I know, I'm crazy, but what about superconducting pups?

[leftyguitarjoe]

My friend and I have an idea we think might be possible.

We can make a pickup and cool it with liquid nitrogen to turn it into a superconductor.

You can buy the raw materials for the magnet and bake them in a kiln. Because of this, they can be put in a mold of any shape.

Liquid nitrogen is pretty cheap. Like $2 a gallon.

Any idea if this idea is even remotely plausible?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

If it's cheap, try it out.

Though, I don't think it's something that would be possible as a long term "mod".

After doing some VERY quick research I came upon this:

The electrical resistivity of a metallic conductor decreases gradually as the temperature is lowered. However, in ordinary conductors such as copper and silver, this decrease is limited by impurities and other defects. Even near absolute zero, a real sample of copper shows some resistance. In a superconductor however, despite these imperfections, the resistance drops abruptly to zero when the material is cooled below its critical temperature. An electric current flowing in a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.
Superconductivity occurs in many materials: simple elements like tin and aluminium, various metallic alloys and some heavily-doped semiconductors. Superconductivity does not occur in noble metals like gold and silver, nor in pure samples of ferromagnetic metals.

Seems like you'd have to reinvent the wheel just to get something capable of turning into a super conductor, yet still a functioning pickup.

 

[evilmnky204]

it would be a cool idea, problem is you'd have to constantly keep it at below the critical temperature, and for most metals, that's below 0 K, which is impossible AFAIK.

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

Seems like you'd have to reinvent the wheel just to get something capable of turning into a super conductor, yet still a functioning pickup.

http://www.futurescience.com/scpart1.html

Seriously. You can just make one. I wouldnt have to reinvent anything

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Making High-Temperature Superconductors - Futurescience.com

Seriously. You can just make one. I wouldnt have to reinvent anything

I was assuming that you were trying to turn the coils of the pickup into a superconductor.

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

I was assuming that you were trying to turn the coils of the pickup into a superconductor.

Ah ok.

I suppose regular copper windings can be used. The bars or poles would have to be superconductors.

I'm seriously looking into this. Even though its probably nowhere near practical, it would be a first. I can probably get in contact with someone at the University of Delaware to smelt the magnets. Then I have to figure out how to make a functioning pickup. It will still work without being cooled, it just wont be superconducting.

 

[Deadnightshade]

Ok..people like you have earned this forum's title of nerdiness..:respect:

Please try it as soon as possible sounds interesting.Hope it works somehow

And who knows?you may make the R-Tuners...the next step in alternative pickup technology (R is after Q isn't it?)
^ lame alphabet joke i'm just trying some encouragement XD

 

[Razorgrin]

+1 because this is just awesome.

 

[Cheesebuiscut]

Somehow I imagine an exploding amp at the end of all of this

 

[Razorgrin]

Somehow I imagine an exploding amp at the end of all of this

That sounds like the epitome of metal to me.

 

[Spondus]

I think you guys are misunderstanding this quite considerably. If you made superconducting coils then any current induced in them would persist indefinitely. That would mean as soon as you plucked a single note, that note would sustain indefinitely. Why would you want that?

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

I think you guys are misunderstanding this quite considerably. If you made superconducting coils then any current induced in them would persist indefinitely. That would mean as soon as you plucked a single note, that note would sustain indefinitely. Why would you want that?

Because its cool.

 

[Gamba]

+1 on the awesomeness of this. And as MaxofMetal said, if it is cheap, try it out

 

[Spondus]

But you literally would not be able to stop a note sustaining until you raised the coil above the temperature at which it stops superconducting. The pickups would literally be unusable. Unless of course you write music that consists of one neverending note of course.

 

[Gamba]

But as soon as you mute the note the string would stop vibrating so it would stop exciting the magnetic field generated by the pickup's magnet and then the inducted electric current would cease to exist, what would result in the ending of the signal transmitted by the pickup, wouldn't it?

 

[Spondus]

No, that is what a conducting pickup would do. The whole idea of a superconductor is that a current will persist even without a voltage applied accross it. So in this instance the current would sustain indefinitely.

 

[technomancer]

Liquid nitrogen in something strapped to your body near your genitals... what could possibly go wrong

 

[leftyguitarjoe]

No, that is what a conducting pickup would do. The whole idea of a superconductor is that a current will persist even without a voltage applied accross it. So in this instance the current would sustain indefinitely.

But the rest of the circuit would not be superconducting.

Only the magnets within the pickups would be.

The current would encounter resistance in the copper coils, pots, and wiring.

We have no idea how the entire system will work until its done.

 

[shogunate]

Fucking DO EET Just don't die or anything that would prevent you from letting the rest of us know your results

 

[Stealthdjentstic]

^ Yeah, its actually OK if you do die (not preferred) but make sure you let those around you to post the video here.