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Drone
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Post by Drone » Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:28 pm

How much futzing do you want to do?

Those cheap soundhole pickups I mentioned, as they don't have pole pieces are ideal as they pickup signal across the length of themselves. I'd use craft sticks, to get the end of one clip to the other and make an overlapping pattern of them, and get enough to cover the whole intsrument.

Or, if you want a bit more hi-fi and less microphonic, those cheap blade pickups also pickup along the entire length, I've seen strat sized ones for about $7, I imagine you'd need half a dozen or so?

Or in similar vein, bass soapbar pickups, also pickup along their entire length, ideal for this kind of thang.

I can provide links, but look on dx.com newfrog.com and tmart.com and you'll see what I mean. I think newfrog is the one with the blade pickups.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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Post by ashcat_lt » Fri Apr 29, 2016 5:29 pm

We're talking about the autoharp here? I actually peeled the felt off the back of one of those DM "woody" soundhole pickups, and aside from the fact that it's bricked into that wood with a bunch of nigh-invulnerable epoxy, I don't think it's quite thin enough. Likewise with any guitar/bass pickup. I don't really want to have to route or cut holes in the thing, so they'd have to somehow be suspended above the strings. I suspect that anything that made that happen would be kind of unwieldy and probably get in the way of actually playing the thing. It really needs a very low-profile something to slide under the strings, like the ones that come on the electric OS models.

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Drone
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Post by Drone » Fri Apr 29, 2016 5:41 pm

Dunno about a woody, but these are around .5cm thick.

http://www.tmart.com/Acoustic-Guitar-Pi ... 16020.html
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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Post by ashcat_lt » Fri Apr 29, 2016 6:52 pm

Drone wrote:Dunno about a woody, but these are around .5cm thick.

http://www.tmart.com/Acoustic-Guitar-Pi ... 16020.html
I guess I've never actually measured the clearance, but that seems like it should do it. Amazon had the same thing under a different (no-name) brand for a buck cheaper, so I'll find out on Monday. :)

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Post by dfuruta » Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:21 pm

Putting a pickup on a cello isn't so easy. At the very end of the fingerboard would probably make most sense, but a bass pickup likely won't work well - the curvature is very different.

I've got a David Gage pickup mounted on top of the soundpost (inside the instrument) on my cheap cello. Probably have to get a luthier to do it. I never use it anymore as I've realized I hate playing amplified cello, but the sound isn't terrible.

I thought this video about winding large pickups was helpful.

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Post by ubertar » Sat Apr 30, 2016 8:42 am

I've made a number of two-foot long pickups, going back to the early '90s, but they're not thin enough for autoharp.

I've made pickups for bowed instruments (most of the instruments I make to play are bowed) including for violin and cello. A set of 4 of my "little torpedo" pickups would work well for cello (provided you have strings that stick to a magnet well). I have a method for mounting them that's fairly simple and semi-permanent. PM me for more info.

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Post by ashcat_lt » Tue May 03, 2016 11:20 am

ashcat_lt wrote:
Drone wrote:Dunno about a woody, but these are around .5cm thick.

http://www.tmart.com/Acoustic-Guitar-Pi ... 16020.html
I guess I've never actually measured the clearance, but that seems like it should do it. Amazon had the same thing under a different (no-name) brand for a buck cheaper, so I'll find out on Monday. :)
I'm very much afraid that this is going to work!

Was kind of a bitch to get it apart. Sure, you just undo the two screws and there it is, but the shield and bottom wire of the coil were soldered to the steel chassis thing, and my iron just couldn't get hot enough to free them. Then I couldn't find my snippers, so I just ripped it loose and resoldered it.

It just barely fits under the lowest strings, but I'm confident that if I'm careful I'm going to make it work.

It is catastrophically microphonic. I mean, the whole thing is basically scotch-taped together... IDK what I can do about that without making it any taller. Even a (rather quick and poor) wrap of electrical tape is too much extra height, so I really don't have much room for error.

