DIY Alumitone from Copper Full Build and Demo (Super Simple!)

[@corvusalbus9219]

Thank you for busting these stupid audiophile myths and generally inspiring people to make gear with their own hands. I've had some battles with the elitists about what is acceptable (everything that works) and what is not (huge price markups on musical equipment), and built my fair share of homemade pickups and guitar bodies... I do not plan on stopping. It is great that I have discovered one more of our kind. Maybe we could talk one day, you look like an interesting person to share some stories with.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and for taking the time to write such a kind and thoughtful comment Corvus. Yes, it is pretty crazy the amount of myths and associated snobbery in the guitar/music gear world. It seems like you don't tend to see it as much in people that do DIY, its hardly there at all in the synth world because of the extreme amount of nerdery there LOL. It just seems like once you learn how things actually work and get hands on, magic or "mojo" kinda just looks like a wasted $$$. though I do find old stuff with a story cool i wont starve for it and I don't feel inadequate without it or like I just need to get that one more expensive piece of gear and Ill suddenly become great and famous. Hey if you like my channel you should check out my friend Petey hes always doing some awesome DIY stuff He's my secret weapon info resource: kzbin.info

[@ememe1412]

@@heavymetalATC I'm new to electric guitars. I was a bit shocked at the craziness of routed out wood plank prices. Also the liberal use of the words: 'custom', 'vintage tone' etc. Had the chance to listen a much heavier LP jr from 25yrs ago compared to my new one a couple of years ago. I couldn't detect anything in the tones that I didn't think I could manipulate or affect with pickup design. Simply, I could not see anything in (solid body) 'tonewood' output that would not be swamped by the pickup response, amp distortions (I've not seen a hifi guitar circuit even for the design levels of their era, even though an apparent preference for clear tones was sought. 50s-60s was the height of valve technology.) and driver distortion. Looked it up in the forum's and the amount of 'cognescenti' commenting that DIY could not match a big makers offering with the same spec... Absolute idiocy. I've seen basic 1930s level single ended valve amp circuits built in to fancy wood plinths go for thousands (Hammond SE tx opt...). A high school kid can build the exact same with better output tx and do better than the pro manufacturer's version... I can rant on but there are parallels to audiophiles and guitar gear sluts. The loudest voices are those regurgitating 'facts'. It's easier than working things out, calculating and reading engineering textbooks. Imagine the other way around and an engineer describing music in waveforms instead of playing the instrument. What we have are musicians describing the laws of physics with emotion and sentiments...

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@ememe1412 wow..... how inspiring

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@ememe1412 so how was it that u said a HS student could build a good amp?

[@saltommassello]

This is the perfect blend of interesting content and entertaining content. Great work dude, great channel.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Sal. I always feel lucky to find like minds. If one can handle this unorthodox type of content they gotta be cool or crazy and all the coolest people are. Thanks again

[@mihailmilev9909]

@@heavymetalATC yes tbh I was kinda surprised at how easy it was to watch this video lol. Feels like it flew by

[@lucianotesta5019]

Man, the original are ridiculously expensive. Thanks for doing this, you got a new subscriber.

[@chrisparker5278]

That’s why I don’t buy them, especially when considering EMG still a PJ set with a wiring loom for £130 all in!

[@squabeenutz]

Your sustain comments and then test/demonstration around 4:50 had me rolling. First time on your channel, but won't be the last. I've made a bass, and a guitar, but want to make my own pickups, and this video helped. Thanks

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Squabee. I hope you decided to make some pickups and I also hope it went well. Its a bit of a learning curve but once you get 1-2 working you'll be off to the races. The ideas and questions will flow in and it becomes an addiction of sorts... If you have tried some experiments let me know how the went and if you have any questions dont be afraid to ask... ill try to get to them in less than 8 months this time LOL

[@petedazer3381]

I wasn’t expecting much, but that’s really cool………thanks for posting!

[@McNihilation]

Thank you for sharing this!👍 I used a flattened copper pipe, 12 volt coil, shielded wires, and a Strong neodymium. I can't believe how full and solid it sounds. I just wish the coil would fit in the guitar;)

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such kind words as well as an update. That is fantastic news.

[@larsw4880]

Great work! I'm really inspired to make some pickups again, made one for my bass long ago also using those bad neodymium magnets. I watched several of your videos and I just love your no nonsense style and the humor. Keep doing your thing, there's never enough unorthodox minds in the world!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Lars. Yeah I have come to think that maybe because guitar people think ceramic=cheap and alnico=vintage and good and ceramic is stronger than alnico well neodymium is stronger than ceramic it must suck twice as much. So the magnet cant be the source of more power so "overwound" becomes a flashy trending term... so what you end up with is people wayyy waaayy over winding a pickup and putting a weak magnet in it and that really really sucks too much capacitance=dark and muffled. Thanks again Lars I hope you find the videos useful and entertaining.

[@bsatyam]

Dude, you're my new favorite guitar DIY channel. You're doing exactly the things I've always wanted to do but never could. Subscribed!

[@guitfidle]

Wow, I knew they were a relatively simple design, but that is ridiculously easy!! Thanks for sharing, I will definitely be experimenting with this

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for all the time you have spent watching the videos and writing comments Guitfidle. I am so glad to hear that you are finding the info on the channel to be of use and are feeling inspired to do some experiments. That is Awesome! Thats why I do this stuff.

[@guitfidle]

@@heavymetalATC I really do enjoy this kind of stuff, and truly appreciate you sharing your experience. I'm a hobby luthier- part of a local builder group and a couple online groups, I love sharing ideas and helping out others. I really need to start filming my own adventures 😁

[@GlynRyles]

After watching this video I decided to have a quick go at making a similar pickup for my dad to try since he's the guitarist in the family and all I can say is it very much exceeded my expectations and produced a pretty decent sound with what seems to be a fairly flat response (I'll hopefully test this once my oscilloscope arrives). I have a box of 300:1 small signal step-up transformers collected over the years and 6 tiny neodymium button magnets which together managed to give around 5mV output. I did try it with a bar magnet from a humbucker but it was less than 1mV output. Overall a very clean sound and a fun project. Really loving your experimentation.

