Lipstick tube pickup questions

[plimsoul]

ladies and gentlemen, hobos and tramps,crosseyed mosquitos and bowlegged ants.my thread is a couple of questions regarding my intention to construct a lipstick tube pickup for my lap steel. does anyone know if the insides are just wound on a magnet and taped or is there actually a small bobin in there? also
seeing that awg 42 or43 is most commonly used but equally delicate especially for a homebuilder first time out. i've seen adfvertised on ebay a couple of spools of awg 25 or awg29. itr would seem to me that it was just tooo large a diameter but probably easier to NOT break while winding.i'd like to use the 29 if it can make a reasonable pickup or if that is not past some artifiucial n-no point of thickness.ANY ANSWEWRS OR OPINIONS?! THANKS BRPOTHERS AND SISTERS1 ANF MAY GOD ALWAYS BLESS!!
BILLY

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

Somewhere I once saw a picture of a lipstick guts, and I do believe it had a bobbin. May have been a Dano I took apart? Can't recall.

Anyhoo, the plastic bobbin would keep the coil from touching the tube, and thus prevent the tube from turning into a ground point, thus avoiding a potential shocking matter.

Never done pickup winding, but if the standard is 42 and 43, then I'd say 29 was a tad thick.
I've got 22awg solid core for soldering connections, which is closer to 29 than 29 is to 42, so I'd definitely say go for the thinner wire and use more caution.

 

[lotus eater]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

http://cigarboxguitars.com/images/lipstick_tube.jpg
Hope this helps!

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

Unless your dedicated to building the pickup it would be cheaper to buy a lipstick tube pickup. I would think that the components would cost more than a finished pickup. Check out GFS for cheap lipsticks.

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

Welcome to the forum, Plimsoul.

The way we build lipsticks is the same way they were built back in the day, which means the wire is wrapped directly around the magnet. No bobbin. I have no idea if the import lipsticks are built that way.

Even though lipsticks are low output pickups (around 4.3 KOhms), with 24 gauge you'll never get that much d.c. resistance and still fit everything inside the tube. Unless you're using a giant tube.

But good luck with your project and please keep us apprised. Photos would be great!

I hope that helps.

 

[plimsoul]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

thanks for the replys,friends.unfortunately, my spool of awg29 just arrived.i'd need to resell it on ebay in order to get some awg42. plus now i've got two sources claiming there is a bobin inside but mr. duncan's rep says not.i've ben told already to just go buy a pickup but it is sort of a personal project i'm doing. as a disability retired former guitarist of 38 years, with only one functioning hand i'm trying my luck at building my lap steel from the ground up
to develope a method of playing one-handed.

 

[Guest]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

I recall a schematic of one and it's wound around the mag, I'd take Evan's word as confirmation.

Good luck with the project. A lot of people are working on cool projects, I need to get my azz of this computer and actually do something.

 

[plimsoul]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

yo! evan-
thanks for the skinny on the duncan process. now that i'm sitting on a 2600ft. roll of
awg29[not 24] i 'd just like to know if it will work at all before i relist it on ebay and try for some awg42.the tube i was going to use is from a montecristo platinum series rothschild cigar so it's pretty big but how huge are you suggesting a tube would have to be if i try to get some function out of the awg29 before bagging it and starting over?
thanks to everyone else also! evan i'll gt some pics up ofmy lap steelwhen it's done. the one pickup i'm going to use for sure is a really old single coil from a resoglas national i had 340 years ago.it reads 6.5k on the 1k scale on my multimeter tis lipstick tube question is just for grins and i i got one wound that actually puts out sound i was gonna add it to the steel as a second. i hate call it quitsbefore i even try specially since i've already found an alnico2 nice bar magnet.

 

[plimsoul]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

cool luis, thanks. ican't imagine winding any wire around a bar magnet without a bobin
to keep the wire in place. i'm thinking now that i'll never be able to successfully wind awg42 just directly on the masg withouta bobin and this forum is getting me ever closer to just finishing the lap steel without making my own pickup.i hate quitters but now it's sounding like more trouible than a one-handed guy can take on

 

[Guest]

Re: Lipstick tube pickup questions

I never wound a pup but why not fake the bobbin? If the problem is the lack of the top and bottom lips why not get some tape and build up a wall?

Are you dead set on winding a pup? If so and that doesn't work you could try another type of pup. Maybe even create something entirely new.