smallest magnetic pickup?

[dbwindhorst]

I'm hoping to mod a Traveler Speedster --

http://img3.musiciansfriend.com/dbas...7/6/548976.jpg

-- by adding a neck pickup. If this is possible at all, it'll require a really tiny pup, esp. in vertical height, as the freaky configuration leaves little room for a neck rout without seriously affecting the structural integrity, and there's only about 7mm available between the strings and the neck/body at the 21st fret.

The only things I've managed to come up with that might even be remotely workable are a lipstick or an Alumitone "single coil," but I'm hoping folks here might have suggestions for some other oddball design that could fit the bill.

Thanks,

David

[Sweetfinger]

As far as height, it is difficult to get shorter than a Dearmond "hershey bar" style. That might be a little long to fit with the tuners, tho. It is hard to tell from the photo exactly how much space is available without the tuner buttons hitting the pickup. The Alumitone might work the best.

[dbwindhorst]

Pennsylvania's finest

Thanks for the reply. The Dearmond-style is something I've thought about, since GFS makes affordable sort-of copies, but at 3/8" they're still too tall. And, yes, they would also be too wide to allow easy access to the D & G tuners, but if that were the only issue -- and if this whole harebrained scheme turned out to be worth pursuing -- some gearless tuners could fix that.

[jrfrond]

I've played those guitars, and with the machine recess in the rear and where the tuners are placed, you just do NOT have much in the way of room for anything!

[tedmich]

since I no longer "play" very much in the conventional bridge position, I often mount pickups above the strings pointing down, plenty of room there.

[Mark Hammer]

I have a lovely old Kalamazoo archtop from the 30's that I have been trying to find a mag pickup for, for the longest time. Unfortunately, commercially available pickups, even the lowest-profile ones, require a good 5/16" to 3/8" clearance between strings and body to install on top of the body.

[jrfrond]

This sounds like a good project for the SD Custom Shop. They can and will build pretty much anything! It'll cost ya though.

[SlidePicker]

since I no longer "play" very much in the conventional bridge position, I often mount pickups above the strings pointing down, plenty of room there.

I suggested that to someone recently. They thought I was nuts!

[Mark Hammer]

Well, I picked up some small neodymiums to use for polepieces, found some suitably thin PCB stock to use for flatwork, have myself an assortment of wire from #41 through 44 to use for winding, and got myself a new old hand drill with less wiggle to it to use for winding. It's a summer project I keep meaning to get to. Maybe this summer.

Ordinarily, I guess I'd be worried about strong magnets being so close to the strings and attenuating sustain. But in this case, since the objective is for a nice nasal jazz tone, I have no problem with the notes tapering off just a little faster.

[dbwindhorst]

I've played those guitars, and with the machine recess in the rear and where the tuners are placed, you just do NOT have much in the way of room for anything!

That's for sure. It would require something unconventional to work.

Although I've had a hard time finding many 3-view drawings or photos of Alumitone pickups, esp. with dimensions, their funky configuration looks like it might require a minimum or routing:

http://lacemusic.com/electric_pickup...one_sketch.jpg

http://image.www.rakuten.co.jp/ikebe/img1029959839.jpeg

And I see there are some threads here on the forum about such low- and ultra-low impedance designs, so I'll check them out too.

dw

[dbwindhorst]

since I no longer "play" very much in the conventional bridge position, I often mount pickups above the strings pointing down, plenty of room there.

Dang, I can't find it now, but a few months ago I ran across a vid of such a mod. Verrrry interesting overtones and stuff, but since I'd like to continue using the Speedster as a travel guitar, top-mounting a pup would be prohibitively bulky.

dw

[bbsailor]

dbwindhorst,

Go to your local Radio Shack and pick up a 5 pack of these magnets. http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2103429. Glue a thin piece of plastic on top and bottom. Drill out the two holes to mount on a winder and mount on the guitar body. You can try to wind enough turns of AWG 42 or 43 (5000 to 6000 turns) to make a high impedance pickup with thin wire or use AWG 32 to 34 to make a low Z pickup with about 600 turns connected to a 1 to 10 miniature input transformer to raise the output to match the output or the other pickup. If this design is too thick, you can go to K&J Magnetics and order a 1/16" thick by .25" by 2" long neo magnet. Sandwich the magnet between two thin pieces of plastic and try winding a low impedance pickup with enough windings to put 600 turns of AWG 38 in the thin wire window. You may need to make the plastic wide enough to get enough wire in the window to get a good match to the input transformer.

Joseph Rogowski

[dbwindhorst]

DIY

dbwindhorst,

Go to your local Radio Shack ...

Joseph Rogowski

Joseph:

Thanks kindly for taking time to reply to this old thread. I've never tried winding my own, but suspected going that route would be the only way to come up with something for the Traveler guitar. Your suggestions will be most helpful.

Speaking of which, were I to go low Z, any thoughts on an appropriate transformer?

David

[Sweetfinger]

Speaking of which, were I to go low Z, any thoughts on an appropriate transformer?
David

Many microphones have z matching transformers inside. Usually the cartridge/element is the problem in a dead mic, but the transformer will be fine and would probably work well for a pickup matching application, so look around for some dead microphones. A hi to lo z matching adaptor would also work.

[Rick Turner]

The only problem with neodymium (and other rare earth) magnets is that they can put excessive pull on strings...the same issue but worse that you get with Strat pickups being too close to the strings.