Airline Supro Lapsteel Pickup Qustion

[Electricdaveyboy]

Hello Pickupmakers,
I wonder wich kind of alnicomagnet is inside those Airline Supro lapsteel pickups.
Are they made with isotrop or anisotrop magnets ?
Did they come with one or two magnets each side ?
I have an Aireline lapsteel, it has only one magnet but maybe one was pulled long ago.
Thanks
David

[Electricdaveyboy]

Here is a pic it shows the woodspacer and the magnet side by side to the coil.

[Possum]

...

I don't know about that particular pickup, I worked on a similar Fender one, I think the photo is missing a steel cover that goes over both magnets and over the pickup. I don't know what kind of magnets those are, the Fender had similar looking ones, they look more like steel than alnico to me.

[Electricdaveyboy]

Hello Possum,
yes I removed the top-plate to make the woodspacer and magnet visible.

tx
david

[Possum]

.....

Jason knows alot about lap steels, maybe he can tell us what those magnets are made of, could be alnico but sure doesn't look like it to me, but I haven't really looked at those kinds of pickups much at all...

[David Schwab]

Didn't Jason make a copy of one of those not too long ago? I remembered it covered the strings.

[jason lollar]

I make a version of that under license from Supro - Zinky Electronics.
I wont tell you what the magnet is as it costs money to find that stuff out but I do know the cheaper models used a wood block on one side- the student models- and they painted it to look like a magnet but the more expensive versions have two magnets.
I kept seeing single magnet pickups and for a long time I thought people just lost a magnet but I found out later they were made that way- thats a crappy way to make that pickup.
Also the #1 problem I hear is "The string volume balance is all screwed up" This is usually because someone flipped one of the magnets- both magnets should face the same polarity, the coils are out of phase with each other but they are humcancelling. Flip one of the magnets and you get zones where the flux interferes with itself and leaves voids. Basically- probably some other terminology for it I will get reamed for but I know what it does.