When I first started building homemade instruments, I used a piezoelectric buzzer from RadioShack as a pickup (see http://onestringwillie.com for details). But while it’s cheap and simple, the piezo transducer has downsides: it has a low signal output, it picks up a lot of handling noise and can go into uncontrollable feedback at high volume, and it sounds thin and not nearly as authoritative as an electromagnetic pickup.
If you want to crank it up until it sounds like you really do have possession over Judgment Day, an electromagnetic pickup is the way to go. In this article, I describe how to wind your own electromagnetic guitar pickups on sewing machine bobbins.
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Thanks a ton! This was a really helpful, informative article.
Hi. I know this is probably a stupid question but I’ll ask anyway.
Can you use metal bobbins rather than plastic, or does that mess up the magnetic side of things?
The only reason I ask is that it would seem to be a more durable solution in metal, but that’s no good it it doesn’t work.
I’ve never tried, but I imagine it would have a different sound which may or may not be a good thing. Most likely, since you’re effectively expanding the magnetic “aperture” by using a magnetic metal, you’d end up with a very muddy sound with very little treble. Every professionally made pickup (Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Gibson, etc) I’ve ever used/installed/dissected used a plastic bobbin, so take that for what it’s worth.
Really, you’re much more likely to damage just about everything else on the instrument long before you hit the pickups as they’re partly recessed and covered by the strings. I wouldn’t worry about using plastic.