magnetizing bars w/ stew mac magnets

[Mark Hammer]

Yeah, makes me want to contact my bank and VISA to find out when they're sending my new cards JUST to make sure I don't order in the same period and risk having my cards anywhere near those magnets!

[David Schwab]

My first experience with neos!

Watch out for pinched fingers! Seriously.

They also have a tendency to come crashing together at a moments notice, and can shatter. They also like to collect lose screw drivers and such.

I had a pickup sitting on my desk about a foot from my CRT monitor, without thinking, and was wondering why the bottom was all green and purple.

[David King]

Speaking of strong magnetic fields, if you ever go in for an MRI scan the first question they ask you is if you've ever gotten rust or ferric containing crap embedded in your cornea that might not have been fully removed. I guess the results can be very painful as you eyeballs try to spin around to keep up with the scan. Actually the embedded particles just start cruising around and cutting their way through whatever part of the eye is in the way. Fun!

[catstrat]

EFK

I found the only side affect of magnitizing your own pickups, after a while your fingers start sticking together. Just kidding of course.

[Mike Sulzer]

Dipole fields (like the N and S poles of a magnet) fall off very quickly, with the inverse cube of distance.

If you stick two magnets together, you get a quadrupole field, which falls off as the inverse fifth power of distance, which is very fast.

General rule is that a N-pole field falls off as the inverse (N+1)th power of distance. So a brick of magnets may have very little external field.

Depends on the shape of the magnets.

If you stick two stubby neo cylinder magnets together they go ( N-S)-(N-S), not a quadrupole. Longer strings can be folded to make a quadrupole. But even half a dozen of them want to form a single string. If you lay several of them out on a surface just far enough apart so that they do not snap together and then toss another in the middle of the bunch, they tend to make a single string, which you can then fold over to make a quadrupole.

[walcen]

Sorry about the newbie question but,
I've searched the boards and elsewhere but I still don't totally understand. Is it possible to magnetize Alnico Bar magnets (humbucker, p90) with the Stew Mac 1" disc neo magnets? Or are they only good for rods? If so what is the most effective direction to pass them between the neo's?

is this right?

{N}
Neodymium
{S}

[====] -> -> -> Alnico Bar magnet sliding through with wide side towards you

{N}
Neodymium
{S}

I'm working on putting together the parts for my first pickups and don't want to invest too much, the Stew Mac magnets seem like the most inexpensive for me right now but if I need something larger let me know.

Thanks all, I've been reading and researching here for a while and looking forward to my first build!

I'd like to know the answer to this aswel please,

is this right?

{N}
Neodymium
{S}

{N}
[ALNICO] -> -> -> Alnico Bar magnet sliding through with wide side towards you
{S}

{N}
Neodymium
{S}

and it doesn't look as though it was actually answered, but I may stand corrected.

regards to all

Walt

[big_teee]

You are trying to magnetize the two long edges of the Alnico magnet, not the flat sides.
You pull the 2 neos apart and slide the long edges of the alnico being charged between the neo magnets.
The South end of the Neo will create a north edge of the A5.
The North end of the other neo will create a south edge of the A5.
If you turn the A5 around and force it between the neos, it will reverse the polarity of the A5.
Good Luck!
Rock on,
Terry

[walcen]

Thanks Terry your reply has made it perfectly clear even for a dumass like me.

kindest regards

Walt.

[Magnut]

Here is a picture that I hope helps to clarify. I use this as a backup to the electric magnetizer I have. BTW if you order magnets from certain companies you can ask for this and they will ship it free with your order.
( I was not paying attention to the polarity while putting the bobbin in the magnetizer for the pic )

[walcen]

Here is a picture that I hope helps to clarify. I use this as a backup to the electric magnetizer I have. BTW if you order magnets from certain companies you can ask for this and they will ship it free with your order.
( I was not paying attention to the polarity while putting the bobbin in the magnetizer for the pic )
[ATTACH=CONFIG]11698[/ATTACH]

Thats a very nice picture thanks but it doesn't show which way to pass the pickup magnet through the charging magnet which I think is what confuses dumasses like me LOL.

The question was answered above by indicating that the S side of the pickup magnet needs to pas through the N side of the charging Nio and vice verse.

But I would like to know where to get my hands on one of those MAGNETIZER, and are they Nio mags attached to it?

regards

Walt

[big_teee]

Thats a very nice picture thanks but it doesn't show which way to pass the pickup magnet through the charging magnet which I think is what confuses dumasses like me LOL.

The question was answered above by indicating that the S side of the pickup magnet needs to pas through the N side of the charging Nio and vice verse.

But I would like to know where to get my hands on one of those MAGNETIZER, and are they Nio mags attached to it?

regards

Walt

Walt:
There are several things you can do with the magnets.
As I mentioned above if you reverse the Alnico Magnet you get opposite effects.
Ususally if you pass it through one pass backwards it will degauss (uncharge the) Alnico Magnet. If you keep passing it through it reverses the charge.
They make polarity testers. I use a known marked polarity magnet or compass.
If you use a compass be real careful with it and keep it far away from the Neo's or its possible to reverse the polarity of the compass. I know that from experience.
I had my house and property facing the wrong direction, until I realized what I had done. So it was tricky, but I finally got my compass polarized the right way again!
If you don't want your Alnico at full charge, I've charged A5s with Stacked up ceramic magnets. A5s have a prettier tone on high strings, at reduced charge. You have less Low string response, and muddier on the lows when not at full charge, but you can experiment and come up with some happy mediums.
Also if you use a compass (This is comfusing, and I don't know how & what polarity applies in your country), in the US The north end of the compass is just that, NORTH.
The North pole is actually South. Thats why the North end of the compass points to it. I hope I haven't caused any confusement!!!
Later,
Terry

[spy]

Ok, after reading some old threads I found this one with the best info on what I'm searching for but I'm still confused. Which is the best way to magnetize rods and bars with neo magnets? Until now I was using StewMac's rings but they're too weak and it's impossible to fully charge rods and impossible to charge bars. So, the best way is to buy a pair of neo blocks, right? But which size? Do I need a vice? And how do I mount them on the vice? Please understand that I have only two hands!

[copperheadroads]

I'm not understanding why you can't fully charge alnico magnets with 2 stew Mac magnets
That's all I used for quite a while & 3 to 4 swipes ,your magnets should be fully charged
Thats one of the first thing I had to prove after I built my gauss meter

[spy]

How many Gauss do you charge them? Do you charge your pickups assembled or each rod separately?

[big_teee]

Ok, after reading some old threads I found this one with the best info on what I'm searching for but I'm still confused. Which is the best way to magnetize rods and bars with neo magnets? Until now I was using StewMac's rings but they're too weak and it's impossible to fully charge rods and impossible to charge bars. So, the best way is to buy a pair of neo blocks, right? But which size? Do I need a vice? And how do I mount them on the vice? Please understand that I have only two hands!

The best way is to have the magnets anchored down, so you pass your alnicos between them.
The Stewmac Instructions show placing them in a vice. You might want to read their instructions.
It may take a bit to get the hang of it.
Good Luck,
Terry