in front of me and even then its quite a mind bending task but it will need to be in series to humbuck and also out of phase so you will want to hook them up to the switch where its only one pickup on with the switch in and with it out it connects the two in series with the second backwards... this is just a simple split coil humbucker wiring diagram that you can look up but you will have to figure out the color code for the wires as they will simply be two shield wires and two center wires and the ground but once you figure out the color code from another 5 wire pickup it will be paint by numbers... I know thats not completely helpful but its exactly just that if you find a digram treat the 2 pickups like the 2 humbucker coils and you got it.
What would adding a piece of steel underneath do to a normal humbucker?
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Aidan. That is a great question. I think if you replaced the no ferrous plate it would probably make the pickup a little brighter and maybe a tiny bit louder it would be hard to do though because regular humbuckers have threaded slugs that go into tapped holes in the backplate but I have been told that there are some types of humbucker that come with a steel backplate.. If you were to just add the metal backplate to an existing humbucker along with the brass plate i think it would maybe get louder and possibly bassier because it could conduct more magnetic field through the brass plate.
Are both coils using the same magnetic pole ? If so it would be series out of phase?
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Ryan. Yes they have the same magnetic polarity as far as I can tell but they are put in series and out of phase by the wiring. I have tried to find further info on the difference in sound and operation regarding whether a humbucker was magnetically out of phase or if it was done by wiring, in the pickup winding forums but all I could get was conjecture and disagreement and even told this design would not work at all and you can see and hear that it in fact did? I have done the same with strat coils still in the normal configuration and achieved humbucking when in series out of phase but apparently that is an unknown in the pickup winding community? but yes they are wired in series out of phase. Thanks again.
@@heavymetalATC (First, great video!) I would suggest that you can't confirm/disconfirm hum-cancelling properties simply by the absence of hum. You would have to establish that there was an audible hum with a single coil before humbucking.I have an old MIJ Squier strat that has all three pickups with the same wind orientation (and same mag polarity) and I haven't found any hum, but I also haven't heard any hum on my other guitars. Is that because of the absence of ambient EMI? Is it because the guitar itself doesn't pick up excess EMI, with or without humbuckers, because of sufficient shielding or any other reason? Unless you checked the electrical polarity before you wire two pickups out of phase, it's hard to tell whether they are both clockwise (or, alternatively, both counter-c.w.) or in opposite wind orientation. Since they were N and M pickups on a loaded pickguard, you would think they would be reverse wound in relation to each other (actually, reverse wound and reverse mag polarity), but if they have the same magnetic polarity, they probably weren't a RWRP pair.
Hi, I have a two humbucker, but I want to do this with the screw side of both pickups, its possible?
The Trick for weak pickups is two metalzones in series.
A Guitar, in the right hands, is a beautiful instrument ! 🤣
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write this hilarious comment Klaus, I think a guitar in my hands becomes many parts and pieces laying on tables and in the floor. Then they are then cut and drilled and glued and put together and torn back apart in various configurations endlessly in front of a camera for sick entertainment purposes. HAHAHA! Great comment bro.
@@heavymetalATC 😲🤣🤣👍
so how did you link the coils to get the hum cancelling? because this has gotten my attention.
Thank you for watching Redneck Hacker. Great username... I think I might be one of those as well LOL The coils are hooked up in series with one out of phase or basically backwards.
Now to order the neodymium bar magnets..
do i just twist the two wires together to combine the two pickups?
Ri I wish it was a very simple thing to explain but its tough to do on a comment.
in general for humbuckers you will have one wire from each coil going to the out put and one wire from each coil tied together but one coil wired backwards and this may or may not work depending on the direction the coils were wound and the polarity of the magnets...
See its some BS to explain without pictures but I got a video that will explain it perfect:
th-cam.com/video/Q-l4HhVdO4M/w-d-xo.html
This is my kind of guitar science. Sounds heavy and mean
Thank you so much Evan, I appreciate your time and kind words.
You didnt explain how you wired two wire pickups together?
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment MM. They were wire in series out of phase. An easy way to put that is the positive from one coil is used as the positive the positive of the other coil is used as negative and the other 2 are wired together in the middle.
Thanks TH-cam. 👍🏻
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Johnny.
Same direction for 2 humbuckers? Cw for two or cw and c?
I cant remember exactly how this one ended up but it would depend on your magnets and how the coils were wound, if its magnetically out of phase you can flip the wires on one of the coils to get it back to bucking hum.
Just for curiosity sake, you used wood in your other pickups, but could it be made of PVC? Or other plastics?
Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Henrique. Yes, you can use plastic, plexiglass, thickly painted metal, even stiff cardboard. I know that sounds sketchy but the old fender pickups like the most sought after ones in a vintage strat or tele.. fiberboard flat work which is basically thick cardboard. It just needs to hold the pickup together and preferably be non conductive to prevent the pickup from shorting out prematurely as it ages and corrodes.
@@heavymetalATC I want to tryout two new designs that I made, but as I want a proof of concept I don't really want to expend too much on it.
Why not use a BOOST pedal to get a hotter output?
Great question I could for sure and I had planned on building a super hot preamp (like a 50 watt class d) and putting it in a guitar and blowing an amp or something as a joke if everyone was like... ohhh its not that strong. this was definitely hot to the point of unusable already.
My buddy wound me 2 single coils that are reading 17.1 output. I haven't put them into anything yet.
Thanks for watching McB. That is going to be a ripper for sure. Let me know how it tuned out, Im sure that has insane output.
Clementine MO is where I'm from
Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Troy. I didn't know there was such a place as Clementine. That is awesome!
I am fuckin dead, nice pickups tho
Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind comment Micro.