[@ricoenacapulcoh]

Thanks Clementine! I wedged a horseshoe of copper wire into a strat pickup cover, placed a 60mm neodymium underneath a layer of plastic, and used a 12v wall wart. It sounds great so far. Super clean! Now to see if I can get it to work with a 5v transformer. This pickup style is def now going into my homemade lap steel.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how it worked out Rico. I'm glad you were able to get such a good result. That is great to hear. Awesome!

[@emersonsmithereens2094]

I'd be interested to hear if you had any luck. Of the 5 or 6 wall warts I've busted apart I've only gotten 2 to work.... & The two 5v ones had circuit boards inside with little mini coils on them so I was kind of hoping there'd be a way to get those to work since they're lighter & look cooler....

[@TomGlander]

There you go again, man. Doing crazy stuff that proves the marketing world is CRAZY! Very very cool.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks Tom. I just gotta do my due diligence to testify against the power of the almighty dollar bill. LOL Pickups are just so simple even the complicated ones and I can see why companies would want to use advertising tactics to make the product seem new and exiting but Lace stated things like aluminum was MORE conductive than copper and that is straight BS. Thank you again.

[@imcrazedandconfused]

@@heavymetalATCWell, actually they just twisted physics a bit, LOL. Conductivity is only 61 percent of that of copper - BUT, that's how they can easily twist it, aluminum is only 30% of weight. So, depending on use-case, aluminum can have advantages, when weight plays a role. But of course, the whole idea is BS in this case with the pickup, LOL. Re-defining physical units just to justify some silly mojo myth is really, really lame. But they at least could say, that they did not straight-out lie. Yeah, these pickups are as simple as it gets, and even if they would not use the cheapest china transformer, that can be found, even a small, brand audio transformer that might be suitable might maybe cost 20 bucks, and that might be already quite expensive. A pickup is not a micpre, LOL. Marketing is insane, prices are insane, bulls*t factor is insane.

[@CarrotDugTooDeep]

I just love to hear what you play. Everything about this channel is awesome, but the playing is really cool.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Dug. I appreciate the interest and interaction. I'm not really trying to be SRV or Stevie T when playing in the videos. I just want everyone to have a good idea about how the experiments have worked and the results... Thanks again.

[@luisvaldes4248]

I've learned more from you about pickups in a couple of days than I had my whole life. I wonder how would this sound on a bass guitar.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind comment Luis. I am so glad this information was useful to you. Ahh yes this might sound pretty cool on a bass I'm thinking that since the guitar had a very acoustic sound maybe the bass would sound kinda like a stand-up bass or a bass-uke.

[@luisvaldes4248]

@@heavymetalATC I,ll give it a try. Do You have any suggestions on the transformer?

[@Thoracius]

I was thinking the same thing. That midrange twang would probably be rad on a Bass VI. And the acoustic character might be cool on something like a Hofner fiddle bass.

[@notanotherguitarchannel]

You're an absolute champ for doing this. You inspire me to tinker.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such kind words NAGC. I really appreciate it and I hope you have had fun tinkering with doodads HAHAHA

[@LowellLoveMusic]

I'm starting my own diy guitar journey and your videos have been so incredibly helpful!

[@stuartchapman5171]

Loved it. I saw your video on using a cassette machine to create vintage sound processing. I hack tape machines, build a few audio fx, mixers and PA. I'm turning my attention to electro acoustic instruments and this is gold. I've subscribed and I'm going to check the other pick up vids. Top work. Keep me coming.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Stuart. I hope you find all the vids to be of use and entertainment value. I will be returning to my upload schedule soon.

[@benjaminfowler4513]

Man every pickup I've seen you make sounds really really good. I wish I could get one of your creations into one of my guitars.

[@heavymetalATC]

Well I'll tell you what Benjamin, I'll plan on buying some supplies and Ill wind up a few different kinds of pickups that will fit into factory guitars and see about maybe offering them for sale as well as doing a few giveaways.

[@Crims0nKin9]

I think that the copper part resembles a short circuit terminated transmission line, which you can manipulate it's dimensions to get either a coil or a cap with different output phases and impedences

[@meadish]

I wonder what a bent copper pipe in place of the copper sheet would sound like.

[@kenmiles4145]

I tried to make a pickup with a fridge magnet and copper tubing years ago. I didn't have the right solder or soldering gun. It worked when the solder stuck for a little bit and tested it on a frieds amp.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking he time to write a comment Mea. I really dont know what the difference in sound would be from flat copper to tube... or even from copper to aluminum. I do think it would definitely work very well, using full pile with elbows and sweated solder joints like plumbing could be a very cool look though. Thanks again i will put this in my suggestions and may come back to it someday and if so Ill definitely give you a shout-out.

[@heavymetalATC]

Awesome ken... did it seem to sound different?

[@TheRamsberg]

This is freaking awesome! I've got loads of walwarts, two of which are variable voltage output, all the way down to 3v, I never considered there being transformers inside of them(not sure how I thought they worked!). Thanks so very much for sharing this, dude!

