Threaded magnets

[David Schwab]

Is Sensmag still selling the threaded magnets? I don't see that page anymore.

[Peter Naglitsch]

I've been building pickups with a little neos glued to the bottom of annealed hex headed set screws. This works well, but is brighter than most jazzers like it.

I'm pretty sure that a more ductile magnet will sweeten the tone. The WRHB and DeArmond's adjustable Super Chief would be examples of this kind of effect.

Yeah, but the WRHBs are quite bright too…

It would be nice to corner a niche, but alnico won't sound like a ductile magnet, although it does sound good as poles in a humbucker.

A patent pursuit may be a lost effort, with a magnet manufacturer selling threaded FeCrCo replacements.

The Sensmag threaded magnets are not FeCrCo according to their price list. They come in Alnico2 or Alnico5. Alnico2 is pretty close to CuNiFe regarding magnetic strength.

Is Sensmag still selling the threaded magnets? I don't see that page anymore.

They have reworked their entire web page, but to the worse. You can’t find any of their products except for their “news”. Contact them and ask is my advice

[David Schwab]

The Sensmag threaded magnets are not FeCrCo according to their price list. They come in Alnico2 or Alnico5. Alnico2 is pretty close to CuNiFe regarding magnetic strength.

If you go back in the thread a bit, here was the response from Sensmag saying they are FeCrCo:

These threaded rod magnets is thread 10-32 or 10-24. (all 0.190 Dia) with slot one end and 2 ends dome.

Magnet grades are FeCrCo2 ( equal to alnico2) and FeCrCo5(equal to alnico5)

Length can be from 0.40" to 0.800" . now what we are making was:

1. FeCrCo2 10-24 thread x 0.420"long
2. FeCrCo5 10-32 thread x 0.625"long
3. FeCrCo5 1/4-20 thread x 0.705"long ( 1/4-20 was 0.250"dia.)

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Have a nice day!

Thanks & Best regards,

They have reworked their entire web page, but to the worse. You can’t find any of their products except for their “news”. Contact them and ask is my advice

Yeah, it's awful.

[Stadler Guitars]

[QUOTE=Peter Naglitsch;129741]Yeah, but the WRHBs are quite bright too…



They are, but they're in a tele and favor separate coils per string. A typical tele pickup is significantly twangier. A humbucker with alnico poles is brighter still, with all other inductive material removed.

[Peter Naglitsch]

If you go back in the thread a bit, here was the response from Sensmag saying they are FeCrCo

Yes, I have read that part. However I have actually bought the magnets. The order form, the pro forma invoice, the packing list and the packages them self states that it is AlNiCo 2 and 5! In all my correspondence with Sensmag they were referred to as AlNiCo 2 and 5:

A2 with thread US$ 1.00 ea, please advise thread and length. ( we are making 10-32 thread x 0.625"length and 10-24 thread x 0.420" length.
A5 with thread US$ 1.00 ea, please advise thread and length. ( we are making 10-32 thread x 0.625"length and 10-24 thread x 0.420" length.

(From an E-mail in late August)

Have anyone been able to receive a confirmed shipping of threaded FeCrCo magnets from Sensmag? If not I just assume that that part is some type of misunderstanding. If Sensmag claims to be able to delivered FeCrCo they either have that option unlisted, or they tell us what ever we would like to hear just to make a sell. If so someone ought to ask them for threaded CuNiFe and see if they answer that they would be happy to provide that to...

[David Schwab]

Yes, I have read that part. However I have actually bought the magnets. The order form, the pro forma invoice, the packing list and the packages them self states that it is AlNiCo 2 and 5! In all my correspondence with Sensmag they were referred to as AlNiCo 2 and 5:

I don't think you can thread alnico. Perhaps they are just calling them alnico.

[Stadler Guitars]

Sensmag gave me a price of $100 for 36 with $25 shipping last night and referred to them as FeCrCo.

It would be easy enough to tell alnico from fecrco. Take a file to each type.

[Sweetfinger]

There are ALL KINDS of methods available today that might be used to put threads on a material that is impossible to machine with traditional tooling.

From:
Non-Traditional Machining Processes -- Engineer's Handbook
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nontraditional machining can be thought of as operations that do not use shear as their primary source of energy. For example, abrasive water jet operations use mechanical energy, but material is removed by erosion.

Non traditional machining methods are typically divided into the following categories:

1. Mechanical - Ultrasonic Machining, Rotary Ultrasonic Machining, Ultrasonically Assisted Machining

2. Electrical - Electrochemical Discharge Grinding, Electrochemical Grinding, Electrochemical Honing,Hone-Forming, Electrochemical Machining, Electrochemical Turning, Shaped Tube Electrolytic Machining, Electro-Stream

3. Thermal - Electron Beam Machining, Electrical Discharge Machining, Electrical Discharge Wire Cutting, Electrical Discharge Grinding, Laser Beam Machining.

4. Chemical - Chemical Milling, Photochemical Machining

These machine tools were developed primarily to shape the ultrahard alloys used in heavy industry and in aerospace applications and to shape and etch the ultrathin materials used in such electronic devices as microprocessors.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

All you need to do is find someone who's got one of these nifty machines sitting idle and convince 'em that they need to thread magnets for you...cheep!

The other (more likely) scenario is that the magnet material is not ...um..er, actually Alnico 2 or 5, but is something else and is being referred to as A5 or A2 merely to "reference" them to something the buyer is familiar with. The difference between cheese and "cheese product".

[David Schwab]

The other (more likely) scenario is that the magnet material is not ...um..er, actually Alnico 2 or 5, but is something else and is being referred to as A5 or A2 merely to "reference" them to something the buyer is familiar with. The difference between cheese and "cheese product".

