Guitar Pickup Made from Ice Pick (Build + Demo!) Ice Pick Highs?

[@kimcringeson4937]

Man, that jam at the end was great

[@heavymetalATC]

thanks bro.

[@barbarianblood2316]

Yeaaah! Just in time for my morning session on the Ceramic Throne! You’ve outdone yourself man. This actually sounds fantastic! I love this typa stuff. ✌️

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks Barbarian. I hope everything came out alright LOL I have to admit it blew my mind. I cant see any reason why this pickup should sound this good... Go home physics you are drunk!

[@TomGlander]

Hellllllllllllllyea!!!! This is the stuff of dreams and power trips. Man, what can you you NOT do in this realm of electrical string amplificators? SO COOL.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you SO much Tom. Pickups are generally pretty simple but this one just blew my socks off. This broke every rule I thought I knew about physics. I'm sure we will get to some point on here where I am over my head. The sustainer thing almost broke me a few 8-14 hour days of tinkering head scratching and cursing my life and the whole the planet went into that one. I think that was my limit. If i try one harder to tune in than that I think we will have a failure to continue on said project. Thanks again.

[@peterjohnson4932]

You never cease to amaze me Clemintine, another insipiring experiment to try. Thanks!

[@heavymetalATC]

WOW! thank you so much Peter. If you try this let me know what results you get. This seemed to me to be some type of crazy fluke design. It just doesn't make any sense to me that it would sound this good. Like I've said to several people: "Go home physics you are drunk" Thanks again.

[@marlonmarzsmith3349]

You got it goin on my friend!! 😁. From the “git” go!!!!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Marlon. I'm so glad you found this info entertaining. Maybe I should make an instrument from asphalt and call it the "GIT-TAR" LOL thanks again.

[@MrShablag000]

Love your pickups videos. They Make me want to try to build my owns.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Benjamin. You can do it. They are quite simple. The hardest part is winding and soldering the tiny angel hair sized wire but after a few tries or maybe even right off the bat you will nail it. Then you will catch the pickup building sickness and go down the rabbit hole of materials, wire gauges and coatings, magnet types, shapes and sizes. wind scatter ratio and on and on. You can pretty much make it sound however you want from quiet to loud, smooth to jagged, rich to thin. If you decide to go for it let me know your results and if you have any questions or problems feel free to drop a comment.

[@CarrotDugTooDeep]

So, I'm guessing that "Ice-Pick Highs" are actually a good thing? I consider this myth busted. Fantastic job! I love all of your Myth-Busting series videos.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment CarrotDug. I guess that is all just taste really? This pickup obvously was quite smooth on the top end (IDK why? it broke all the physics I understand) but I have another guitar with a super ice pick sounding cheap chinesium ceramic pickup in it. The pickups sounds like crystal razors coming out of the speaker even on a tube amp with a vintage speaker that is quite dull in the top end... but, it is quite useful at times to cut in a mix or blend with other pickups for a Telecaster like sound. I will demo it in a video soon as another viewer has asked what ice-pick highs actually sound like. I'll put this in my notes and give you a shout-out on the demo video as well. Thanks again for the viewership and kind words.

[@joseislanio8910]

Reminded me from my attempts to make a pickup for my cheap acoustic back in the 2000's, to plug it into my stereo.

[@heavymetalATC]

Its pretty wild what a musician will do when they gotta have some loud huh? lol when I was about 8-10 my amp blew up and I lost my cable after a move so I pulled the jack out of my guitar and hooked a headphone wire to the output wires and ran it into the mic input of a little boombox so I could play. This icepick project was a strange one. I had no idea what it would sound like but since it was so low resistance I figured it would be quiet and really bright but... It was loud and bold? SO... I dont know what to think now. that basically goes against everything I thought I knew about pickups as well as what any pickup maker or electronics engineer would say? I guess thats why it is cool to do these experiments that the viewers suggest. Its always a surprise. LOL

[@joseislanio8910]

@@heavymetalATC I think the output is mostly related to number of coils rather than resistance. And you sure got a lot of coils in there. But the fact that the coil is in such a direction and it sounded that good is just amazing. Noe I'm considering winding a coil around an Alnico magnético and then dip it into epoxi, to make it resemble a "normal" pickup

[@20glen20]

Another great video. Thank you.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Glenn and you are welcome. I have to admit that this one blew my mind a bit. There is no reason this thing should sound this good. Maybe that ancient nail had some kind of special steel or something LOL but really it doesn't make since. 1.3k resistance and loud and thick??? Go home physics you are drunk. Thanks again.