[@flyingbeaver57]

Another GREAT project. You've been listening to Bill Kirchen & Hot Rod Lincoln - good choice for the "Tele" sound. I'm super pumped to get out some copper foil, and maybe take a little speaker transformer out of a broken radio sitting in the Work-Mess. It's an impedance transformer, but a rough guess is that the # of winds on each side will do the same as what you've got there. Small enough to tuck into a control cavity, too. I'm thinking that maybe a piece cut from an aluminum can might also be something to try. Another way to connect wires might be to use a nut & bolt with a star washer (the pointy kind) between the wire and the Aluminum. They coat the inside of pop cans with a plastic film, so that would have to be sanded off. It's pretty thin. Thanks for all your videos. I'd actually made some Strat pickups that used Neodymium rod magnets in place of the Alnico slugs (had to wrap some tape around them for fit, but that's OK) and they sounded really good. Put a blank cover over it so the tape-roll magnets aren't visible - people said "it sounds great." And I chuckled to myself with an evil grin. Another thing that just occurred to me is that somewhere around 2010-2011, I saw an article about using a little low-noise JFET transistor (J201 maybe?) for boosting very small signals. The beauty of that one was that the output side was high impedance, just like a regular pickup. I forget what the original use in a guitar was, but I'm willing to bet it would work here. Very low power - a small battery would probably run it for months. I'll just have to find the article again (might have been in Premier Guitar - not sure). I wish I could remember what the "original" use was. The thing only had about 5 parts, 2 resistors, 2 cheap caps, and one 50-cent JFet. I wired it up by taking a piece of cereal box cardboard, poking pin-holes through, then pushing the wires from the parts through those and soldering on the 'underside.' Wasn't pretty, but it worked. I'm just not remembering what it was originally for - if I do, I'll add a note here so you can have a look. Thanks for another very entertaining project and video!

[@heavymetalATC]

I apologize for the delay in response I have been feverishly working frets while being trapped inside by snow and a 1 inch sheet of ice on everything. I love me some commander Cody, Bill is the man. I have the vinyl 45 of hotrod lincoln and I've worn it out. If you use that transformer I would say unwind the primary down to just a few winds like 10, Or just cut it off and put a few wraps of coated speaker wire in there. The one I used is 4 ohm to 7k ohm and I really think it could use a much higher ratio. The fasteners on the aluminum would be the way to go. I've never had much problem soldering to aluminum or using aluminum wire but I've always heard its a NO-NO. I'm happy to hear that you have done some experiments and had success in doing so. I think that if people would listen with their ears and not their eyes or with the notions of what they have read or been told they may all be surprised by what they really like. It might be a sea of ceramic bar pickups and digital effects units going through class d solid state PA amps with full range monitors LOL. If I try a FET boost I will post the results and it may also be the ticket for an upcoming experiment project but Im also thinking about building a 1/4 to 1 watt tube preamp and putting it visible in the guitar cavity to be "cooler" to all the "guitar dudes" lol it aint click bait if its really working right LOL Thanks again brother I have appreciated all the genuine interest and great information and ideas.

[@trueevilturtle]

Awesome would love to see you make another alumitone style pickup with the small transformer in the back of the pickup

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a suggestion evil turtle. I may end up doing this in the future for a guitar build or maybe a lap steel or something. I am putting this in my notes and if/when I do Ill give you a shout-out in the video. Thanks again.

[@dasczwo]

What a day. In the morning i build my first cassete delay. Midified. Then i decided to start that platereverb, got all the parts kikin round. Was thinking about doing something with that broken powerdrill and those tiny neomags on my desklamp… but it sounds so nothing like alnico 9,35, and the winding… dude. Your channel feels like quiting scientology after having almost sold my last kidney for that last final woo-titaneth0antest. Thank you. The spell of my luthier is broken. Would be great if you could make a vid with all those pickups through som nice amp simulation. Just get some neural dsp for trial 30 days… go against some emgs… invader… custom aged scatterwound pafcrap. Got some ambers myself. Their sweet. Came with the guitar. More power to you sir!

[@heavymetalATC]

Awesome BRO! That is a funny @ss comment dude Hell I think I might be making me some custom aged scatter wound paf crap... not a joke... im gonna go to the dark side but dont worry im still a child of light... only infiltratin the tone lawyers cult.. im there undercover for the good of zenophobe for the kleptons have lept from my skin. Yeah ima build a whole toan lawing guy rig outta trash if I can... so far its coming along well but its all way more expensive that i thought it'd be even using reclaimed materials and doing all the work myself. I gotta get back to some experiments soon.

[@fuzzylollipop1429]

The resistence difference between the different coil materials does have different frequency responses to the primary side and does "voice" the coil differently. Lace says that aluminum sounds better (different) than copper.

[@terryenglish7132]

Great channel. ! I'm an experimenter too and it's wonderful to see these kind of things.

[@jeffbrinkerhoff5121]

Recognized the little red flux pot on yr bench is the same one I got with a HF soldering gun 30 yrs ago, I'm still using lol. Uber-cool channel. Now I know what I'm going to do with these faulty chargers I've been saving too.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment Jeff. I love that flux it'll solder a popsicle stick to a mushroom hahaha 🤣 it really is super helpful for large solder connections.

[@AT-27182]

This is a marvellous video about a great experiment. Thank you very much.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you very much!

[@avibank]

Can't remember if you've done a Sustainiac type thing yet. But that would be cool to see.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Avi. I have not tried that yet and it's a good suggestion. I might even have an idea for a cool twist of sorts. I appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment.

[@alaricpaley6865]

I'm not entirely sure how to get the harmonic octave effect of the sustainiac, but one of the absolute laziest ways to build a sustainer is actually to gut one of these First Act kids guitars with the speaker and amp in 'em. You just replace the speaker with a guitar pickup that measures 8 ohms and adjust the height until it feeds back on itself.

[@jcg7719]

@@alaricpaley6865 maybe just cut off the speaker paper cone and crank up the volume? Dont know how much output those have.

[@pablovicentico]

This video and channel are great! Keep’em coming!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for the kind words Pablo. I'm glad you get the point of what I'm trying to do here. We must all be just a little different from the rest. Thanks

[@aluminumfalcon552]

I built a standard coil style pickup using some cobalt drill bits, some small round neodymium magnets and some magnet wire, with some plexiglass to hold the cobalt rods in place. It did work but my magnet wire was too heavy with too few wraps so it wasn’t very sensitive.

[@giulioluzzardi7632]

Keep it coming dude, all this is food for thought and cool to experiment with, you are "Unique".

[@heavymetalATC]

Hahaha I got the feeling I just might start hacking stuff up again.

[@basilreardon5783]

Dude your awesome and saving me hundreds on pickups for my bass and fender .

[@paultorbert6929]

Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen !!!! Good one ! Shared to a friend and subbed.

