In one of my previous related posts DIY Pickup in 4 Easy Steps. I was explaining how I make the magnetic pickup from the sewing bobbin and a copper coil of a transformer.
Oh, and the neodymium headphone element ofcourse.
It was including the winding with the use of the ordinary drill.
Well. No more winding!
No more hassle with disassembling the transformers and cracking the old headphones!
The fast and easy way to make a magnetic pickup is as follows:
1. Transformer: take it but not break it.
According to many other reports the best choice is 110/12 VAC transformer.
If you cant find the transformer itself you can find any old power supply/charger for any electronic device.
2. Neodymium magnetic element.
Not necessarily neodymium one.
But to my experience the neodymium is the most effective and cheap magnet you can find.
More magnets you can set up more strong signal from your magnetic pickup will you get.
Q.: Where can I get the neodymium magnet?
A.: I’d suggest the same source as in “DIY Pickup in 4 Easy Steps.” post: the old broken headphones.
3. Copper Wire.
I use the copper wire from the electrical cable, the one for grounding without isolation coat.
But actually it can be any thick copper wire which you can find.
It just has to be long enough to make a loop which runs over the smaller coil frame of the transformer and around the magnets.
4. Putting everything together.
Firstly I’ve removed the smaller coil from the transformer to have enough space to push through the copper wire.
Maybe it’s not that necessary.
And it take quite a bit of time to do it.
Maybe in my next experiment I will not remove it if the copper wire will go through anyway.
Then I’ve made a loop with the copper wire as described above.
I secured the magnets and the surrounding wire with the peace of scotch just for the sake of the experiment.
Later I will find a better more reliable solution.
Here’s how it looks like:
OK. I admit that this is a “quick and dirty” way to do things.
But it’s only to share with an idea.
Of course, the final version has to be done the right way.
And the final step: testing.
Here’s how it sounds like.
Sorry for humming noise: no shielding.
The amp is the Fishman Loudbox Mini.