[@20glen20]

I watched again and this really confused me. My logic says it should not get much effect from the string vibrating to the side of the coil - I would expect very little signal going through to amp , so should sound poor definition- no good tone.... But it has got good tone. It seems to send good signal to the amp. Doesn't make sense but sounds great. It doesn't need big chunk of wood , so this could be built in nicely into the guitar. Would be interesting to see if bridge or neck positions have same influence as traditional pick ups. This concept really challenges the traditions. I believe you are expanding our minds.😊

[@waynemasters8673]

Take a 3 yr video production course like I did and get back to me. Lol The ammo speaker box freak will love this.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and write a comment Wayne. I would love to take a video production course as well as a music production course but I'm just too busy building and fixing stuff and making videos. Hey if you know somebody who you think will like the content feel free to share it with them. I would totally appreciate that. Heck if you think someone would passionately hate it share it with them as well. Thumbs up, thumbs down, sour comment, sweet comment. KZbin robot don't care he just knows engagement it good. Thanks again.

[@waynemasters8673]

You are too kind.

[@tomutomo3701]

Awesome as always! Please never stop 🙏🏻

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Tom. I don't plan on stopping. I'm driven to build stuff anyway so I might as well record it and all the suggestions from the viewers have kept my mind rolling like a train.

[@kevalwagher996]

Isn’t this essentially how lipstick pickups are constructed? except they have the windings around a bar magnet. also, the lead guitar in the song almost sounded like a harmonica! Awesome!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Keval. Yes it is similar. With lipsticks the coil is from side to side though like a normal pickup. I had no Idea how this would work being wound up and down... I was pleasantly surprised I think this may inspire some further experiments. That lead part had the reverb spread on there thicker than peanut butter and with the jangle sound of the icepick-up it did have a very metallic honky tone. Thanks again.

[@r.condor2338]

Wow 👍👍👍guter Klang de Pickup

[@heavymetalATC]

Danke R. Condor Ich war selbst überrascht über den Sound. Es widerspricht jeder Wissenschaft, die ich in Bezug auf Pickups verstehe. Es sollte ruhig und hoch mit dem kleinen Spulen sein, aber stattdessen war es laut und kühn?

[@jalphotographynewcastle]

well done indeed legendary effort 🤘 rock on

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment J. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.

[@generalawareness101]

I love that ice pick and Guido from the joint said to ask where ya been, and where is that pack of smokes you still owe him?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you General. Yo yous tell Guido I gave him 2 noodles and a tuna for them smokes back in january. He was cheating that spades game anyhow. LOL

[@generalawareness101]

@@heavymetalATC Yep, that sounds like him.

[@fehlbergo]

I kinda want to know what these "ice pick highs" sound like. Could you make a pickup that emphasises this?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Fehlbergo. I have just the pickup for that in a guitar already. Even through a warm vintage spec amp it sounds like crystal razors coming out of the speaker. I will put this in my notes and when I make the video I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again great suggestion and should be an easy video.

[@barbarianblood2316]

How about a super low ultra mega mudbucker?

[@AdamWellsMusic]

Great video

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks AWM. I appreciate the interest and interaction.

[@peteytwofinger]

Highly entertaining content , and the song was a such a treat , i never heard anything that sounded like that but it had a distinct style almost like i heard it before . Here is my video idea - can you make a safe tube preamp for the guitar for under 100 dollars ? you dont have to make the tubes though i wouldnt be surprised when you did . i think people really like tubes , and i betcha seymore duncan has been spyin on this channel .

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Petey, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Must say this whole project kinda dumbfounded me... by all rights this thing should not sound this good? Its like go home physics you are drunk. There has been a 12au7 circuit on the breadboard for a few months now and it works at 9v and even better at 12-15v but its more of a distortion almost a fuzz. It has a transistor stage in front of the 2 tube stages. It has a diode clipper in the negative feedback loop running back to the transistor from the first tube stage. It sounds good and is super loud but it needs more tinkering as its noisy as heck a filter cap helped but its still hum city. At this point its been so long since I was just stabbing stuff in there to get it going that I don't even remember exactly whats going on anymore. High parts count looks like a metropolitan downtown area... But, I have a feeling that a tube preamp device will be featured on this channel in the near future and maybe even on yours? ;) Thanks Again Petey and Hello Seymour LOL

[@peteytwofinger]

@@heavymetalATC right on i know nothing about that stuff but i have read the grounding is more tricky with stuff like tube circuits . most of the tube gear i ran across was always beat up and needed servicing . it all had that - just loud humming and buzzing , factor in the "it will kill you" and you can see why i avoid that shit and prefer circutis i can lay hands on with ease and comfort . that skool glue dip was a highlight btw . brilliant . this is the type of rule breakin (innovation) that makes this channel so great . never change .