[@peterjohnson4932]

Hey Clementine! I've been following your experiments and builds for awhile now. This experiment is amazing! I'm inspired to have a go myself - different metals/thicknesses, magnets etc. I'm having so many ideas! Thanks and keep on doing what you do.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Peter. I appreciate the views and interest. I'm so glad you have decided to do some experiments with this info. When you get started send me a comment and let me know how it went and what your findings were. That is Awesome! thanks again.

[@peterjohnson4932]

@@heavymetalATC You really planted a seed with this one!!

[@БердосБредообрыгос]

Same thing .trying to make ""lace" pickup from 6mm alu wire and old transformer 220/16 volts from psu

[@БердосБредообрыгос]

Rock on dude.cannel is great :-)

[@edgardofigueroa2053]

Como se conecta el transformador..?? Como es el digrama de conexion...??

[@AradijePresveti]

Sounds pretty great actually. Didn't expect that.

[@russliquid4858]

thank you for making (imo) the best DIY audio/guitar(eventhoIdontplayguitarIstillloveandfindursplaininguseful)/infotaining/soulreviving videos ive ever witnessed this year(today)

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave such an awesome and kind comment Russ.

[@barecoil]

Hi! I put neodimiun pole pieces into a chinese made Wilkinson P-Bass pick up in my Bass Guitar. Easy mode got more punch, no problem. Here in buenos aires there is a small magnet maker, the pole pieces fit perfectly in diametre butbare more longer than a fender standard. So, im note afraid of neodimiun myths! Thanks for debunkin...i learned a lot today,

[@avibank]

Love your channel. Keep em coming.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks again Avi.

[@TheErilaz]

Interesting, and the usage of a transformer is OK but I'm curious if a opamp as a voltage follower would sound as good.

[@mathew2818]

Great content! It’d be cool to see you break down the Charlie Christian pick up. That one is hard get info on. Either way, I always enjoy your vids!!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write such kind words Aaron... and that is a Fantastic suggestion. I will do some research and maybe talk to some pickup guys and see if I can find out enough about it to make a decent analog of one and explain the construction. I am putting this in my notes and If/when I manage to make one and do a video I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again that was a great idea.

[@alanleemaxwell831]

Brilliant! Newly subbed, currently bingeing all your uploads!!! 🇬🇧👍

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks again Alan I appreciate the sub and I will be back to making videos very soon.

[@alanleemaxwell831]

@@heavymetalATC nice one brother-keep on riffing!! 🇬🇧 👍

[@christyler1647]

Wow, that sounds really good. Cool cool video. Thanks!

[@DenchikDn]

Thanks a lot!!! You did a great job, very interesting content, please continue👍 Спасибо🤘

[@zacharyohare6029]

This would be so much fun to combine with my other odd experiments... Especially a baritone/semi hollow. Might be nutty as an acoustic sim type thing in a SH

[@ChrisOBrien666]

Interesting video, but I really like the sound of Alumitone pickups.

[@rodblomley8517]

Always impressed, I lovehow you take it to the beginning Fezzini, I need basic, now I can experiment too!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Rod. I try to keep it accessible, no reason for me to spout a bunch of big words and leave half of the theory of operation out to try to seem cool or smart. My goal is to get everyday people tinkering and building things they may otherwise not have access to. As well I think knowing too much about a subject will sniffle creativity and stop that new magical accident = invention from ever happening. It seems knowledge and schooling make people just say ohhh my professor or my textbook or that keyboard ninja on a forum said that will never work... No reason to try. If that were the case we would still be using rocks to make arrow heads...If you ever get any exiting result from an experiment or get stuck or have further questions feel free to comment and I will try to help. Thanks again.

[@rodblomley8517]

@@heavymetalATC thank you very much, I love your way of thinking, and I will give you a shout when I start tinkering, love your videos, your awesome way of presentation, it all makes for an enjoyable learning experience!!

[@goldeyeball]

That’s so cool! I really like your show.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave such kind words Goldey. I'm glad you enjoy all this strangeness and Tom foolery.

[@1FeistyKitty]

interesting ----- has a nice subdued sound ---- subscribed

[@tameromari2102]

Oh also .. I'd love it if you'd make a video about different pots and capacitors and how they change the tone of the same pickup. Thanks a lot bro. Again, love your stuff.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for the suggestion Tamer. I do have something that may help its not 100% experiments but it does show an example of the change. In general higher value volume pots increase gain and high end and higher value tone caps increase the amount of high end that is cut in the tone knob sweep but it is a good idea to do a full video with an experiment. Heres what I got for now. If you have any questions feel free to comment under. Hey as a bonus brad the guitologist said he liked the video in the comments: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2HKpp6Vh5Z4Y5Y thanks again.

[@keithklassen5320]

I sincerely enjoy your experiments. I would sincerely enjoy them even more if you bought a tuner tho.

[@heavymetalATC]

Hahahaha I got a tuner I just almost always forget to use it and even when I do that flimsy little black guitar bends around about a half note depending how you hold it... I chopped that B**** up for a reason LOL

[@derrick_builds]

Cool Beans. Keep up the good work.

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

Thank you for this! Would it be possible to put just the sheet and wire strand over the top of any existing (unconnected) pickup, using the magnet and polepieces instead? Would it also be possible to wind an unwound pickup to act as a transformer? Or is that what a pickup does naturally?

[@BeesWaxMinder]

My absolutely FAVOURITE channel!! (Does it buzz when you STOP touching the strings?) have you tried the RubberMagnets?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so very much beeswax. Yes it was buzzing when I STOP touching the strings. Like a guitar with a floating or lifted ground. I could run a ground to the pickup and make the buzz stop but the capacitance in the winds of the transformer would kill the high frequencies and make it sound muddy like an overwound pickup. I have not tried rubber magnets yet but I will put that in my suggestions. If/when I make a video about that I will give you a shout out. Also thank you again. I should be back to making videos again very soon.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

@@heavymetalATC look forward to it👍

[@CryptToneMusic]

I tried making one myself using 5 magnets from cheapo strat pickups in my junk bin then wrapped one turn of a copper magnet wire and connected it to a filament transformer. I connected it to the 6.3 volt and center tap wires instead of using the full 12.6 volt winding in hopes of a better ratio and then connected the 120 winding to my interface with an amp sim. Unfortunately it had extremely weak output, on a preset that should've been a chugging metal to it was super clean and quiet. I'm not sure if I need a different transformer or maybe I could try doing more turns of wire or different magnets maybe? I would've thought 5 magnets would be more than enough and 6.3 to 120 I thought would be a decent ratio so maybe I'll try adding turns?

