No magnets in pickup.

[Earl Norton]

has anyone here tried not putting magnets in the pickup but rather magnetizing the strings only? How did that work out?

[Spence]

Think about what a guitar string vibrating over a pickup does.
It's not gonna happen with the magnetic strings idea really especially as the strings will not hold a magnetic charge for very long......

[Phil m]

A pickup is an electro-magnetic coil. If you only have a coil of wire with no magnets and nothing magnetised, not much will happen.

[Sock Puppet]

I tried this briefly with a single coil. It works but the output drops off as the strings lose their magnetic charge.

By all means give it a go, the pickup magnets needn't be mounted in the pickup itself - their main purpose is to allow the strings to act as vibrating magnets near the coil after all.

S.

[Magnetosaure]

Alnico 2 or Alnico 5 strings?

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

And happy new year to y'all!

[Arthur B.]

No coil in pickup

You could always use the string to pick up its own vibrations, sort like a ribbon microphone.

[Pep]

You would probably have better luck playing pickup-sticks with your buttcheeks. lol

[David Schwab]

A pickup is an electro-magnetic coil. If you only have a coil of wire with no magnets and nothing magnetised, not much will happen.

Actually pickups are not electromagnets. An electromagnet is a coil of wire that becomes a magnet after a current is supplied to it. Like those things on the ends of cranes that they pick up junked cars with. Electromagnets are also used as door locks. But you are correct... pickup work on magnetic induction to produce current. Can't do too much expect pick up hum with no magnets!

Some of the very early guitar pickups didn't have a permanent magnet, but instead first charged the strings with an electromagnet, and then switched the coil to be a transducer. I think the fact that they stopped making them that way might be an indication as to how well they worked! Electromagnets can get very warm too.

I've pulled the magnets out of pickups and used the magnetized strings.. but you don't get very much output, and what happens when you put new strings on?

Strings don't make great magnets either, and this would prevent making a humbucking pickup.

[David Schwab]

You could always use the string to pick up its own vibrations, sort like a ribbon microphone.

Yep. But you still need a magnet under the strings.

But all you have to do is make a connection to each end of the string with some shielded cable, and run it into a preamp.

Here's an image from patent #4408513 (Clevenger) for this very idea.

[soundmasterg]

How about putting a contraption in the guitar so you can make the strings part of an electromagnet?

[Phil m]

Actually pickups are not electromagnets. An electromagnet is a coil of wire that becomes a magnet after a current is supplied to it. Like those things on the ends of cranes that they pick up junked cars with. Electromagnets are also used as door locks. But you are correct... pickup work on magnetic induction to produce current. Can't do too much expect pick up hum with no magnets!

Thanks for the clarification David

[David Schwab]

How about putting a contraption in the guitar so you can make the strings part of an electromagnet?

Sounds like an awful amount of work for something that a permanent magnet can already do. Plus, do you really want current running through your strings? Sounds like a shock hazard!

[Earl Norton]

This might sound really dumb but my thought is to use a strong rare earth magnet close to or touching the strings at the tailpiece and before the bridge. question is: would the magnetic field extend thru the string to present a disturbance to the coil(s) enough to generate a signal? anyone care to guess?

[David Schwab]

This might sound really dumb but my thought is to use a strong rare earth magnet close to or touching the strings at the tailpiece and before the bridge. question is: would the magnetic field extend thru the string to present a disturbance to the coil(s) enough to generate a signal? anyone care to guess?

I don't think it would... I think it would only magnetize the local area of the string. The other thing to think about is if you use a very strong magnet near your strings, you might stop them from vibrating correctly.

[Zhangliqun]

I don't think it would... I think it would only magnetize the local area of the string. The other thing to think about is if you use a very string magnet near your strings, you might stop them from vibrating correctly.

Or at all!