musical instrument project

This week I made a pickup for a musical instrument. I've always wanted to make a pickup from scratch. Electronics interests me but I'm not very good at it. I thought this would be a way to try and start to understand the principals better. As far as I understand, to make an electromagnetic field that is needed to generate signals to make sound, the copper wire needs to be tightly coiled around a number of metal cores, sandwiched between two pieces of non-conductive material and sealed off at the sides so that the tops of the metal cores are the only parts exposed.

used a hacksaw blade to cut up the back of a broken picture frame

items: copper wire, neodymium magnets, bolts,
back of a picture frame, hacksaw blade 

measuring. 4 strings is plenty.

cutting down the bolts (to about 3.5-4 cm).
the magnets connect to these ends.

tacking everything in place with hot glue

copper wire wound and sealed with hot glue

The pickup appears to be working but will probably need further insulation. I need to test it properly with some nickel or steel strings, which will happen as I build the rest of the instrument I guess...

Reading
Tales from Moominvalley, Tove Jansson
Art Sex Music, Cosey Fanni Tutti 

Listening to
Nothing Great about Britain, Slowthai
Never Work, Ariel Sharratt & Mathia Kom
Plastic Kettle, Stanley Brinks
Onward Aeropuerto, Susie Asado
Lvov in the Streets, Jack Lesser Lewis' Awkward Energy