[@DrRepper]

This is awesome! How do Alumitones work without a transformer? Does the thicker chunk of Aluminium give them more resistance or something? Please explain as you would to a small child...

[@stelleratorsuprise8185]

Great work, the real wonder to me is that such a crude device is working. The downside of such a cheap pickup is the transformer, I have seen you used an audio transformer and not one of an old power supply. BTW.: Twisting the cables from the 'pickup' to the transformer might help suppressing the hum.

[@fruitlesspursuits_]

Great stuff! As a fellow D.I.Y.'er, I love the ingenuity. Consider me subscribed.👍

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind comment FP. I appreciate the sub as well I will be back to making videos soon.

[@rodanthosofficial4393]

I have made a search on the internet and I have found that there is a very small adapter. It is the Innergie Power Travel Kit USB Wall Mains adapter. This brings the voltage from 240 to 5. This could be used as a transformer and it is really small. Give it a try.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and write a comment Rodanthos. I hadn't considered a travel adapter as I am in the US I was thinking a 240 mains transformer was out of the question. If I return to this project I will defiantly try that, As well as a homemade one and compare the results. Someone had mentioned building a low impedance 201Jfet pre-amp to make it active. I may have to try all those things. Thanks again for the suggestion I put it in the notepad.

[@БердосБредообрыгос]

Yeah.just a small Ш transformer iron like from old radio telephone 220/9 volts AC might be useful .30x20x40mm ,or so for demitions:-).fits well into a guitar body.

[@ericmc6482]

​@@heavymetalATCHi, a current to voltage converter stage is what is required. A search should show plenty of solutions. Cheers.

[@joshua.merrill]

I've been wondering if you could remote-mount the transformer, making a flat pickup. This is exactly the confirmation I've been looking for! I've got access to a CNC laser, so cutting the single "coil" would be super easy and precise, once I think of an interesting enough design.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to respond with a comment Joshua. I'm so glad this could help you out. I have had a similar idea of using a flat brass plate on the top of an electro acoustic cut in a decorative way. I dont think the shape would hinder the operation much, you could make it look like a mouth with scary aluminum teeth for a metal vibe. You could use copper or brass to make a fancy fleur-de-lis ended oldschool type classy decorative thing. Let me know how it goes and If you have any questions feel free to drop a comment. Thanks again I love to hear about other peoples experiments and Ideas and any time I can provide helpful info... that is what its all about.

[@joshua.merrill]

@@heavymetalATC Ooo, you just made me think of the razor blade on the British Steel album cover! Brilliant idea to do one for aluminum!

[@heavymetalATC]

@@joshua.merrill that will be sick! maybe you can put some red paint splash on the edge.

[@БердосБредообрыгос]

Great idea xD .i v got lot of transformers from old power supply units.and 6 mm aluminium wire.should do a pickup for my bass:-)

[@БердосБредообрыгос]

I think you can wind a transformer on the rod_like construction ,one coil ans then the other one sitting on one rod :-),so it might feet to the guitar body well .

[@TheFlutecart]

Nice job dude. Love this idea.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much Flutecart. I appreciate your interest and kind words. I was surprised at how clear it sounded especially considering I just used a random amp transformer.

[@Thoracius]

Very cool sound. Would probably be great in a Bass VI.

[@delusionwalker8852]

😮 😍I love guys like you! I smashed that subscribe button.

[@robcerasuolo9207]

Great job! 😆👍 Here's an idea or two for you. Is it workable to just wind a strip of copper tape of appropriate thickness around a bobbin once or twice (keeping the backing, or else also adding electrical tape), stick a magnet in, add a transformer, and get something similar? Also, I happen to like the sound of parallel HB coils, so I'd be curious as to what your flashing mockup (or my idea, if it's workable) sounds like in that configuration. And also also, what would a difference in the size of the flashing piece make on the sound? For example, could one that's massive, like between the neck and bridge, or two that add up to that size, get interesting sounds? I'm sharing these with you (and the rest of the internet) cuz you (or y'all) are far more likely to get to do them than I am. That said, this looks super-easy to make, and all I'd need to do is find a small enough transformer for the job, kinda like the tiny ones on the Alumitones. Last thought: did you see the Dylan Talks Tone video on Alumitones?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write a great comment with so many good suggestions Rob! I think the copper tape thing would work very well I also think it could be done with aluminum shielding tape. I bet it would have a more punchier higher output but the only real way to know is to build it. I had another viewer ask for the humbucker Idea and it is always a good Idea to try them in series and parallel. I dont really know what effect the bigger plates would have on the sound or output but my gut tells me it would be a louder more defined sound and if it or 2 reached from the bridge to the neck I bet that would give a super hi-fi sound with more range in the lows and highs. I will put this comment and your name in my notes and if/when I get around to these ideas I will give you a shout-out in the videos. I did see the Dylan talks tone video a long while back and It was great! I pretty much like everything that Dylan does he has good solid info and explains things to people using science even if it spits in the face of what everybody says is true... Thats the way to do it. Thanks again for all the communication and suggestions.

[@heavymetalATC]

Ahhh about the tiny transformers a viewer on the channel had an excellent Idea to get the small usb travel adapters for Europe so they will have a 240v to 4.5v winding ratio which would be pretty workable for this... a lot of adapters now days have like a buck converter in it instead of a transformer but I bet the cheapest ones still have them.

[@beatsinabar]

Very inspiring - thanks! I was thinking of buying an Alumitone, but now I'm going to try your method. Which way is the magnet orientated : NtoS lengthways, widthways or though thickness? Or doesn't it matter?!

