And now for something completely different

[Mystic]

If I make a humbucker using copper tape instead of enamel wire, What do you think it would sound like? Would it even work? The stuff that you use for stained glass windows is 1/4 inch, The perfect size. ( I realize this is a dumb idea so please no flames) Should I waste my time trying this?

[Joe Gwinn]

If I make a humbucker using copper tape instead of enamel wire, What do you think it would sound like? Would it even work? The stuff that you use for stained glass windows is 1/4 inch, The perfect size. ( I realize this is a dumb idea so please no flames) Should I waste my time trying this?

I think that this has been done before. I would try this question over in Pickup Makers.

[Tom Phillips]

Re: "...stuff that you use for stained glass windows..."
My first thought was that you would only have room for a very very small fraction of the turns needed to get usable output from the pickup.
Tom

[diode breath]

Pickups

If I make a humbucker using copper tape instead of enamel wire, What do you think it would sound like? Would it even work? The stuff that you use for stained glass windows is 1/4 inch, The perfect size. ( I realize this is a dumb idea so please no flames) Should I waste my time trying this?

I have to agree with Tom about this. Pickups use the cumulative effect of added inductance to create an induced current through the windings. Think of a pickup as the secondary set of windings in an air-gap transformer -- the string acts as the primary winding connected to the same ground as the windings of the secondary. Moving a wire through a magnetic field induces a voltage across the secondary windings, which is applied through the volume and tone control circuit.

Using copper tape would, as Tom pointed out, allow for very many fewer turns around the permanent magnet. The accumulated magnetic field is dependent on the number of turns, not the mass of copper. For example, stock Strat pickups had APPROXIMATELY 6800 turns of 42 gauge Formvar-insulated copper. CBS-era Stats used about 7200 turns, but it used a different insulator. The reason I say "approximately" for the number of turns on Leo-era pickups was that Leo built his own turn counter for the pickup winders, driven by rubber bands. They were close, but not nearly exact enough when the pickups were hand-wound. CBS bought automated pickup winders, and the windings were much more consistent.

The magnets themselves make a lot of difference, too. The Alnico that was used in the original Strats aged pretty quickly, which is why original Strats sound different from the vintage re-issue pickups (not much, granted, but some.) Ceramic magnets have a much longer shelf life and stay stronger for a longer period of time.

If you really wanted to use copper tape, you'd need to use magnets that are approximately the same size as the guitar body to generate enough current to drive your amp's first gain stage.

I know, I got too wordy -- I apologize in advance.

[David Schwab]

You would end up with a pretty low impedance pickup...but it would work... look at the Lace Transsensor... one loop of copper. Some low impedance pickups, like the Les Paul recording guitars, used fairly heavy magnet wire (I think I read something like 36GA), so they ended up with lower resistance coils.

You need to insulate your windings of course. I wonder what the resistance is on the copper tape? I bet the capacitance would be high too.

I bet you would get a good signal out of the pickup, albeit with a very low output.

I always though of trying to make a coil by etching a printed circuit board... I've seen them done for RF and stuff.