Magnets & Copper Wire: A Pickup Building Thread

[ardgedee]

He had a giant garage with two lean-to outbuildings and a shed that were literally crammed wall to wall - you couldn't even walk through the garage. He had sorted out some of the bigger things and already passed them on to others, but it's pretty incredible to work through what's left. I think he owned 4 or 5 of most tools. There must have been a thousand random hand tools, if you counted every socket, wrench, screwdriver, etc.

My sympathies. My father similarly had a garage and basement full of projects and tools and raw materials, but took pains over his last years to try to disburse as much of them as he could, since he wasn't healthy enough to be able to use them himself any more. My brother in law got, I suspect, most of the good wood and woodworking tools, but since he (the brother in law) is a professional cabinetmaker, they'll see better use than they would have in my hands.

And I currently have a couple crates of Dad's vintage Craftsman tools, which also amounts to hundreds if not thousands of individual pieces of things to sort and clean. The main thing holding me back right now is a lack of space to put everything since I already have my own fairly broad collection of tools... it's a generational inheritance of doom...

 

[RichterScale]

I have no one in line that's interested in tools or trades.
To save money, I want my wife to pay someone with an excavator to dig a big hole on the property, cremate me and take all my stuff and throw it in the hole with my ashes.
I'll take it all with me.
10,000 yrs after the next asteroid or super volcano and civilization starts over again, it'll be fun for the archeologists to try and figure out what the heck was going on if they find it.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

10,000 yrs after the next asteroid or super volcano and civilization starts over again, it'll be fun for the archeologists to try and figure out what the heck was going on if they find it.

Especially when they find the skeleton of the squirrel with the banjo. They'll think that was you, the last example of a superior dying race.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I have no one in line that's interested in tools or trades.
To save money, I want my wife to pay someone with an excavator to dig a big hole on the property, cremate me and take all my stuff and throw it in the hole with my ashes.
I'll take it all with me.
10,000 yrs after the next asteroid or super volcano and civilization starts over again, it'll be fun for the archeologists to try and figure out what the heck was going on if they find it.

I told my wife to just put my dead butt in the motorcycle, pile the guitars and amps around it and throw a match in. Maybe leave a bass or two plugged into an amp so they can hear what it sounds like as it burns.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Unfortunately not - just spending several long weekends in a row at my deceased father in law's house filling dumpsters so we can sell the place. He was a pipefitter, welder, and general handy guy so I have scavenged several really nice tools. But pickup making time is down from several hours a week to about half an hour on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for the forseeable future...

Gosh, well sorry for your loss!

 

[Max Bogosity]

I worry about how to handle this when my father goes. He has literally tons of tools, but half a continent away and on the other side of the border. Not sure what to do other than try to hire someone to pack everything into a container, have it all trucked back here, and hope not too much gets stolen or broken.

 

[rudy4444]

I worry about how to handle this when my father goes. He has literally tons of tools, but half a continent away and on the other side of the border. Not sure what to do other than try to hire someone to pack everything into a container, have it all trucked back here, and hope not too much gets stolen or broken.

You can consider hiring an auctioneer to do a specialty sale. Sometimes it's worth doing a sale in that manner so as not to deal with the logistics of long distance / long duration trips or the emotional trauma that results from going through all the items one at a time.
My parents ran an antique shop for over thirty years so the entire contents was boxed up and trucked to an auction house for a specialty sale.

 

[crobasster]

 

[41hzthunder]

If you transport it, you could still have auction value less cost of shipping. You could be in negative territory! Unless you have some emotional attachment, you may be better to sell and buy some new tools with the proceeds. Just a thought. I'll try to keep them to myself now.

 

[Max Bogosity]

For your amusement, here are some pickups that I wound sometime back in the 90s and just re-discovered. Not knowing any way to get proper materials at the time, the flatwork is wood and Formica scraps and the pole pieces are plain steel rod with little rare-earth magnets stuck on the bottom ends with superglue after winding. Behold the poor man's answer to EMG's plug-in pickups: bullet connectors from the automotive department.

As I recall, the results were nothing to write home about but functional.

 

[Freekmagnet]

For your amusement, here are some pickups that I wound sometime back in the 90s and just re-discovered. Not knowing any way to get proper materials at the time, the flatwork is wood and Formica scraps and the pole pieces are plain steel rod with little rare-earth magnets stuck on the bottom ends with superglue after winding. Behold the poor man's answer to EMG's plug-in pickups: bullet connectors from the automotive department.

As I recall, the results were nothing to write home about but functional.

That’s Rock & Roll!

 

[Max Bogosity]

That’s Rock & Roll!

Genuine PAF pickups. Punk As F***.

 

[Freekmagnet]

@dwizum - Gemini Pickups posted an interesting repair on IG. It’s a ‘53 EBO pickup. It looks like half of a sidewinder!

 

[dwizum]

30k coil! ouch! I wonder how much difference the pole screws make in the magnetic field. It's got to be pretty powerful just with two bar magnets and the huge steel plate.

 

[Jeff Siddall]

Way back in post #814 I wound a single coil blade bobbin. I recently cut some wood covers for them on the CNC. The next step was to figure out how to wire some leads. I fiddled with some fiberboard backings fitted with those little eyelets, but the cover is only about 1.5 mm wider than the bobbin itself on each end so very little room to work. Since I just made a PCB for my second amp project, and KiCad was still running, I decided to take a shot at a PCB for these pickups:
View attachment 4619302

I left some exposed copper on the back (bobbin facing side) ground plane in case it comes in handy for grounding magnets -- though these pickups are ceramic so no need for them here:
View attachment 4619305

They are sized for both 5 and 6 string bobbins so I can use the board for either by just trimming to length.

Since there are no mounting holes in the bobbin I think I will just epoxy the board to the bobbin -- maybe I will even pot it with the same epoxy.

We'll see how they work when the come back from fab in a few weeks.

These showed up yesterday:

Exactly what I wanted, and they fit nicely in the cover:

 

[Beej]

These showed up yesterday:
View attachment 4647476

Exactly what I wanted, and they fit nicely in the cover:
View attachment 4647477

Wow and wow.

 

[slowburnaz]

These showed up yesterday:
View attachment 4647476

Exactly what I wanted, and they fit nicely in the cover:
View attachment 4647477

I dig it! A lot!

Is the "Siddall" exposing copper, or just the garolite (fiberglass??... whatever it is) substrate?

 

[Jeff Siddall]

I dig it! A lot!

Is the "Siddall" exposing copper, or just the garolite (fiberglass??... whatever it is) substrate?

Thanks!

Yeah, I tried making the logo out of copper this time, and I like how it turned out. Technically it isn't exposed copper, as it has a clear mask over it, but that also means it won't tarnish. The gold parts are exposed copper that has been ENIG (i.e.: gold) plated.

 

[deff]

Thanks!

Yeah, I tried making the logo out of copper this time, and I like how it turned out. Technically it isn't exposed copper, as it has a clear mask over it, but that also means it won't tarnish. The gold parts are exposed copper that has been ENIG (i.e.: gold) plated.

What are the vias, or the PTH's labeled J1 for? Are you going to use like a compliant pin connector or something? The clear mask is a nice touch. I assume the board is FR4?

 

[Jeff Siddall]

What are the vias, or the PTH's labeled J1 for? Are you going to use like a compliant pin connector or something? The clear mask is a nice touch. I assume the board is FR4?

J1 is for an optional 0.1" DuPont connector if I decide to use one. Being a fan of solder connections I will probably just wire leads directly to the holes instead.

Yes, clear mask on black FR4 board.