The coil measured like 3.8K, which is right in the range you'd expect for an SC. It's going to take at least 4 to cover all the strings, and I'm not sure how I want to connect them yet. I guess it will come down to experimentation, but I'm thinking I am going to make a decision at some point. As much fun as an S/P switching matrix would be, I don't really want to try to mount the switches. I guess the most obvious would be two series pairs in parallel with each other. One of the good things about the crappy construction is that it's super easy to flip the magnets to make humbucking pairs.


On the cello:
1) I'm not really looking for any "authentic" cello tone here, and actually think that closer to the bridge will give me more of the "electric guitar" tone that I'm looking for.

B) I haven't even come close to trying it, but I guess I just thought you could use the two coils of the P-bass pickup and kind of "tent" them up so that one covers two strings and the other gets the others. It doesn't really need to be curved to do that. Though now that I'm playing with these other coils...

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Scodiddly
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Post by Scodiddly » Wed May 04, 2016 4:27 pm

Maybe a P-bass pickup would work for cello. Comes in two 2-string sections, so you can set the curvature as you like. I recall seeing an upright bass with that approach.

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Drone
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Post by Drone » Wed May 04, 2016 4:38 pm

I did mention they were microphonic :?

My only other thought is Lace's Alumatones are very thin, I'd mail them and ask if you can flatten out the ends and use them.

http://www.lacemusic.com/Bass_bar_4.5.php

But they cost more than the ones to do the job.

http://www.jdmc.com/product/AP442.html

After watching that video, you need some kind of metal bobbin the width of the autoharp, a couple of little neo magnets and some magnet wire, 6000 turns was what he recommended.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

ricercar.record
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Post by ricercar.record » Thu May 05, 2016 3:36 pm

wish I would have seen this thread a bit earlier but... recently finished up a first small run of these new things. check out a demo of it here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6lZQ_V0-oU
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http://www.davidevansaudio.com/ - Recording/Mixing/Producing/DEADfx
http://avensonaudio.com/ - Tech for Avenson Audio

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Post by dfuruta » Mon May 16, 2016 4:14 pm

Bass electric "hurdy gurdy". The keys are held on with magnets & are movable; I made a bunch, but only have a few on it here. Haven't figured out how to play it yet, but here's how it sounds.

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ubertar
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Post by ubertar » Tue May 17, 2016 5:35 am

That's cool as hell. Are you rosining the string? Flat wound strings will help if you're not doing that already. It's a little harsh sounding, but maybe that's what you're going for. I love the movable keys and the no-nonsense, utilitarian design.

Listened to some more of your stuff... really digging what your doing. Can you talk about what's going on in 385-B-2-Jaranan? Sounds a lot like Thai music or other southeast Asian music. Some Indonesian styles (not gamelan) sound kind of like that.

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Tue May 17, 2016 6:33 am

ricercar.record wrote:wish I would have seen this thread a bit earlier but... recently finished up a first small run of these new things. check out a demo of it here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6lZQ_V0-oU
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Man that sounds wicked. Good job.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

dfuruta
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Post by dfuruta » Tue May 17, 2016 7:38 am

Thanks! Yes, the wheel is rosined - the strings are unwound piano wire. I like it a little bit harsh :). Real hurdy gurdies wrap the string in cotton or silk fiber at the point of contact to smooth out the sound, which I didn't do. I'm using a fairly rough plastic wheel, also.

Glad you like it! But some of that isn't mine. That track, "A", "B" and the tape from Burma are all dubbed off of old cassettes. "Chiran Bushi" is from a screwed up pressing of a Yo-Yo Ma cd, believe it or not. That jaranan track is ritual music from Indonesia. Worth looking up on youtube...it gets pretty wild!
ubertar wrote:That's cool as hell. Are you rosining the string? Flat wound strings will help if you're not doing that already. It's a little harsh sounding, but maybe that's what you're going for. I love the movable keys and the no-nonsense, utilitarian design.

Listened to some more of your stuff... really digging what your doing. Can you talk about what's going on in 385-B-2-Jaranan? Sounds a lot like Thai music or other southeast Asian music. Some Indonesian styles (not gamelan) sound kind of like that.

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Drone
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Post by Drone » Tue May 17, 2016 12:15 pm

I was going to suggest some kind of oil dripper or oil bath to keep the wheel edge lubed.
The previous statement is from a guy who records his own, and other projects for fun. No money is made.

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