[@BrainDestroyer13]

Holy hell Clementine, you made a low impedance or Lo-Z pickup!!! Like the ones on the Les Paul Recording Models. That's why the sound is so nice and clear. They also used a transformer in order to connect it to a regular amp, as Les prefered to record the sound direct straight in to the mixing desk to have the clearest most transparent tone and avoid any distortion. Low impedance pickups such as the one in the aforementioned guitar are characterized by having an almost perfectly flat EQ response than then can be sculpted carefully in post. Could you measure the impedance of the bare coil? It must be minuscule. If I remember correctly the ones on the Les Paul Recording were something like just 20 ohms or so.

[@CarsInDimension]

Everyone that says that the Alumitones must be cheap to build is ignoring the fact that a conventional single coil pickup typically uses less than $2 worth of copper wire (at U.S. retail prices) and is very simple to manufacture. The wire is wound around a bobbin, often by automated machinery. Even if you're hand scatter winding, like with my Mojotone pickup winder, it just takes minutes to wind a pickup. The magnets are then pressed into the middle of the bobbin or attached below the coil, and the coil is soldered to the leads. That's about it. Lace Alumitones are more than just a loop of aluminum, some magnets and an off-the-shelf transformer, and the manufacturing process has a lot more steps. The aluminum is waterjet cut, formed, and then finished with anodizing or plating. The coils are wound on tiny, custom bobbins whose injection molds likely cost tens of thousands of dollars to have made. Assembly is more complicated than with a conventional pickup as well. The steel cores that inductively link the aluminum to the coils need to be glued in, attaching the coils as well, and the coils need to be soldered to the leads. The technology behind single coil current transformer pickups isn't complicated, I've made a DIY version myself, but none of the homebrew Alumitones that I've seen are very practical. All of them use off the shelf transformers that are pretty bulky and won't fit into a standard pickup rout. Not only did Lace spend time and money developing something that worked, they came up with an elegant, compact solution that will just drop into an existing rout. I don't quite get it. Lace comes up with one of the few original pickup designs of the last 60 years that saves resources (and reduces the weight of pickups significantly) and sounds great and people rag on them because they think, mistakenly, that they are cheap to build.

[@123Ir0nman]

Man I love this channel

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks again Razman, Im so glad you like it.

[@diogodiz]

Loved it. Would it cancel the hum if it was a humbucker setup? I'm thinking about doing it here at home. Will save me a shit ton of copper wire (people around are stealing copper straight out of the telephone line on a daily basis).

[@gerrie7407]

diogo galvao are you also from South Africa !!! , haha

[@diogodiz]

@@gerrie7407 no, Brasil. Things have been QUITE tricky here.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and for taking the time to write a comment Diogo, I do think that a humbucker setup will kill hum but you would have to use 2 transformers and hook those up in the hum-bucking configuration. This can also be done with aluminum or possibly brass from an old door plate. It seems like people are trying to steal copper all over in the past few years our scrap places have had to stop accepting most of it as people will just roll up on a business or power substation and start ripping apart the air conditioners and use a pole to kick the fuse and start stealing the lines, I once saw a car pull in while I was scrapping cans, with a trunk full of 1 inch thick 1 foot long perfect shiny copper wires from all the way to the top stacked like gold bars... the owner at the scale whispered the other guy: "walk to the office slow like you didn't see anything and call the police". LOL

[@diogodiz]

@@heavymetalATC damn, that's a lot of theft. I saw a video from here that left me speechless: dude walked up to an aluminum garage gate, just popped it off its rails and bailed. Thanks for the tip, will see what I can manage, if it works I'll give you the feedback.

[@morrinsville23]

Great video, i'm definatly gonna build one of these, if you cant hook them up in series like a standard humbucker, could you hook another coil in paraellel? Just wondering if you had tried that? Thanks for the video!

[@pernormann4869]

I think it has a nice tone. The high frequency roll off sounds, hm, natural.

[@heavymetalATC]

Agreed very natural very acoustic and microphonic.

[@ltsgobrando]

3:32 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 I had to subscribe, 'nd I didn't even have a say in the matter. 11/10 video and I'm happy to have found ya! Keep up the kickass work! Also laughed pretty frigging hard at ~7:00. I happen to have an old transformer out of an amp, 2 infact. I just so happens to be in my junk closet... the one in down in the junk basement! Not hoarder, just got A LOT of hobbies. Including but not limited to PCB repair, design, and manufacture; love chemistry in its pure form, but I'm also a wannabe biochemist/geneticist; I'm a pretty nuanced maker- I'm completely kited out when it comes to mechanics, machining, blacksmithing, glass blowing, welding, woodwork, and printing (3d, 2d with ink... and 2d with damn near anything I want. Gotta do the proud father things, sorry. I don't know if there's a proper name for it, really mine could be the only one. It's basically just a vacuum sealed CNC machine, but I slapped in an ion gun instead of a router and use the focus out of CRT TV to aim it. I dubbed it my prin-TIT-all! You want a micron thick line of ceramic on glass, I gotchu boo!), and I'm slowly assembling a water jet cutter and CO₂ laser but it's slow going; i also do some doodlin/ink work;... oh and I play chess, I_am_not_jeff on cheese.com if ya wanna go me😁 Also should mention that most of everything I got was built by yours truly... so when I say I got lots-o-scraps, I mean I got ALL THE SCRAPS 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write such a detailed, coherent and well thought out comment Jordan. I'm glad you found the humor there. We might build stuff but cant get much better than building humans LOL Oh i am definitely a hoarder I dont try to deny it anymore, I think my hobbies cause it but its real. I got a garage packed full of junk and currently the dining room currently has a band saw, car parts, tires, tools... boxes of crap in the living room, metal pile in the yard.. etc etc. The cnc controlled ion gun is awesome! Im not much good a chess bro Ive played some over the years but it was mostly when the power was out and their was nothing else to do LOL Yeah I always keep my scraps I even keep a box of sawdust.. but Id be lying if I said I didn't use it. LOL thanks again for the support Jordan, I will be getting back to my regular upload schedule soon.

