Junk Drawer Bass Pickups

[John_H]

I need pickups for a bass that I'm building for myself so I'm putting some together with junk I had laying around.

The poles are some 3/16 truss rod material. The flats are from old pick guards. I'm using the magnets, screws, and leads from some Epi humbuckers from the junk drawer.



I made the covers out of black (I think it's polystyrene) plastic that I found in some trash. It was at a fedex store where I'm working on a remodel. It's .035 thick, and seemed pretty workable when I got it hot with my heat gun. Having nothing to lose I made a set of MDF forms to mold the plastic. They came out nice enough that I'm going to use them on the guitar. This is the first time I've experimented with thermoplastics. I'll be making a vacuum former soon.

[big_teee]

Very nice, thanks for Sharing!
T

[big_teee]

John:
Can you share and explain how to make the wooden centers of the pickup.
What tools are required?
Thanks,
T

[John_H]

Good question Terry

It seems the smallest pieces require the largest tools. The easiest way for me to do those is with a drill press, and table saw.

It's important to have the proper sized holes for the slugs/screws. If they're too tight, the coil forms will split. If they're too loose, your construction will be sloppy. I've got a drill bit set similar to this >115 Piece Titanium Nitride Coated M2 High Speed Steel Drill Bit Set In the smaller sizes they only vary by .002/.003" You want to find the size that best fits the slug. If you need to force it in to the hole at all, it's too tight.

Because the pieces are so small, it's much easier to start with a larger piece of wood, drill the holes, and then trim the work piece to size. Use a large enough piece to be comfortable working with it. For these I used a piece that was probably one inch wide, 3/4 thick, and a few inches long. After determining the pole spacing, I drilled the holes. At this time I cut the thickness of the work piece. I cut both faces to make sure that they are clean, and square. When the holes are drilled there will be tear-out on the entry, and exit. Cutting both faces removes it, and squares things up at the same time. Cut one side clean, then rip the whole piece to thickness. These were .400" The last thing I do is cut the sides. I leave it a little large, and sand it to size.

The holes in the flatwork can be made a little smaller than the holes in the cores. I like to do this to keep things tight.

[copperheadroads]

This thread makes me want to melt some plastic ......

[big_teee]

This thread makes me want to melt some plastic ......

Yes, and I can Hear the 60 hz from here.
But, hum in a good RWRP way!
T

[Jeeves]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Did you do anything to the wood to seal it from moisture, sweat etc?? And was sanding it with fine sandpaper enough to keep the wire from snagging?

[John_H]

This thread makes me want to melt some plastic ......

I was so excited with my results that I stayed up way too late Sunday night playing with plastic. It went from "what will happen if I get this hot?", to custom pickup covers in about three hours. Hillbilly engineering strikes again!

I've been wanting to build a little vacuum forming rig for a while. I've got the stuff to make it. I just need to decide what size will work best for me. The blanks that are available come in sizes like 12 x 12, 18 x 18 etc. up to 18 x 36". I'm leaning towards making it for 9 x 9 pieces.

There are a couple of local plastic suppliers that I want to talk to before I order any material online. It would be cool if I could buy sheet goods locally.

Yes, and I can Hear the 60 hz from here.
But, hum in a good RWRP way!
T

It shouldn't be too bad. It'll be a three knob guitar with a Volume, Tone, and a Blender. I'll do my best to shield it. We'll have to see how it sounds. I put 10k turns of 42 on the bridge, and 9.2k on the neck. They should be pretty powerful. I'm anxious to hear them.

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Did you do anything to the wood to seal it from moisture, sweat etc?? And was sanding it with fine sandpaper enough to keep the wire from snagging?

Thanks Man. I think that you might be mistaking the block of wood for part of the pickup. The large block of wood in the picture is the jig for making the flatwork pieces. I attached plastic to that jig with double faced tape, trimmed the plastic with the router, and then drilled the holes using the holes in the jig as a guide.
The X's that you see on the flats are reference marks to keep them oriented the same way that they were drilled when assembled

[big_teee]

If you make your own covers, You may want to try the soapbar humbuckers.
http://music-electronics-forum.com/t34308/ post 3.
They are easy, and cheap to make, but the SCs may sound better.
I like Ceramics pretty well for bass.
Cool project.
T

[jonson]

Great seeing some real movement here of I ain't got and never done it so I'm gonna have pop. Love it John keep it going.
9x9 including clamp frame good size for covers as not too much waste/enough room for movement and time to work a cover into shape. Any bigger and you waste material or if you do more than one at once a failure usually means both.

[Jeeves]

Thanks John. Though I was referring to the wood centre piece glued between the flatwork (bottom left corner of your pic). Unless I missed something and those are also a jig to make that piece from another material.

If you did use that wood centre in the pickup, I was wondering if it was necessary to put some kind of sealer coat on it to help keep moisture out or keep the winds from snagging on the bare wood

[John_H]

...I was wondering if it was necessary to put some kind of sealer coat on it to help keep moisture out or keep the winds from snagging on the bare wood

No, I didn't seal it with anything. I wound directly over the bare maple core.

[big_teee]

Hey John what else do you have for us?
T