That's what Sensmag said:

Magnet grades are FeCrCo2 (equal to alnico2) and FeCrCo5(equal to alnico5)

[BonamassaFan]

Crap. I got really excited about this thread. I've contacted Sens to see if I could get some threaded magnet pole pieces.

I'm rewinding a 72 tele reissue pickup, and I was hoping to replace the humbucker pole pieces with threaded magnets.
Many of the links on this thread are dead. Does anyone have again leads on these?

There was a useful blog post here that make me think this is a possibility. When you click the link, do a Find (ctrl F) for Standard Sized Wide Range Humbucker aka Slim Seth
Mojo Pickups

[the great waldo]

Hi BonamassaFan

Don't get too upset, I recently got a pile of the new Fender wide range humbuckers and swapped out the polepieces for normal alnico strat rods (you just need to push them in and they'll hold) pull out the old bar magnet and slip in a spacer and off you go. They sound much better with whicever grade alnico you use and it's not a lot of work.

Cheers

Andrew

Crap. I got really excited about this thread. I've contacted Sens to see if I could get some threaded magnet pole pieces.

I'm rewinding a 72 tele reissue pickup, and I was hoping to replace the humbucker pole pieces with threaded magnets.
Many of the links on this thread are dead. Does anyone have again leads on these?

There was a useful blog post here that make me think this is a possibility. When you click the link, do a Find (ctrl F) for Standard Sized Wide Range Humbucker aka Slim Seth
Mojo Pickups

[copperheadroads]

Hi BonamassaFan

Don't get too upset, I recently got a pile of the new Fender wide range humbuckers and swapped out the polepieces for normal alnico strat rods (you just need to push them in and they'll hold) pull out the old bar magnet and slip in a spacer and off you go. They sound much better with whicever grade alnico you use and it's not a lot of work.

Cheers

Andrew

Are you saying Alnico rods sound better than the threaded rods ?
I make a pickup similar to the WR humbucker & I use alnico rods & I have been going to upgrade the to have adjustable threaded rods ....This would be good to know ...

[the great waldo]

Hi Copperhead

I'm not sure which rods your'e reffering to. The original cunife wide range humbuckers never really appealed to me and I haven't tried the sensmag threaded magnets. All I can say is that all the conversions that i've done on the new wide range pups using various grades of Alnico magnets have been a definite improvement according to my ears and the customers (as usual it's all a matter of taste).

Cheers
Andrew

Are you saying Alnico rods sound better than the threaded rods ?
I make a pickup similar to the WR humbucker & I use alnico rods & I have been going to upgrade the to have adjustable threaded rods ....This would be good to know ...

[Peter Naglitsch]

Talking about timing. This old thread comes up at the same tim e I'm ordering new threaded magnets from Sensmag. The "old" A2 10-32 magnets are not available anymore, only A5. However they have A2 12-32 mangers available at ...1.20 a pop (yiekes! the same price as a bar magnet). The good thing is that those magnets are closer to the WRHB originals in size and might even fit the reissue bobbins without modifications. However Fender must have high volumes slough to change the way they make the 54mm bobbins. They used to be very similar to a standard bobbin. Now they have some strange exposed studs coming out of the back of the bobbins that the magnet wire is side red to (coming all the way out the back of the pickup) and some other bits of plastic molded into the bobbin to make the spacers obsolete.

The threaded magnets are not listed anywhere with the Sensmag site, you need to contact them. You can contact Melissa at sales@sensmag.com. Shipping in my case (ordering bunch of other stuff took) is 50$ and they still can't handle PayPal or similar money transfer systems, only international bank transfer.

Anyway, I got 200 magnets on their way to me and I'll let you know how they are vs the old once.

About WRHBs: Anything can be done to the reissues to make them sound better. My preference is the A2 magnets as A5 makes then a bit too shrill. A2 are the closest we have to CuNiFe, a tad stronger (about 15% if I'm not misstaken) and with all the other parts available (except the reflector plates and bobbin) we can really start making decent WRHBs, and in the end, WRHBs that are wayyy better than the reissues

[copperheadroads]

Talking about timing. This old thread comes up at the same tim e I'm ordering new threaded magnets from Sensmag. The "old" A2 10-32 magnets are not available anymore, only A5. However they have A2 12-32 mangers available at ...1.20 a pop (yiekes! the same price as a bar magnet). The good thing is that those magnets are closer to the WRHB originals in size and might even fit the reissue bobbins without modifications. However Fender must have high volumes slough to change the way they make the 54mm bobbins. They used to be very similar to a standard bobbin. Now they have some strange exposed studs coming out of the back of the bobbins that the magnet wire is side red to (coming all the way out the back of the pickup) and some other bits of plastic molded into the bobbin to make the spacers obsolete.

The threaded magnets are not listed anywhere with the Sensmag site, you need to contact them. You can contact Melissa at sales@sensmag.com. Shipping in my case (ordering bunch of other stuff took) is 50$ and they still can't handle PayPal or similar money transfer systems, only international bank transfer.

Anyway, I got 200 magnets on their way to me and I'll let you know how they are vs the old once.

About WRHBs: Anything can be done to the reissues to make them sound better. My preference is the A2 magnets as A5 makes then a bit too shrill. A2 are the closest we have to CuNiFe, a tad stronger (about 15% if I'm not misstaken) and with all the other parts available (except the reflector plates and bobbin) we can really start making decent WRHBs, and in the end, WRHBs that are wayyy better than the reissues

I have samples of the Sensmags threaded mags in 10-32 & 12-32 & 10-32 are loose in the slug coil of a humbucker bobbins & I guess I could enlarge the holes in the bobbin & use the 12-32 . unfornately Melissa only sent me 2 samples of each so I can't tell any one how they sound
Thanks...Peter ,keep me informed & I have dealt with Melissa when I ordered my last magnets from them last time