[@EpIcHoBoGuY]

I'm currently having a play around with this idea, I have a 230v to 6v transformer a copper u shape and some neodymium magnets and I'm getting very little output, but it is working, I'm going to try and unwind some of the coils to increase the ratio I hope it works

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Anthony. Awesome! I hope you find that magic combo. That wind cound is pretty good but if you could do just a few winds on the low side im sure you could get it putting out some volume. You could also try a bigger copper coil or more magnet and also different magnet orientations. If all else fails try a boost pedal Hahaha That'll get her rockin. ;)

[@MetalKabu]

This is great :D Tried to build this but I think whatever circuit I got out of my power adapter was not a step up transformer or it entailed one but it was soldered on a circuit board and I couldn't get it off. And I used a normal magnet, but ordered a neodymium magnet to test this out. Also it seems like I have to destroy some more power adapters

[@heavymetalATC]

hey bro did you ever get one going?

[@lamagiadelsurpisco]

Que maravilla de pastilla Que gran aporte a la sociedad de musicos con pocos recursos Bendiciones para ti

[@heavymetalATC]

Muchas gracias, hermano, me alegro de que esta información te haya resultado útil.

[@marlonmarzsmith3349]

Well that was just about damnedest thins I’ve ever seen!! And totally killer!! Here I am trying to rewire a friends Jackson Guitar when all I really need to do is build him some new pick ups LOL. Once again Clementine, very impressive!!! Shhhhh I’m kinda need in’ help with my rewire!! A tone pot, a volume and its 3 position switch!! I start on it tomorrow morning!! By the way you do play really well!!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and leaving such kind words Marlon. Regular wound pickups are actually quite simple and easy to make. I think the companies and custom winders just want people to think its hard so they don't try it and find out. When you say Jackson I assume it a 2 humbucker guitar so this wiring diagram should work: diagramweb.net/img/wiring-diagram-2-gibson-humbuckers-with-3-way-toggle-switch-5.jpg This is basically identical to a telecaster wiring... If it has 4 wire humbuckers the 2 wires in the middle of each lead need to be connected to make them 2 wire, They are often red and white and you hook up the bare wire and the green wire as the pickup leads. If its HSS or HSH you can look up a diagram for a single tone pot strat and just wire the humbucker(s) as if they are the single coils. Thanks again and If you run into a problem or have a question feel free to shoot me a comment.

[@marlonmarzsmith3349]

.....it is two humbuckers!! Your brief description said more than all the diagrams I’ve been looking at??? Wish you were here in Oklahoma...we’d jam lol. I’m 61 yrs old. My parents bought me a 5 pc Ludwig when I was 10. 2 years later I decide to go guitar. Rock on!!

[@randellsmith7651]

Guitar MacGyver. You are my hero

[@tomasotreasaigh111]

I love it! Its a real 🤘🤪👈 and it sounds excellent! Peace from Ireland mo chara, great stuff.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Thomas O'Tracy is that yuuu baihh ??? Hahaha Hows about yee surr, is she cuttin aight there lad? thanks for the kind words bro. Grettings from the deeeep south (distant reverb banjo) ;)

[@RetroPlus]

This thing is really interesting, i can think of some useful applications for this

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching taking the time to comment Retro. I am glad you found this interesting.

[@20glen20]

Now this experiment fascinates me. Do you think it's possible to reduce the microphonics, or is that just something that this type pick up can not avoid. I was excited when you said it had great Low response but it seemed that when played it seemed to distort the very low freq - maybe that was due to bigger vibration inducing micro phonic or maybe it didn't come through on KZbin very well. I would envisage winding a step up transformer on a toroidal former underneath the pick up -. My thinking to use the plate above as a shield from hum. So , a very interesting pick up experiment. One I would love to add to some time in future.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Glenn this is one intellectual boss comment. I will be honest I just threw this together fast to get it done. I think that if you built this solid from a single thick plate like the original it would be much less microphonic. Yes neo magnets add bass but with only one turn of coil it needed all the help it could get and was just going straight into a keyboard amp with no extra eq or preamp. When the plate was grounded it bled the highs off making it much bassier and no hum but it was too much it was dull. If I wasn't too lazy to stick a ceramic magnet in it. It would have brightened back up. All that being said the right transformer ratio and size would surely do wonders. Thanks again Glenn if you do tackle this let me know how it goes.

[@peterjohnson4932]

Hey Glenn, the toroidal is a great idea. It was fascinating, wasn't it? I've also been inspired to experiment.

[@velvetonecustomshop5026]

If you glue the copper “coil”, magnets and lead wires so they can’t vibrate, just like wax potting stops the thin wire in a more common pickup from physically moving, the microphonic aspects will disappear…. But part of the tone of many vintage pickups, and certainly the one in this vid, is the slight microphonic effect adding some “air” or realism to the sound…. Just don’t add too much gain haha

[@marcingardias9254]

@@heavymetalATC I _think_ it's possible to do a humbucker with this design and that's exactly how Lace Alumitone are made. Perhaps worth a shot.

[@valueofnothing2487]

@@velvetonecustomshop5026I was told microphonic pickups don't sound different. But I really liked the acoustic sound here. Seems like it has lots of sustain or feedback or something.

[@Gummibri]

This channel is awesome

[@greyman_10313]

Great video 🙏

[@edt.5118]

What is amazing is how wide the frequency response is with just one loop of wire. All the pickup myths are gone. And Les Paul liw impedance pickup were the same design in the late 50s

[@heavymetalATC]

I never really considered that but I think then that capacitance falls on the windings of the transformer if you ground it? Maybe really I never thought about that 1 coil would be infinitely high pitched according to popular theory?

[@terryenglish7132]

​@@heavymetalATCI've used a 40 ohm input Mike transformer for low wind p ups. In center tap mode it gets rid of most hum.

[@samuelzetterman]

Would a transformer work to step up the output of for example vintage pickups with few winds? Or just increase the output of regular pickups in general?

