In Need Of An In Depth Tutorial On Building A Bass Pickup

[DustinTMoney]

ok, I've looked around and can't find any good in depth tutorials on building from scratch a bass pickup. I'm looking specifically for a p bass style pickup.

my project isnt exactly what it seems though.

I want to build a pickup that is ONLY for one bass string.

I plan on making two of these and making a kind of electric washtub bass, which will basically be a neck with 2 strings spaced widely apart, a bridge, and below the bridge i will have a hinge. I'm gonna fix it up somehow, but don't know my specifics yet, to limit the range of the hinge so it won't fold in half or pull too far back., and then have this whole set up on a base stand with a small flat peice of wood to rest your foot on to keep the bass from lifting off the ground when playing and moving the hinge.

Oh, and it's gonna be played with a drum stick

[Woodenspoke]

your not going to find it here, Do a google search for the pickupp makers forum.

[DustinTMoney]

Ok well maybe this simpler question can be answered here

Can I use a decently bigger magnet from an old speaker as the pole for the pickup and will the stronger magnet allow me to coil less wire and be able to have the bass string farther away from the pickup?

[SwedishLuthier]

I have written a few quite extensive explanations about what makes a pickup work on this forum. Do a search here and you will find it. My recommendation for this type of project, a one off type of thing with strong references to a P-bass style pickup is: Get a P-bass pickup kit from Stumac, press in one or maybe two magnets in each pickup half, trim the flatwork to work with that single (or those two) magnet(s) and wind some 10 000 turns of wire on each of those two pickup halves. Buying the kit might seem stupid as you will scrap most of it, and you might save a dollar or two if you get the parts separately, but you have the holes for the magnets drilled (need to be very exact) and the soldering eyelets installed and generally a lot of work done that can ruin your pickup. So my advice is: stay on the tried and tested path, build something close to a traditional pickup and save yourself a lot of trouble.

Some serach resuls:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=442413

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=465282

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=446016

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=448649

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=442413

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=432233

[Musiclogic]

you could also do a Wal type coil, being a single insulated pole wrapped with 42 or 43 ga wire, and magnetized from beneath with an Ndym or Alnico 8. There are many ways to approach this....Swedish Luthier has some very good instruction and reference for you in his post.