The guitar is one of the most popular instruments. Almost everyone can play the acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, the sound without amplification is not always enough for acoustic instruments, this also applies to guitars of this type. To make the sound brighter and louder, a pickup can help - it converts the sound into voltage and allows you to make it loud. This can be helpful at a gig or rehearsal spot when you would like to fit an acoustic guitar into the rhythm section.
In this article, we will look at how to make a DIY acoustic guitar pickup.
From magnets
So, let's start with the most popular type of guitar amplification - the magnetic pickup. In order toto make a pickup for an acoustic guitar with your own hands from magnets, you will need any pickup from an electric guitar. The structure of the electric guitar fits perfectly into the format of an ordinary six-string instrument - in this case, you will need to fit each of the magnets exactly to the string so that the sound is transmitted as clearly and accurately as possible.
In order for you to extract the sound from the installed pickup, you need to run the contacts of your single-coil or humbucker inside the body of the guitar and make a hole for the exit. The latter will serve as a standard socket type "Jack". If everything is done correctly, then when you connect a guitar to a combo amplifier or sound card, you will get a clean guitar signal that can be turned up louder on the device.
Handmade pickup for acoustic guitar perfectly counts the sound. You can even experiment: wind up a small crunch on the amplifier, this will give a slight overload and an even tighter sound.
Humbucker or single?
We recommend single-coil pickups for acoustic guitars, because humbuckers are by definition more powerful and are used in electric guitars to achieve a strong and meaty heavy sound. For acoustics, this is not necessary, you just need to amplify your clean signal, and the single will do just fine.
From piezoelectric elements
To make a piezo pickup, you have to pay attention to the inside of the guitar body. The fact is thatA piezo pickup is extremely sensitive and will produce different sounds when placed in different parts of the guitar's body.
To make a pickup for an acoustic guitar with your own hands from piezoelectric elements, you will need:
- the piezoelectric element itself;
- jack-jack cable;
- end-pin-jack tip.
The piezoelectric element is found in many children's toys or electrical appliances, it does not have to be new. Actually, all you need is the ability to solder, because one end of the cable will have to be soldered to the piezoelectric element:
- It has an outer and inner rim. When you open the cable from one side, you will see 2 wires there, and one of them must be soldered to the inner rim, and the other to the outer one.
- The piezo tablet itself can be hidden inside the case so that the contact wires are not visible, and connected from the inside to the glued output from the "jack".
So you get the smallest DIY acoustic guitar pickup available at virtually no cost.
From the speakers
No matter how strange it may sound, a pickup can be obtained from any speakers, even without special knowledge in radio engineering. So, an acoustic guitar pickup assembled from headphones (there are also two small speakers built into the headphones) will sound decent if everything is done correctly.
In this case you will need:
- 3 earpiece speakers;
- a few wires to connect the speakersin sequence;
- large shielded wire jack.
And now for what to do:
- Carefully remove the speakers from the headphones and glue them between the socket and the guitar neck.
- Each small speaker should be glued under two strings. In this way, a six-string guitar will be completely covered by three speakers.
- Do-it-yourself pickup for an acoustic guitar in this way the first time you may not be able to do it if you do not connect all the wires in series. Think back to elementary physics courses: only one wire goes from each speaker to the next.
- When all three are connected, solder the wires in such a way that the contacts do not move away from each other, otherwise one of the speakers may stop working.
- After the last one, lead the wire to the back of the guitar (possibly inside) and attach the jack to its input. Already from this input will go the thickest wire to the amplifier.
Thus, when the device is turned on, the speakers will read the signal and transmit vibrations to the amplifier, and you will get the simplest pickup.
Microphone
The easiest and most trivial method to amplify the sound is to embed a microphone into an acoustic guitar. If your guitar has an EQ on the backing board, then the microphone is already there, and all you have to do is turn up the sound on it. The settings of this equalizer allow you to change the tone without compromising the integrity of the sound.
But if you still do not have an internal amplifier, thenYou can use an ordinary instrument microphone to amplify the sound. Do-it-yourself pickup for an acoustic guitar from a microphone is the easiest to make:
- You just need to place the microphone inside the deck in such a way that the sound is not distorted and the microphone does not pick up extraneous noise.
- Everything is simple here - the farther from the outlet you hide the microphone in the guitar, the less extraneous sounds it will record.
- The microphone output can be left unchanged and left as it is, because you will be connecting the guitar to the mixing console or directly to the computer, and not to the amplifier.
This method is perfect for those who perform at concerts or live. All you need is a speaker or cabinet, no amplifier is needed in this case.
In the subway or in the underpasses, street musicians most often use microphones, because at some point it can simply be drowned out, unlike other homemade pickups.
Conclusion
Do-it-yourself pickup for an acoustic guitar can also be made using other improvised materials that can receive a signal. The cheapest piezo pickup in the store costs about 2000 rubles, and your own costs about 100 at most. Moreover, if you understand electrical engineering at a basic level, you can choose the best position for installing the pickup for yourself so that the sound meets your requirements.
Learn your instrument and love the music! Creative success to you!