[@snortuff6194]

can you transform magnetic tape heads in to guitar (if its bass guitar its even better) pickup???? thanks for the awesome diy builds!...

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching Snortuff. That's a great Idea I'll put that in my notes. I'll look into this and If/when I do a video with this idea I'll give you a shoutout.

[@spir4lsmusic313]

Extremely interesting video! Would a humbucker version require a second transformer to make it work?

[@Bleats_Sinodai]

The basic concept is correct, but the actual alumitones are made in such a way that the aluminum body is actually the entire closed loop of wire for the primary of the transformer, and the secondary is hidden under/inside the pickup structure. That means there's almost no loss of signal in the primary, and it can be grounded at any point without issues. It's a very clever piece of tech.

[@heavymetalATC]

Oh yeah, this is just a little experiment. The humbucker alumitones are slick with the way the connect together but I didn't discuss it in the video. I'll definitely have to use one of their pickups in a future build and be like "alumitone redemption" in reality I have no issue with lace electronics in any waym quite a slick design. 👍

[@stoneheavy6154]

Excellent video!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write such kind words Stone Heavy.

[@thewhyzardinblack4808]

You and Jim Lill taking down corporate shills and corks sniffers one video at a time

[@666pinkster]

Bro, ime with some neo p90's i stuck in a lpdc a few years back, there DID seem to be some weirdness way up high with bent sustained notes on of all things the d and a strings, but fairly minimal. And i was runnin 9's with a real fast action and the pups up way high...plenty of nuts, but i did have to back off the bass side a bit

[@sciexp]

Thanks for sharing this. Sounds good... But, it's not very handy to have a bulky transformer around... And definitely not commercial... Would change the sound using just a single loop of a common copper wire?

[@Fernando.Canal2]

It actually sounds cool!

[@mikemartin6554]

Dood.... you're dangerous;but in a fun,informative and entertaining way. Me likey....and I totally dig your videos!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to write such a kind and thoughtful comment Mike. I'm glad you dig the vibes brother.

[@rodanthosofficial4393]

Hey this is great. Ideally if you could find a smaller size transformer it would be great. However what are the specifications of the transformer. There are a lot of different types of transformers.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you Rodanthos. The suggestion you had in the later comment was a good one and several people suggested making a toroidal transformer and that may be a way to go. If I go back to this experiment I will surely try that and give you a shout out in the video. Ahh, the one I used in the video was 4ohms to 7kohms.

[@drb2793]

Hey Clementine- awesome channel man, I love this MacGyver stuff. Thanks for such interesting and informative content- instant Sub! 😊👍 I was going to start experimenting with winding pickups for a frankenBass I’ve built from recycled pine pallets and this video got me thinking - could you use the same transformer trick with a traditional single coil pickup design that has fewer turns (eg 100-300) to boost the output to a usable level? Coiling wire long enough to do the thousands of turns needed for guitar pickups is a lot more expensive and harder to find where I live and I’m not going for a specific tone given I’ve already got a set of J-Bass pickups installed. From what I can make out in the video you’re using an audio transformer with 4ohm/7K ohm windings? Any comments on how a transformer scavenged from a wall wart affects the output- I assume they’re designed for 50/60hz so I’m guessing you might lose some high end? Anyway, keep up the great work and thanks again 🤘

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave this awesome comment drb, Too bad Im only 10 months late answering it but... YOu are correct that could totally be done. That would be a very clear sounding pickup. You could use a lower ratio transformer and realy get that thing barking, Yes the one I used was 4/7 I think, its the one from a 5f1 fender champ output for 4 ohm speaker. I have a video on this channel of audio running through a wallwart transformer and it didnt cut highs from what I remember but it did seem to add bass and more of a booming sound when driven and saturated. You have some great Ideas man, I hope you did something with this it sounds like an awesome direction... Heres the video of using a wallwart to pass audio in the studio: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIDThqmkja9gq8k

[@sonicboomsoundboy1344]

Awesome video, really interesting! So just wire the pickup to the low voltage wires and output jack to the ac input side? I have 240v here and I've smashed open a 9v to find just the transformer, no other electrical bits in sight. If you get time to answer then thanks!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for watching Sonicboom. Yes that must have been a 9v AC transformer. They dont require any diodes or caps to rectify it to DC. Yes, you are correct just hook the pickup wires to the low side and the output jack to the high side. That 240 transformer will probably work quite well. Its like a 26.6 to 1 ratio so I'd think it would have decent output.

[@mdwayne741]

Great video... subscribed!!!

[@thomasfsr]

Incredible! Is it possible to make a 'noiseless' alumitone? like making a stacked version in the noiseless fashion (not like a humbucker)

[@cabaYT]

Buen video, estoy buscando la manera de hacer una pickup magnética para mi cello,

[@deeliriyum]

You're officially the God I worship! This was so simple and fun to watch! Thank you so much! How would you go about adding another pickup? Is it possible to add the second one to the same transformer? Is this the correct order? x2 pickup > 3 position pickup switch > transformer > Volume+Tone

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for the kind words Bash, but c-mon man thats a little to far I dont want that kind of responsibility I can hardly take care of a dog LOL. So ok if you wanted to do 2 single coils you would hook them each to a transformer. 2 transformers one for each pickup and us the 2 wires coming out of each transformer as a pickup output just like in a regular guitar think of the transformer as the pickup coil and you will be good, the rest of the wiring will be normal. X1 pickup > transformer > 3 pole switch > volume+tone X1 pickup > transformer Now for a humbucker you will need 2 transformers for the same pickup but you will wire each coil to a seperate transformer and then wire the transformer outputs in series and that center connection will be your coil tap. X1 pickup > transformer > coil tap switch > > volume+tone > series wiring > X1 pickup> transformer I hope that helps thank you for showing me an easy format to lay it out that helped a lot and hopefully it will help you. Thanks again for the video Idea its turned out to be a really good one.

[@heavymetalATC]

that being said you may be able to do it with one transformer but when both pickups are on it will get weak.