For weeks I’ve been collecting stuff to make my next instrument.  For those not in the know, I make oddball instruments in my spare time.  I collect items I think can be modified to create a tone.  My latest creation is a cross between a guitar and, well, I’m not even sure.  What instrument uses an old spatula?

While I was putting the finishing touches on it I was slapped in the face with this week’s article.  I was winding the pickup and somewhere around wrap 4,000 thought how many pieces of basic technology use copper wire, magnets, and steel.  You owe this mini essay to the doldrums of staring at a spool of spinning copper wire.

At one point or another we’ve all toyed with magnets; some of us still do.  Magnets have a pole and like people, opposites attract.  If you try and push two like poles together they repel and push away from each other.  Magnets come in all shapes and sizes.  At the shop we have a collection of small cube and odd shaped magnets that serve different purposes in the computer business.

Electromagnets are created by wrapping copper wire around an iron based piece like a nail.  If you were to wrap a nail with several hundred wraps of wire and then connect each end to a  battery you would have a temporary electromagnet.  In a nutshell, magnets can either be permanent or temporary.

With a little work and some extra parts the two types of magnets can be used together to make a motor.  When an electromagnet is charged in the field of a permanent magnet it will rotate so opposite poles face.  Reversing polarity with something called a commutator causes the motor to spin continuously as long as power is applied.

Sound is nothing more than motion.  Sound created from speakers is produced using a similar principle to the motor I described above.  The difference between a motor and a speaker is pretty minor.  An electromagnet is attached to the speaker cone which is designed to change polarity frequently.  This rapid polarity change causes the speaker cone to move the air, creating sound.

Now let’s have a peek at my reinvention of the electric guitar pickup.  It still uses steel, a magnet. and miles of really thin copper wire.  The difference is the wire is wrapped around the magnet and the steel are the strings above the pickup.  Technically, a pickup is just the opposite of a motor or speaker.

‘Opposite’ means electrical energy is created by motion rather than using electricity to create motion.  By wrapping a magnet several thousand times with fine wire we’re able to create energy when a string (or other iron based item) is oscillated in its field.  That signal is either sent to an amplifier or other device for processing.

Anyone can build a speaker or pickup.  Motors on the other hand are a bit tricky due to the commutator and its basic technology.  42 gauge copper wire can be purchased online and typically costs $5.00 for enough to make two or three pickups.  Any magnet will work for either project.  My pickups are saturated in paraffin wax to prevent buzzing; however, it’s not a necessary step.

Isn’t it peculiar that musicians use copper, magnets, and steel to create the sound and the same basic technology to make it louder?  As I said earlier,  watching almost a mile of hair like copper wire slide between my fingers started me thinking how many devices are made with the same three ingredients.  Much of the technology we use daily is driven by magnets, copper wire, and steel.

 (Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner.  You can text him directly at (978) 413-2840 or visit www.LocalComputerWiz.com.)