Single string pickups - 6 of 'em

[black_labb]

if you wanted you culd use a few stereo outputs. i am helping a friend out who is looking to connect the low E string and the A string to a bass amp and have the rest (with the other 2 possibly) connected to a guitar amp. he plays in a band with 2 guitars and no bass and wants a rythem sound thats a bit closer to a bass sound. i guess mine is a similar concept, just not nearly as hard.

[RufusTF]

On the subject of hex pickups, I created a little frankenstein with one of these, and am ISO another.
I took a cheap tele & routed a hole for a middle p.u. (ala strat).
In went the hex with ONLY the 5 & 6 string coils connected.
In the guitar, an octaver was installed, and wired to the "two-string" hex. Thus was born the "Octo-Blaster".
So I walk bass lines w/ my thumb while comping chords w/r.h. fingers. Or at least I did until it stopped working. I'd like to start from scratch to correct my design errors on the first but I need another hex to do it.
I went to the afore-mentioned french site. no luck.
Also bartolini. couldn't find one.
Even though I once had a handle on conversational japanese, I won't even try that. The one I do have was made by Red Rhodes and given to me by a student that once worked for him.
Are there ANY other possibilities other than having it custom made? Any help is appriciated. I'm not trying to hijack this thread but it was the only one I found on several forums that touched upon the subject. Oh, and this is my first post here, thanks ya'll!
JM

[Possum]

lasers...

yes but then you would have a hi-fi pickup, hi-fi pickups don't sell, they are just too clean and perfect sounding, kind of like a CBS era amp, perfection in pickups is not always good...

[David Schwab]

yes but then you would have a hi-fi pickup, hi-fi pickups don't sell, they are just too clean and perfect sounding, kind of like a CBS era amp, perfection in pickups is not always good...

Unless they are bass pickups...

[David Schwab]

In went the hex with ONLY the 5 & 6 string coils connected....Are there ANY other possibilities other than having it custom made?

If you don't need the two strings separate, try half of a P Bass pickup, like Charlie Hunter does.

There used to be a web site showing how to make a single string pickup from a Radio Shack solenoid coil.. you pull the actuator out and replace it with a brad.

I couldn't find that page, but here's another one with similar ideas.

instructables : cheap and easy guitar pickups

It looks like Bart doesn't make hex pickups anymore.

[Odd I/O]

If you don't need the two strings separate, try half of a P Bass pickup, like Charlie Hunter does.

There used to be a web site showing how to make a single string pickup from a Radio Shack solenoid coil.. you pull the actuator out and replace it with a brad.

I couldn't find that page, but here's another one with similar ideas.

instructables : cheap and easy guitar pickups

It looks like Bart doesn't make hex pickups anymore.

You just planted an interesting seed of an idea in my head: Get three P Bass pups and split them; mount them on the guitar 90 degrees off-axis (or linear with each string, to say it another way) ... one half pup for each string; each string gets two poles Voila!!!
I don't know how it would sound, but might be worth experimenting with for a home-brew hex pup array.

[David Schwab]

You just planted an interesting seed of an idea in my head: Get three P Bass pups and split them; mount them on the guitar 90 degrees off-axis (or linear with each string, to say it another way) ... one half pup for each string; each string gets two poles Voila!!!
I don't know how it would sound, but might be worth experimenting with for a home-brew hex pup array.

I had a Vox guitar like this... it had three split pickups, each pickup covered three strings, and it was stereo, so the three bottom strings would be in the left and the three top strings in the right. (actually it was a 12 string).

You could reverse each pickup's stereo output. An interesting sound was one pickup "normal" and the other reversed, so the treble pickup placed the three low strings on the left, while the bass pickup placed them on the right.

Some people use half a P bass unit for mandolin pickups.

[Aka Nameless]

I didn't read all of the replys, but couldn't you do this type of thing with a normal style single coil bobbin, but wrapping a seperate coil around each magnet, then adding 2 brass eyelets for each of the coils/leads? Would be a pain in the ass to accomplish the winding task, and may get a little confusing with 12 different leads coming from 1 pickup, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Would just be a near impossible task to wind a coil around each magnet unless you do it by hand.

I guess you could put a tiny cap on each end of the magnet pole, that covers 1/16" of the end, then wrap the magnet with wire, then remove the caps and install it in the bobbin, then solder to the eyelets.

[David Schwab]

I didn't read all of the replys, but couldn't you do this type of thing with a normal style single coil bobbin, but wrapping a seperate coil around each magnet...

You couldn't wind it easily.. how to get between the magnets?

You could just take a single coil pickup, make sure the magnets are securely glued in, or use one of those plastic bobbins, and cut it into six units. Wind each one, and then assemble it in a cover.

[Corvus]

Sorry for bumping an old thread, but I'm extremely interested in getting a bunch of single-string magnetic pickups made for me.

If anyone has any further info or knows anyone making these I'd really appreciate it.

[Possum]

,,,

Velvet Hammer , Red Rhoades also made a six coil pickup, but not active preamps, just passive back in the late 70's early 80's, I believe Brosnac's book has a photo of it. I've never seen one and never seen one on Ebay either, pretty rare.

[David Schwab]

Clint Searcy makes single string bass pickups.

http://www.searcystringworks.com/

[Corvus]

Thanks for that David. I've actually got an order in with Clint already, but I'm also looking for much smaller ones that could accommodate guitar string spacings as small as 9mm.

If anyone hears of, or makes, such a thing please let me know.

[David Schwab]

Thanks for that David. I've actually got an order in with Clint already, but I'm also looking for much smaller ones that could accommodate guitar string spacings as small as 9mm.

If anyone hears of, or makes, such a thing please let me know.

I can do these... I have access to a 3D printer, so can make any bobbins I need, and my partner has been wanting me to make some hex pickups for him, so we decided it would be a cool pickup to offer.

He has six ProCo Rats that he wants to run the pickups into...

Send me a PM

[Corvus]

I've sent you a PM


Six Rats would be really something!!!

I'm looking for single string pickups for my 7-string prototype. I want to have multi-channel outputs going into a laptop digital audio interface so I can run amp simulation, effects, panning, etc. on each string.