[@deeliriyum]

Clementine this is so amazing! You made my day with this! Would consider making a thin sidewinder that would sit on top of nonrouted body? I was always fascinated with the idea of being able to just pick up your... erm pickup and put it in your pocket and then just slap in whatever position you want on your bass.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Bash. Yes that is a great idea I will put that in my notes. If/when I do the video I will give you a shout-out. I think I could "borrow" the design that the guys use for the flat cigar box pickups and upscale it to normal size or even oversize to make up for being flat. Thanks again that's a good one you could just use blue tack and move it from bass to bass or on guitars or stick it to a steel plate or a cymbal to make crazy percussion sounds. :)

[@deeliriyum]

​@@heavymetalATC Any time you decide to do it is good time for me. I've found some videos of it, but they cut the process too short for a dummy like me. On a sidenote: I find it really odd that pickup with 1.3k ohms was that loud. Better put, that's crazy! Was it because of the strength of the magnet?

[@heavymetalATC]

@@deeliriyum It blew my mind I couldnt tell you exactly but another viewer noted that it may be because its only taking signal on 1/2 of the pole not the tip so it is pinpointing the strings and only using 1/2 of the signal like an LED or diode. It may not be true AC signal but a doubled up dc signal? Thats a better explanation than I can give for it.

[@lisentzudir1087]

Dayum! !!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks Lisen. I was as surprised as anybody. According to all the physics I understand this thing should not sound very good but it blew my mind. I don't know why it sounds good but I'll take it as a win. Thanks again.

[@lisentzudir1087]

Man you should make a video where you show us round your house and specially your workshop.

[@AlexSMarie]

That's wicked.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks Alex. This one blew my mind. The results go against everything I thought I knew about physics.

[@tameromari2102]

You always get me trying new things man. Love it. I gotta try this out. I don't have a neodymium magnet that big though. I have a regular humbucker ceramic magnet. Might be a bit weaker but should work. I have a 0.06 mm wire and a 0.1 mm wire. What do you think is better to use for this? Thanks again for the videos bro

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Tamer. I think the ceramic magnet would work fine. Go with the thinner wire and wind it as much as you can stand. Especially with the brighter sounding weaker ceramic magnet. I ended up giving up on the winding but it would have been ideal to do about 3 times as much. Thanks again and you welcome. If you do the experiment let me know what results you get and if you have any problem or question feel free to drop a comment.

[@tameromari2102]

@@heavymetalATC alright ... That's what I'm gonna do. Can I send you some photos of my work along with some questions on instagram?

[@Pizza_Master]

Nice Job ..... Cool Tune..... .... were you using the Icepick-up on the bass???

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Pizza Master. I was not using it on the bass. I just popped over to your channel and I had to sub. I love cooking and I will be drooling over those videos and snatching ideas for the kitchen. Thanks again.

[@Pizza_Master]

@@heavymetalATC please do... and thanks for the sub... I like what you are doing w the guitars bro. That’s some good ol school ingenuity that really lacking these days. I love making stuff with what I have at hand too bro. That’s why I like watching what u do. The snow has finally melted by me and it’s almost tolerable to be chilling outside so i will be posting some more wood fired food Vids soon again... hoping to get my shit fired up this weekend and put a recipe together. Thanks again my friend. Talk w ya soon.

[@waynemasters8673]

I'm guessing why it sounds good is because it's a pinpoint on the string vs the usual muddy many points. Still, similar to an LED only half the signal is being used.

[@waynemasters8673]

I would like to hear an additional ice pickup at 90 degrees to pick up E W vibrations as the first is picking up N S Then mix the two voltages. If you could invent a 12 string sound with 6 strings you could be my new hero.

[@scottinWV]

Nice.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Scottie. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I must say it surprised me for sure.

[@ACURAOCULTA]

Very good

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks again brother.

