Magnetize me!!

[NightWinder]

Does anyone use fully magnetized magnets in their designs??? Just wondering if the magority are degaussing to lower levels. I've had a few models come in that were severly dead in gauss...

[SK66]

I do. I charge them before/after assembly (depending on type before for bars, after for poles). It's the only way to know they are all correct/consistent and not have one degaussed from handling/storage/etc. It also prevents the rare occasion of installing one pole upside down.

[NightWinder]

I heard

Thought someone hear was magnetizing humbuckers afer assembly also....I'm searching the threads....
So you don't degauss after fully charging a bit ?

[SK66]

No, I use different magnet grades. I find the gauss is pretty much "settled" by the end of hot wax potting.

[NightWinder]

True

But I find after full saturation in same deminsions between say 4 & 5, the Gauss level is not that much but the tones and the interaction with the made materials soak up eddys differently.

[SK66]

do you mean between a4 and a5? A4 is an anomally to me. It doesn't "do" what you'd think based upon it's "gauss". A2/A3/A5 are all significantly different. Pole magnets will tend to knock themselves back a bit fairly quickly due to having like polarities together.

[NightWinder]

...

Yes. Exactly just that. Although the gauss levels are both high, A5 being withn 100 gauss higher, just surprises me. DO you read from the center as a guide. I usually take readings from the centers of bars. Been getting into A3's lately as a full charged pull test off the old fridge is a surprise as well. Those suckers hold good fully charged and sound quite nice. Just surprised at the Gauss levels between A4 and 5's but the huge tonal variteys ...

[NightWinder]

...

All .125

A3-445 g
A4- 640g (530g was the mystery special sauce magnet from "Italy")
A5-740g

At full saturation from the center of the bar magnet...I'm going to stick them on the fridge for a bit

[David King]

Stew Mac sells unmagnetized magnets so that you have to buy their overpriced neo magnet.
Nordstrand starts with unmagnetized magnets to speed up the armature assembly.

[chevalij]

I use full gauss. I do singles and I start with un-magnetized (no, not from Stew mac). I find it much easier to build, wind and finsh up without them trying to stick to each other and every other thing in reach.

[Possum]

...

It was me that magnetized a full bucker. It can be a bit much sometimes, mostly I don't do it, just experiment with it off and on. You have to have a real magnetizer to do it, did you get one yet? What it does is really boost the gauss at the poles and slugs way beyond what they will do just inserting a magnet in there. Would probably be good for heavy metal pickups maybe, you would know that one. I did read on Seymour's site that they do it that way for specific purposes but no explanation other than that.

[RedHouse]

I have recently had some experience with this, while rewinding some Fender Strat coils (plastic bobbin type) I found that some of the magnets were quite weak. So I thought I'd give it a try, I made a jig to hold my Neo mags and one at a time (out of the bobbin) I remagnetized each one.

I don't have a gauss meter, so I used the screwdrive test to get a vague idea of the power they were holding, they were much more powerful than before, so after rewinding the bobbins I re-assembled them and dropped them into my beater Strat that I use for testing (has a nice swamp ash body with good tone)...WHOA! way too much fried chicken in there, very loud, very clean, very "bell" like but IMHO lost the traditional Strat sound, so I degaussed them a bit and they seem to sound much more appropriate for a vintage Strat sound IMHO.

Seems that the stock Fender AlNiCo magnets can hold quite a bit more magnetism than they are charged up to.

[NightWinder]

More power

It was me that magnetized a full bucker. It can be a bit much sometimes, mostly I don't do it, just experiment with it off and on. You have to have a real magnetizer to do it, did you get one yet? What it does is really boost the gauss at the poles and slugs way beyond what they will do just inserting a magnet in there. Would probably be good for heavy metal pickups maybe, you would know that one. I did read on Seymour's site that they do it that way for specific purposes but no explanation other than that.

Yes. I have had one for awile, but notice the differences with neo/s and comparitive gauss in tones. BTW, the company here in Troy does offer a replacement coil- "Just in case" was the answer I got when asking about the construction and life span..."Get ahold of me in 40 yrs"
So, I'd assume you'd put it in n/s coils full assembly and pluck ??

[NightWinder]

All .125

A3-445 g
A4- 640g (530g was the mystery special sauce magnet from "Italy")
A5-740g

At full saturation from the center of the bar magnet...I'm going to stick them on the fridge for a bit

So after letting them sit all day stuck to the fridge:

A3- 444g ( Nice batch here- These have a permanent home : )
A4- 630g ( 526g for the Italian stallion ; )
A5-700g

[SK66]

It was me that magnetized a full bucker. It can be a bit much sometimes, mostly I don't do it, just experiment with it off and on. You have to have a real magnetizer to do it, did you get one yet? What it does is really boost the gauss at the poles and slugs way beyond what they will do just inserting a magnet in there. Would probably be good for heavy metal pickups maybe, you would know that one. I did read on Seymour's site that they do it that way for specific purposes but no explanation other than that.

You were magnetizing the metal parts. Most metals will take a charge and hold it (well, somewhat). The problem, *I believe*, is that the metal parts will not hold the charge indefinitely/reliably....