Request for two small steel rod-esque lathed part!

**Ross77** · 23-06-2009

you can then have a slight quiescent pull on the string

Isnt that going to give you tuning and intonation problems like when a Pup is set to high? :surprised:

Where dose this go then? since it looks like a single coil are u lossing a pickup to use it?

**HankMcSpank** · 23-06-2009

Originally Posted by Ross77

Isnt that going to give you tuning and intonation problems like when a Pup is set to high? :surprised:

Where dose this go then? since it looks like a single coil are u lossing a pickup to use it?

Well this is how the commercial ones work too!

in practise I don't see how it could it would cause much in the way of problems (if your guitar's intonation is setup up right, then it'll cause no impact whatsoever. After all, that's what setting up intonation is about....so the tuning isn't knocked out of whack no matter where you fret the string) ...& we're talking minimal quiescent pull. Where you have to be careful is on the guitar's natural sustain (ie no sustainer active)...if the sustianer coil magnets have too strong a pull on the string when inactive, it actually kills the guitar's natural sustain.

re mounting....well, the commerical ones, you have to sacrifice a pickup...but I'm trying to get a surface mount one to work (hence the low height). These sustainers aren't suitable for all guitars as normally they do radiate a lot of magnetic interference, which alas is the very thing a guitar pickup senses! Therefore it certainly needs some physical distance from the next nearest nearest pickup.

**Ross77** · 23-06-2009

Ah. I see. sounds like a good project.

Is it the no.of turns and length of wire that makes it work? If so you could use a small square bobbin to reduce the wasted space between the coils and then you can drill them to suit the size of the magnet. no need for a fancy holder and hopfully reduce the height.

Just my 2 peneth

**HankMcSpank** · 23-06-2009

It's a combination of the current through the coils, coupled with the number of turns (ampere turns in fact). It's a fine balancing act at that too.

Too many coil windings = too high an inductance, which means the coil presents resistance to higher frequencies feeding into it. The higher frequencies are the thinner strings, less ferrous material in them, so they actually need more drive

Too few windings = not enough magnetic force presented at the strings...only way to compensate is to cranck the current up, but that saps the battery.

Re round vs square coils. Square would be better (as it goes, I'd already considered them...in fact, you wouldn't believe the amount of McSpank Grey Matter processor 'cycles' I've dedicated to this little project!), but my simple coil winder (a drill chuck) cant cater for winding anything other than circular shapes! In fact longer rectangular coils would be better still...slightly overlapping one another so no dead spots when bending strings etc.

Originally Posted by Ross77

Ah. I see. sounds like a good project.
Is it the no.of turns and length of wire that makes it work? If so you could use a small square bobbin to reduce the wasted space between the coils and then you can drill them to suit the size of the magnet. no need for a fancy holder and hopfully reduce the height.

Not sure I fully grasp what you're getting at when you say (re square bobbins) "drill them to suit the size of the magnet" nor how could this proposale "reduce the height" .....I'm all ears, could you put more meat on the bone?

**Ross77** · 23-06-2009

Not sure I fully grasp what you're getting at when you say (re square bobbins) "drill them to suit the size of the magnet" nor how could this proposale "reduce the height" .....I'm all ears, could you put more meat on the bone?

I may have misunderstood, but I thought you said that the magnets were different sizes which was causing problems with holding them? If you use a square bobbin then it could easily be shaped to suit the magnet size (or epoxy the smaller ones)

I was thinking of the small plastic box section that you get from model shops, if you cut to size and put a small bolt through with a washer on each end then you would have a former and be able to hold it in jacobs chuck......

With regards to reducing height I meant that if the square section utilised the availble space better then it wouldnt have to be as tall...

Is that better?

**HankMcSpank** · 23-06-2009

All the magnets are the same size 5mm rod (which will be the core of the coil), this bad sketch i did for Dean helps visualize...

(it's probably worth pointing out, that the above sketch was a simplified version of how it'll look....and only used for testing. The coils will not eventually be visible ...as I intend mounting them into some CNC milled perspex. The only bits you'll see arethe tips of the magnets protruding above the perspex holder)

**Ross77** · 24-06-2009

Did Dean sort you out?

Will you be selling any of them? Im always keen to try new ideas, but havent got the time to make my own yet. Can you wind inductors for Wha's with that machine? Just replaced the inductor in my cheap wha with a halo and totally transfromed it.......

Ive got a bit side tracked with this thread and just spent the last hour on Utube looking at pickup winding...