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Copper tape instead of coil?
- Thread starter Bagusys
- Start date
I'd imagine the number of turns you could get on a standard size pickup would only be in double figures using tape, while a standard pickup uses thousands of turns of wire. It would be very low impedance, so you would either need a special preamp or some kind of matching transformer. But pickups like the Lace Alumitones are essentially a one-turn coil, so I presume it could work to some extent.
My understanding is that copper tape is in insulated which would make wrapping each layer difficult as you would have to add a layer of something none conductive for each turn.
It could work but don't expect a lot of output due to the low number of turns so it would need to be active.
It could work but don't expect a lot of output due to the low number of turns so it would need to be active.
So essentially the amount of wraps dictate the sound?
I've read that the thinner the wire the more high tones get dropped, since this is for a Bass, I'm assuming the best option would be the thinnest wire wrapped as many times as possible?
Basically using tape, or let's say you melt copper to a liquid and mold 1 giant, thick copper ring around the pickup (I know this is ridiculous, but that's closer to what I'm getting at) would basically be really low (volume) sounding and most likely dry?
I've read that the thinner the wire the more high tones get dropped, since this is for a Bass, I'm assuming the best option would be the thinnest wire wrapped as many times as possible?
Basically using tape, or let's say you melt copper to a liquid and mold 1 giant, thick copper ring around the pickup (I know this is ridiculous, but that's closer to what I'm getting at) would basically be really low (volume) sounding and most likely dry?
Remember that magnetic pickups are inductors. Their output is dependent on inducing a current to flow in a coil. If there are only a few wraps, then there isn't much being induced. That is why pickups traditionally need thousands of winds.
I also don't think it'd make much of a pickup, not enough turns. You're making a transducer here. When you hear about pickups being "overwound", that's adding even more turns for hotter output, fatter or more aggressive tone.
Yours would be severely "underwound".
Yours would be severely "underwound".
Copy that, so waste of my time, got it, not buying the tape. Now being a metal player and looking for a sick fat loud heavy tone, I'm deff gonna be hand winding these and tightly, like safety wire tight to get more winds (as originally planned). When does a tone become to distorted, or is that the magic of experimenting lol? (I like to keep the distortion to my pedals)
This is all going through a Bart preamp too, unless the passive signal is to my liking and loud enough to not make me adjust my heads too much when switching basses
I like the Bart for the mid boost they have, helps compensate the low ends a bit when me and guitar harmonize highs or I go into leads.
This is all going through a Bart preamp too, unless the passive signal is to my liking and loud enough to not make me adjust my heads too much when switching basses
I like the Bart for the mid boost they have, helps compensate the low ends a bit when me and guitar harmonize highs or I go into leads.
That doesn't make sense. Handwinding results in spaces between the windings. If you want the most winds, you should use a machine, to keep the winding dense and compact. Note that overwinding for output usually compromises the tone. I suppose this would depend on your tonal preferences. Personally, I would rather have an underwound pickup with a gain boosting buffer than to overwind a pickup.
Pickups don't produce distortion. That comes from other gear.
You can use a variable-speed drill clamped in a vice to make a pickup winder if sorts, just don't tape/clamp the trigger back all the way. A hand crank will give you more control but also take a lot longer.
Do come up with a counter of some sort, not that a couple turns either way makes any difference, it doesn't, but you will have to keep count of how many turns....up to 10,000 or so.
Don't know how this might relate to pickup winding (if at all), but when we ran brushed motors in our toy race cars, we wound our rotors with low turns to gain speed, but torque loss was the downside as it gave you sluggish acceleration off the corners.
To counter this we would twist as many as 4 individual wires together then use this bundle to wind the rotor. This gave us a little less top end but also gave us a big boost in acceleration off the low side. I don't know enough about electricity to know why, but using a bundle of small wires worked better than using a single piece of wire with the same diameter of the twisted bundle.
Perhaps wrapping a bundle of individual wires together then using that bundle to wrap a pickup?
To counter this we would twist as many as 4 individual wires together then use this bundle to wind the rotor. This gave us a little less top end but also gave us a big boost in acceleration off the low side. I don't know enough about electricity to know why, but using a bundle of small wires worked better than using a single piece of wire with the same diameter of the twisted bundle.
Perhaps wrapping a bundle of individual wires together then using that bundle to wrap a pickup?
so you've gone straight from not knowing what a pickup coil even does to deciding that you know how to wind them to get a certain sound; good luck with that.
I knew a lot about them just didn't fully understand the coiling, but it really doesn't really take a Rocket Surgeon to figure out how they work when the 2 messages before the one you quoted told me exactly how they work and what to do, and when I already had 5 or 6 different designs in my head for this project, I just reverted back to the original one. As previously mentioned, this was just a question to see if anyone ever tried this before. So do you just find certain post or just randomly go around insulting people on web post like a middle schooler for no reason, without thinking or using that little skill we call reading? I wish you good luck with that, I'll be over here working on these pickups. Thanks!
You're sadly mistaken. People establish careers out of winding good pickups. It's an art and a science that takes a lot of knowledge and experience to perfect.
That being said, a lot of people make pickups, and it isn't that difficult to get into. Don't expect to get the results you want without a lot of knowledge and experimentation, however.
Trying something and messing up is never a waste of time. Thinking about something, procrastinating, then not getting 'round to it is. Over the years I've had lots of ideas that didn't work out as I'd hoped, but there's no better way to learn. Please go ahead and wind a tape pickup. I've never heard of anyone doing this.
The Copper Tape is used to make a Induction Coil around a Room with a AMP on the side to boost the signal Current Based.
I used to work for the company a Long time ago
I used to work for the company a Long time ago
Hopkins
Commercial User
Be careful wrapping those coils tightly, 42/44awg coil wire is as thin as a human hair and breaks very easily. If you want a lot of turns, make your bobbins taller so you can fit more turns on the coil. You can make a good winder for little money.
This was my approach. Its a cheap, low powered bench grinder from harbor freight, connected to a router speed controller also from harbor freight. There is a magnet epoxied to the wheel on the left side that triggers a reed switch that activates the counter. The winding is done on the right side, with some neodymium magnets that hold the bobbin to the wheel. I think my my total investment was around $60. I did get the reed switch out of the limit switch of an actuated valve from work, but I think those are pretty cheap anyway.
This was my approach. Its a cheap, low powered bench grinder from harbor freight, connected to a router speed controller also from harbor freight. There is a magnet epoxied to the wheel on the left side that triggers a reed switch that activates the counter. The winding is done on the right side, with some neodymium magnets that hold the bobbin to the wheel. I think my my total investment was around $60. I did get the reed switch out of the limit switch of an actuated valve from work, but I think those are pretty cheap anyway.
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It most certainly is a mix of science and art. Plenty of us here could wind a pickup and have it make sound. Not so many would know what to do to give one certain tonal complexities, flavors, etc. At least not without a whole lot of time for trial and error, as well as a fair bit of pure luck.
sorry man, didn't mean to offend; that was a little "snappish" on my part, wasn't it?So do you just find certain post or just randomly go around insulting people on web post like a middle schooler for no reason, without thinking or using that little skill we call reading? I wish you good luck with that, I'll be over here working on these pickups. Thanks!
