Anybody interested in doing some active pickup design with me?

[uvacom]

I've always been one of those people who thinks that active pickups are actually a great idea. But I'm not really satisfied with any of the current incarnations. I think I've got some great ideas for an active pickup design based around a single-coil topology which as far as I know, has never been implemented before in a pickup. I've also got an idea for an semi-unrelated design which has broad market appeal and has nothing to do with active electronics, and I don't want to say anything at all about it, because I think it's clever and I'm a bit paranoid. Either or both of these ideas might even be patentable. Or maybe I'm full of hot air. Full disclosure, I'm a (late) third year EE student with a lot of ambition, but limited practical experience. You should know that going into this, I am an intelligent person with a solid foundation in electronics principles who is still very prone to neophyte errors and who also has limited time due to work/school restraints. So you should be a patient person who is okay with slow progress.

What I'm looking for is somebody who can wind a good pickup and who is comfortable fabricating different bobbins, etc. and generally taking care of the physical design of the pickup. I will be developing the electrical characteristics and the electronics for the pickup. I'm in the midwest US and if you choose to work with me, unless you happen to live very close to Omaha we will probably be sending stuff back and forth via US mail.

What's in it for you? Well, first and foremost you should be doing this with me because you also endeavor to learn something from the project. Second, if we can come up with something that is actually commercially viable, we'll be 50/50 business partners and you can make some money and have your name attached to a unique, innovative design.

PM me if interested.

[bbsailor]

I've always been one of those people who thinks that active pickups are actually a great idea. But I'm not really satisfied with any of the current incarnations. I think I've got some great ideas for an active pickup design based around a single-coil topology which as far as I know, has never been implemented before in a pickup. I've also got an idea for an semi-unrelated design which has broad market appeal and has nothing to do with active electronics, and I don't want to say anything at all about it, because I think it's clever and I'm a bit paranoid. Either or both of these ideas might even be patentable. Or maybe I'm full of hot air. Full disclosure, I'm a (late) third year EE student with a lot of ambition, but limited practical experience. You should know that going into this, I am an intelligent person with a solid foundation in electronics principles who is still very prone to neophyte errors and who also has limited time due to work/school restraints. So you should be a patient person who is okay with slow progress.

What I'm looking for is somebody who can wind a good pickup and who is comfortable fabricating different bobbins, etc. and generally taking care of the physical design of the pickup. I will be developing the electrical characteristics and the electronics for the pickup. I'm in the midwest US and if you choose to work with me, unless you happen to live very close to Omaha we will probably be sending stuff back and forth via US mail.

What's in it for you? Well, first and foremost you should be doing this with me because you also endeavor to learn something from the project. Second, if we can come up with something that is actually commercially viable, we'll be 50/50 business partners and you can make some money and have your name attached to a unique, innovative design.

PM me if interested.

uvacom,

It is always good to hear from a college student who wants to expand the guitar pickup development process. I am in no need to partner with anyone but I will point you in a direction that can result in a pickup made with easy to obtain items and expand your knowledge.

Obtain the following:

Radio Shack Ceramic magnet package of 5 magnets, 64-1879
Quantity 2, CSE187L low frequency current transformers
1 foot of AWG 10 solid household wire with insulation on it
2 inches of thin copper tubing
Small piece of ferrous sheet metal

Wrap one turn of the AWG 10 around one to three magnets and connect to current transformer using thin copper tubing.

Ground the AWG 10 wire to the output ground and the case of the transformer for noise reduction. If you add sheet metal under the magnet, ground that also.

Measure the output with an oscilloscope. It should be in the 20 to 30mv (peak) range using only one current transformer. If you use two transformers, the some additional output can be had.

Search on my name for some of my posts of this forum about low impedance pickups for more details.

This could make a good senior research project.

The amount of space that all this stuff takes up is smaller than a shoe box.

Real learning comes by doing and discovering.

Have fun!

Joseph Rogowski

[uvacom]

uvacom,

It is always good to hear from a college student who wants to expand the guitar pickup development process. I am in no need to partner with anyone but I will point you in a direction that can result in a pickup made with easy to obtain items and expand your knowledge.

Obtain the following:

Radio Shack Ceramic magnet package of 5 magnets, 64-1879
Quantity 2, CSE187L low frequency current transformers
1 foot of AWG 10 solid household wire with insulation on it
2 inches of thin copper tubing
Small piece of ferrous sheet metal

Wrap one turn of the AWG 10 around one to three magnets and connect to current transformer using thin copper tubing.

Ground the AWG 10 wire to the output ground and the case of the transformer for noise reduction. If you add sheet metal under the magnet, ground that also.

Measure the output with an oscilloscope. It should be in the 20 to 30mv (peak) range using only one current transformer. If you use two transformers, the some additional output can be had.

Search on my name for some of my posts of this forum about low impedance pickups for more details.

This could make a good senior research project.

The amount of space that all this stuff takes up is smaller than a shoe box.

Real learning comes by doing and discovering.

Have fun!

Joseph Rogowski

Sounds cool - correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this very similar to what Lace does with some of their pickups, e.g. the Alumitones?

[bbsailor]

Sounds cool - correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this very similar to what Lace does with some of their pickups, e.g. the Alumitones?

Yes,

However, the output is in the low impedance range and can directly feed an XLR mic input or a passive mic matching transformer located at the amp end of the guitar cable to preserve the full frequency response range.

You can also go active by using a preamp with a gain of about 20 to produce a fairly high output in the 400mv (peak) range.

As a college engineering project, you can use and demonstrate all the classic inductive, generator, signal to noise ratio, and transformer theories in a unique way that has not been done before. Most other research has been done with higher impedance pickups using thousands of turns of thin wire.

Wrap the AWG 10 around one magnet and connect that wire to the input of the Triad CSE-187L low frequency current transformer for a quick demo. Add a Radio Shack 500 to 50K mic matching transformer, an XLR connector and about 10ft of 2-conductor shielded microphone wire to the output of the current transformer for an output that can drive a high impedance guitar amp input.

Obtain the parts I listed and give it a quick try, speak to you electronics instructor/professor and see what happens.

Most of all, have fun while learning.

Joseph Rogowski