DIYers at heart .. anyone tried building their own guitar pickups?

[add4]

just wondering .. i know there are infos out there .. it doesn't seem impossible to make one that work, it sure must be hard to have it voiced for your particular taste or need..

Anyone has experience in that?
i have spotted some members of the madbean forum on the bare knuckle forum so i guess some of you are interested

Peace

[TNblueshawk]

I've only run up on a few dudes who wind their own, but not build their own.

[dwstanford]

One of the first diy projects i ever did was a cigar box guitar that i fitted with a homemade pickup.  I made the pickup out of alnico magnets and some coated wire (dont remember the gauge, but it was very thin.). I stuffed it all into an empty pack of bicycle playing cards.  It sounded quite good considering how crude it was.  The output was pretty high.

[raulduke]

One of the first diy projects i ever did was a cigar box guitar that i fitted with a homemade pickup.  I made the pickup out of alnico magnets and some coated wire (dont remember the gauge, but it was very thin.). I stuffed it all into an empty pack of bicycle playing cards.  It sounded quite good considering how crude it was.  The output was pretty high.

That is super cool DW.... Handwound pickups is ultra DIY!

[gtr2]

It always interested me but I don't change pickups out nearly as often as switching up pedals.  I'm more of a "don't change it unless there is a problem" with my guitars.

Josh

[add4]

I experienced drastic sound differences by swapping pickups ..
in the good and bad way.
on the other hand.. my guitar teacher just bought a custom shop ES335, i'm using a cheap ibanez art core ES335 copy with gibson pickups, the sound is DEFINATELY different.
i guess ibanez use very bad woods to put together guitars in the art core price range. you definitely get what you pay for. better pickups will change something, but does not replace a good guitar.

It always interested me but I don't change pickups out nearly as often as switching up pedals.  I'm more of a "don't change it unless there is a problem" with my guitars.

Josh

[Guitar Master]

Stew-Mac is great for these kind of things. Here is a link: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Electronics/Pickup_building.html
and they also have kits for building your own pickups too. I have always wanted to build my own, but I just have never done it. I hope this helps.

[shawnee]

One thing to keep in mind is that the pots and caps make a huge difference in what your pickups will sound like. Measure your pots from lug 1 to 3 and see what you get before using them. I have some "250K" pots that read under 200K! Those are no good and will make your tone weak and dull. I love using 300K pots on strats (they usually end up being around 280K). Instead of using one cap, I use a different value cap on each tone control to fine tune the high end for the neck and bridge pickup separately. I also love using the superswitch so I can get the front and back pickup together for a nice fake tele sound.

My Dad has expressed some interest in winding his own pickups. He doesn't use pedals at all so it would be something for him to tinker with since he's retired now.

[nzCdog]

I also love using the superswitch so I can get the front and back pickup together for a nice fake tele sound.

+1 Shawnee.  I use 500k pots on my HSS strat, which is wired vol/tone/blend... the bridge tone pot is swapped out for a blend pot that mixes neck and bridge, where as the tone is a master tone control.  Position 4 has all 3 pickups if blended as well. Most of the time I leave it standard but every now and again those cool mixed pickup tones are great fun.