Different Pickup Wires

[wohzah]

What would happen if one used a different kind of wire to coil pickups? (ie not copper) Or a thicker wire ?

Also do magnets need to be very strong for pickups, could they just be magnetised screws or something?

Edited March 3, 2008 by wohzah

[Tim37]

not trying to be a smart ass here but do a little research on electic motors generators and transformers. a pickup is basicaly a generator. the motion of the string makes the magnet vibrate, the the vibrating magnetic field causes and electrical current in the wire and well the amplifier just amplifies that. any way if you use a weak magnet you will get a weak field and there for a weak signal if you use a larger wire you won't get as many turns around the magnet and so you won't get as strong of a signal, and im not sure but i don't even thing you will get a signal with a faris metal but like i said im not sure.

now if you could find some really light gauge gold wire that could be interesting because it has less resistance than copper so you could use a lighter wire and get the same amount of power so and so you could get even more turns and that means even more power out of the pickup.

btw any one feel free to correct hell i dont' know, i just know a little theory.

[al heeley]

Well the magnet does not vibrate, but a moving metal object in a magnetic field will cause the flow of electrons, ie: current. Vice versa, electrons flowing through a coil of wire will cause a magnetic force. But Tim is right- the weaker the magnet and the less the coild of wire, or the greater the wire resistance is, then the weaker the signal will be.

Thicker wire is a bad idea because it will have more resistance in general and you won't physically be able to wrap so many coils round the magnet. You will end up with a weedy pickup with very low output. You will be forced to use the heaviest gauge strings possible and have them set so close to the pickups that they will buzz and choke. And all the girls will laugh at you. It's true.

[SwedishLuthier]

Some truth and some misperceptions in here.

the motion of the string makes the magnet vibrate, the the vibrating magnetic field causes and electrical current in the wire

As Al points out the magnets do not vibrate. The magnet creates a magnetic field. This magnetic field might or might not magnetize the string itself. This have been debated over and over again and I do not for sure know what’s correct. Anyway the strings movement in the magnetic field (be it a magnetized sting or not) “pushes” on the field and causes it to fluctuate (Magnetic Flux). This flux is immersing the coil. If a wire is immersed in a fluctuating magnetic field the flux affect the electrons in the wire and starts a tiny electrical current. If you look at the “physics” the simple formula is:

EMS=n*dΦ*1/dt

Were EMS (might be the wrong letters, but that’s what its named in university in Sweden) is the induced voltage, n is the turn count of the coil, dΦ is the flux and 1/dt = f is the frequency.

Conclusions:

Higher magnetic strength -> higher flux -> higher output

More turns on the coil -> more output

Higher frequency -> higher output

The factors that can be manipulated here is the first two.

do magnets need to be very strong for pickups, could they just be magnetised screws or something?

For the first part; yes, for the last part; no

What would happen if one used a different kind of wire to coil pickups? (ie not copper)

It is highly possible to use, say aluminium wire. The problem is hat there are no aluminium wires available (AFAIK) that have the correct resistance/wire strength/physical size to be of any use in pickup winding.

Or a thicker wire ?

Thicker wire is a bad idea because it will have more resistance in general and you won't physically be able to wrap so many coils round the magnet. You will end up with a weedy pickup with very low output.

There is absolutely no problem at all with using a thicker wire. The coil will be larger and you will not be able to fit as much wire on a standard bobbin. The output will be weaker (see above) but the sound will also be different. A lower resistance coil will have much less high end damping and will sound “cleaner”. A pickup with thicker wire can sound excellent used in conjunction with an on board preamp to boost the output a bit. Or you can actually build a mini preamp so small that you can cast it into the casing of the thicker wire coil…wait…that’s EMGs!

now if you could find some really light gauge gold wire that could be interesting because it has less resistance than copper so you could use a lighter wire and get the same amount of power so and so you could get even more turns and that means even more power out of the pickup.

Well, gold has roughly 30% higher resistivity!!

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase...tric/resis.html

and according to this:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase...s/rstiv.html#c1

silver is among the only thing that has a lower resistivity than copper. Besides that you would end up with an extremely expensive pickup.

the greater the wire resistance is, then the weaker the signal will be.

Most often the opposite. If the higher resistance is caused by more turns of wire the pickup will have a higher output, not lower. But the coil will have a higher damping of the treble.

all the girls will laugh at you

No way! You are plying guitar! The chicks will always love you. Just add enough boost and overdrive pedals in from of the amp and they will never be able to tell the difference from your half ass home made pickup or an expensive boutique pickup.