Saying Hi, asking about some basics

[PatrickMahoney]

Okay thanks David, that makes things a bit easier for me.

Just to clarify something, I should have stated a "cast iron"
vice, as a solid steel vice would be pretty expensive, if they
are even produced. he he They probably make them for some
special reason, but that's beyond the scope of this threads
purpose.

I will make a note to grab a good Gauss meter to keep an eye
on how things are working out and to try to keep things
consistent.

As far as the wood jig over the "cast iron" vise, it surely makes
things much easier, as now I do not have to spend all of that
time manufacturing something from scratch.

Thanks again,
Patrick

[David Schwab]

I'm curious as to why creating a horse shoe circuit with a steel jig is preferred as opposed to creating a jig using a magnetically inert material such as wood. I know I have seen an example of a wood jig used by one of the members of this forum sometime back. Is it an efficiency thing?

It completes the magnetic circuit and makes it more efficient.

It can be as simple as this. I don't normally charge alnico magnets, but this old Mustang pickup was pretty dead from sitting in a box full of ceramic magnet pickups!

[Busterdawg]

It completes the magnetic circuit and makes it more efficient.

Ok, that makes sense to me, I had figured it was something along those lines.

I do have a follow up question to further my understanding (because, as Gollum said, "This forum is stupid addicting" and it has been one of my top "must read" web stops for sometime now).

As far as efficiency goes when using the steel jig as opposed to the wooden jig, linked to below, are we talking about efficiency as in it's quicker to magnetize the pickup or it does a more thorough job of magnetization?

'Bucker Magnet Neo Charging Jigs?

I originally thought that chevalij's wooden slide through jig was an ingenious way to control the pups time in the neo's field without banging the alnicos into the neos while trying to crank the vise open.

[David Schwab]

I originally thought that chevalij's wooden slide through jig was an ingenious way to control the pups time in the neo's field without banging the alnicos into the neos while trying to crank the vise open.

I just opened the vice wide enough to let it slide through. I wasn't trying to not touch the neos. The alnicos touched them on both sides.

It's the moving through the field that does the magnetizing. What David K suggested would probably work as well (opening the jaws). I haven't tried that though.

[David King]

A neo charging rig has a really hard time getting the higher alnicos up near saturation. Banging into the neos is probably exactly what you want but you need to control it somewhat or your charge centerline will be way off center.
This is easy to see with magnetic viewing paper. Better than with the Gauss meter. Of course we need to determine if an asymmetric charge is even a problem in a pickup but I like to be anal as a rule.

[Jedd]

Magnetizing Question

When magnetizing Alnicos, has anyone noticed how gauss strength affects tone? I have noticed a significant output difference and it seems that stronger magnets are brighter and capture more highs, but was curious to hear others experiences on this.

[David King]

Jedd,
There is plenty of evidence that saturated magnets DO NOT sound as good as slightly demagnetized ones. I think the crux of the issue is that you want to hear it both ways with your pickups and then decide what the appropriate level of magnetizing is. At that point you can figure out how to get consistent results in the demag process. We've had many discussions about how to demagnetize to a good level but without a very good ear and a Gauss meter this is a tough job.

[Jedd]

Jedd,
There is plenty of evidence that saturated magnets DO NOT sound as good as slightly demagnetized ones. I think the crux of the issue is that you want to hear it both ways with your pickups and then decide what the appropriate level of magnetizing is. At that point you can figure out how to get consistent results in the demag process. We've had many discussions about how to demagnetize to a good level but without a very good ear and a Gauss meter this is a tough job.

Thanks, David. I appreciate the tip! I think I saw a few meters at grainger for relatively cheap.

[David King]

Jedd,
You don't need to go to Graingers. In fact I and almost assure you they will over-charge you for something that won't be what you need.
Have you looked at any of our Gauss meter discussions recently??

[Jedd]

No sir, I haven't. I'll take a look and see if I can find them. Thanks a bunch.

[PatrickMahoney]

Hello Again Gang,

I've come across a video of a Seymour Duncan factory tour where they are
showing how they build pickups. In one section, they are showing how they
go about magnetizing their AlNiCo bar magnets and it's got me to the point
where I am once again confused.

First off, I was sure after reading the replys to my earlier posts, that I was
suppose to magnetize my AlNiCo bar magnets so the north and south poles
were facing the front and rear of the bar magnets (pickups) like in the
following image:



In the Seymour Duncan video, they're showing that the AlNiCo bar magnets
have a north and south pole facing the sides of the bar magnets like in the
image below:



Here's a clip from the video where you can see how he's holding the Gauss
meter up to the magnet, and then holds it up to a pickup to show how the
magnet is charged, and you can see that the magnets north and south poles
are facing the sides of the pickup, not the front and rear. Here's the video
clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoTWPPfyOJc

So, am I understanding this correctly, do I need to go back and re-charge
my bar magnets so the north and south poles are pointing to the sides of the
magnets/pickups as apposed to front and rear?

Thanks again for your help and insight,
Patrick

[David King]

Patrick,
Sorry for your confusion but you figured it out. Alnico won't hold a charge the way you magnetized them the first time. This time magnetize them properly from edge to edge across the 1/2" width as shown in your second diagram and reap the rewards.