A couple of experiments analyzing the vibration of bars in different configurations using as a vibration sensor an electric guitar pickup are presented. The device is a versatile and easy to operate sensor that can be used in experiments involving the analysis of vibrations in rods and bars of different composition and in different configurations. This technique is presented with two simple experiments: in one, the vibration of a small rod in a cantilever is analyzed, and in another, the longitudinal vibrations of a rod is measured in order to calculate its propagation speed.