[@mashilmy]

The mandolin sounds like sort of chinese instrument, and the guitar sounds like mandolin or maybe banjo (i mean, its like something in between those instrument)..nice invention btw 😂😂

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Muhammad. It does have quite a unique sound. I thought the song was very much like the theme music in the old 60s western shows. It was just made up on the spot so there was no plan or practice. It did blow my mind that this thing sounded good. It breaks all physics that I understand. It should sound terrible but it doesn't and I really don't know why. Thanks again.

[@andrewgarcia3136]

banjolin

[@BK-bs2eb]

Hey Clementine, I don't know much about electronics but a crazy idea hit me and maybe you could try it or tell my why it's dumb. What about making a pickup out of a roll of aluminum foil. You'd cut thru the roll into a workable size and put the pole pieces or whatever thru the center of the roll having the roll act as the "winds" of wire. Soldering leads on might be tough and I know aluminum isn't conductive like copper but is there any possibility here?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for taking the time to write this awesome comment B K. You are correct you can make a pickup coil from a strip of flat aluminum foil. I have never done this but I know it will work. The thing is though that I have found while rolling diy capacitors that the thin plastic coating on aluminum foil used in the kitchen is not a good insulator. However the idea you have would work perfectly with aluminum or copper shielding tape with the backing paper still attached. Like the stuff they use to patch up the ducting for air conditioning or heat. That would be perfect. Not related but man that aluminum tape will cut the HELL out of you. I have been gotten BAD by it before... Anyway that is a great and fully plausible and achievable idea. Some other people have suggested very similar ideas as well and I will put this in my notes and if/when I make a video I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again.

[@goldeyeball]

Hey that’s a bad ass song! Did you make that song?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Goldeye. Yep It was made up as it was recorded. What you are seeing is the first time it was played and I don't even know how it goes so I couldn't play it again without learning it. I once upon a time did try to do the music thing seriously. I got pretty far into the industry but I became disenchanted by issues and gave it up pretty much. I still record stuff sometimes but I don't often share it as KZbin is over-saturated with music.

[@ramaclub9999]

Mobile doesn't let me edit post so I remember what I was going to ask you: The bigsby I got "clonesby" is crap I had two clip two turns off the spring with bolt cutters. I added a vinyl 1/4 bushing past the C pin to prevent horizontal play but then i noticed the metal posts are not evenly spaced like my bridge so I am going to use a paperclip the wingclip kind to evenly space the strings i just lay that on the posts. Do you have a better suggestion on how to make and cloneigsby not suck!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for commenting Rama. Ahh I dont really have anything to ad on this it seems you are pretty darn crafty. I do have a chigsby and its quite sloppy and full of end play but I just let it ride and the use of a roller nut and roller bridge with locking tuners made it a pleasure. Its pretty solid and will dive bomb to the body and return perfectly.

[@RevvyTone]

So I've been wondering, why can't we take a thin bar neyodinum magnet, like the ones I stick to a piece of metal down the center of one of my flat bucker surface mounted pickups and wind directly onto it? I been thinking about that since your lipstick pickup experiment. I'm even wondering if we can put a wind of electrical tape at the center, and wide it like a humbucker, crossing over the center and winding the opposite way?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment RevvyTone. I don't see any reason why one couldn't do exactly that. The doulbe layer opposite wind idea is genius. you could get a noiseless pickup like the stacked ones. Thumbs up on that. I'll put this in my notes for future consideration, Since you have the setup to try this yourself, you should definitely do an experiment and post the results I would personally love to see it. I just subbed to your channel you have some awesome stuff going on over there.

[@guitargrader9094]

🤘 🧊

[@GOLDSMITHEXILE]

I'm disappointed....therewasnt a map with a burning arrow like you get on the old tv westerns....just kidding Fantastic rich sound from that thing, quality, more than a diy gimmick

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Goldsmith. Thought it sounded quite a best like the 60s spaghetti western themes myself. I have to admit that I was as surprised as anyone else when I hooked this thing up. I cant see any real reason why it sounds this good. Its too low resistance the winds are in the wrong direction... Go home physics you are drunk. LOL Thanks again.

[@siddhantraju4708]

oh my god , use 2 icepicks for a humbucker now i guess??

[@andrewgarcia3136]

series/parallel switching icepickbucker

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching, I dont know maybe one day I'll do it but I may try it in a different way and make it look strange so yeah, Ill put that it my notes... Thanks Siddhant.

[@heavymetalATC]

Hahaha Andrew i guess it could be