US made pickup magnets ?

[GroundskeeperWillie]

I was wondering who makes magnets in the US ,If i remember correctly Arnoldsmagnetics use to make them .
I'm asking because Rob Chapman's new V2 line of guitars built in Indonesia comes with magnets from an American company ..First thing i thought it may be an american company that gets magnets made in China .
I notice he does not say made in the USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubelY4JQwJ4

[zparts]

I was wondering who makes magnets in the US ,If i remember correctly Arnoldsmagnetics use to make them .
I'm asking because Rob Chapman's new V2 line of guitars built in Indonesia comes with magnets from an American company ..First thing i thought it may be an american company that gets magnets made in China .
I notice he does not say made in the USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubelY4JQwJ4

Unless you are going for an expensive custom made magnet (like reverse engineering a vintage magnet from a PAF), most if not all of the so called "US magnet manufacturers" are importing the run of the mill Alnico grades from China. Otherwise they would state "Made in the USA" on their product you bought and on their site which they never have when I bought from them in the past.

[Possum]

When I had the first rough sand cast alnico recreated back in about 2007, I had Allstar and Magnetic Hold both work with the Chinese to accomplish that and I told them what I wanted. Reverse engineering old alnico doesn't really work, the basic ingredients don't exist in the same form or sources, and the Chinese will lie to you and tell you they followed your recipe. Despite all that, the ones Allstar made I have substituted those in real vintage PAF's and you couldn't hear any difference between old and new. There IS something different about them because the old magnets wouldn't hold much of a charge, while the newer ones can hold nearly double the charge. Magnets weren't much a part of that sound. I bought Arnold magnets in the past, I used them in one of my early attempts to make sense of the PAF puzzle and for a Strat set. Neither of those two pickup sets every sold more than 2 sets in 15 years because they were extremely bland and lifeless, I still have them, and I still have a fair amount of the first rough cast magnets as well. I have a theory that the rough cast magnets are less dense than the ones cut from solid blocks of alnico, but its just a theory. Arnold made Strat magnets for Fender back in the 90's, and there were complaints from so many customers, that they brought some pickup guy in to trouble shoot the problem, don't remember who it was or whether he figured it out. I had one of those Strats and the pickups just made you want to put the guitar away in the closet ;-) I wonder how many here even remember that we all used Korean magnets for years? They made great alnico, Chinese put them out of business by selling for cost. I buy from many sources and test them out, some are good for some things, others for other things. Pays to have a pallet of choices.

[David King]

https://www.thomas-skinner.com
These guys still have a foundry or two in the US. They do a lot of military work so they might not be that interested in twos and threes of guitar magnets.

[big_teee]

https://www.azind.com/ can make bar magnets.
However with pricing what it is, usually scares most winders away.
You can email them attn: Mark, at
Purchasing Department: info@azind.com
They sell lots of chinese magnets too, and said they have a lot of customers.
T
**I'm partial to Magnet hold magnets, but they are straight from china !

[Helmholtz]

Reverse engineering old alnico doesn't really work, the basic ingredients don't exist in the same form or sources

Reverse engineering of old alnico is certainly possible (maybe not with Chinese manufacturers). It has been done successfully. The main challenge is not the chemical composition but finding the appropriate (low-tech) heat treatment process, which strongly influences final magnetic properties.

[LtKojak]

Reverse engineering of old alnico is certainly possible (maybe not with Chinese manufacturers). It has been done successfully. The main challenge is not the chemical composition but finding the appropriate (low-tech) heat treatment process, which strongly influences final magnetic properties.

There are several hi-tech permanant magnets in China where they have mass spectrometers and computerized annealing process, so they can accurately match the B/H curve of a vintage magnet by adjusting some of the variables, so they can replicate the B/H curve and the charge they can take, so there's no difference at all... and with a relatively affordable price tag, plus they can save your formula, so they can pour your recipe at any time you need; and they'll even made test batches.

I've made several batches of vintage mags in A2, A3, A4 and UOA5, both long and short, and man, what a result I got! Unfortunately, the bank didn't authorize the loan I asked for so I couldn't go public with it.

[Helmholtz]

Great!

I personally prefer to work with a traditional European manufacturer where I can be in direct contact with the R&D department and have control over all intermediate results.

[LtKojak]

Great!

I personally prefer to work with a traditional European manufacturer where I can be in direct contact with the R&D department and have control over all intermediate results.

Who have you been in contact with? All the mag vendors in Italy actually re-sell chinese-made mags. Only the magnetic fixtures specifically made for the military and auto industry are made in the foundries located in Italy, the alnico bar mags and rods for p'ups are exclusively made in China. Who in Germany is actually locally pouring batches for bar- and rod mags for p'ups?

[Helmholtz]

There are still traditional cast alnico manufacturers in Europe. My partner in this project invested in tooling and we transferred PU know-how to the supplier. I agreed not to publish the company's name for the time being. So far my experience is with reengineering of PAF bar magnets.

[David King]

The UK had foundries in Sheffield. Not sure if the foundries of the UK still exist though.

[jop120]

These guys cast in Sheffield UK https://www.cermagmagnets.co.uk/
For small orders, they'll grind down larger magnets, but expect to be paying around £5 (US$7)ish for this kinda thing.
If you want stuff casting to size, you gotta order 200, but then the price gets pretty good at around £1 (US$1.30) Per magnet

[the great waldo]

Do cermag really cast their own alnico or are they a chinese product reseller ? Is anything not made in China anymore?
Cheers
Andrew

[Leo_Gnardo]

Is anything not made in China anymore?

Fortune cookies.

[jop120]

I spoke to Cermag a few months ago about getting some magnets custom cast and they said they cast their own stuff. Whether they mix their own alnico alloys or import them from china, I've no idea.