What Do These Major Pup Companies Mean when ..

[old guy]

they say they have 'aged' their magnets? Does it simply mean they've reduced the strength for their secret ancient formulas? I've done 4 PAF spec humbucker winds to date and I still don't like the amount of treble coming off the high 'E' string. I found big tees chart about the strength of these mags and have a question. Are those values when FULLY charged?

I'll be getting my Hall Effect Sensors to complete my gadget sometime next week so I can start measuring my stock pile of Alnico bar mags. My vendor said that they were FULLY charged which in my readings tells me that's not such a good thing and can lead to moocho high end.

I do have a stock Gibson 57 Classic pup that I've assigned to be my guinnee pig when I get my gauss gadget happening. Knowing it's an A2 that's been 'aged' by the Gibson pup supplier, I'm curious to see the reading on that baby OR - does someone already know???

[big_teee]

they say they have 'aged' their magnets? Does it simply mean they've reduced the strength for their secret ancient formulas? I've done 4 PAF spec humbucker winds to date and I still don't like the amount of treble coming off the high 'E' string. I found big tees chart about the strength of these mags and have a question. Are those values when FULLY charged?

I'll be getting my Hall Effect Sensors to complete my gadget sometime next week so I can start measuring my stock pile of Alnico bar mags. My vendor said that they were FULLY charged which in my readings tells me that's not such a good thing and can lead to moocho high end.

I do have a stock Gibson 57 Classic pup that I've assigned to be my guinnee pig when I get my gauss gadget happening. Knowing it's an A2 that's been 'aged' by the Gibson pup supplier, I'm curious to see the reading on that baby OR - does someone already know???

They call them aged because an aged Humbucker will settle down, to its stabe charge.
Now if you have your guitar for 20-30 years around amp speaker magnets, and in general they may end up weaker.
So when a Booteek winder says age, he is just weakening the magnets some.
A trick I do sometimes with A5s is charge the Alnico with NEOs, but put a hot ceramic magnet between the alnico and the NEO, on each side.
That way it doesn't charge the A5 as much as just the NEOs, it provides a buffer between them.
I usually use A2s at full charge for PAF Type buckers.
Good Luck, and let us know your results.
The figures I had and posted, was just a lot of magnets someone had measured with a new Gauss meter.
Not sure if they were full or aged measurements.
T
PS: Are you going to measure your 57 With the magnet in or out of the pickup.
It may be hard to get very good reading with it in the pickup, at the screws or slugs.
It will show a lot weaker that way, so you may want to check them both ways.

[SonnyW]

I agree with your asessment and also with Teee's comments,

I think they mean that they have reduced the magnets' charge to some amount that matches whatever gauss measurements they have taken or have data on of vintage pickups.

A magnet will lose some charge (a very small percent) in the first year or so, and much less thereafter. But it is generally agreed that many vintage magnets had less strength to start with than currently produced ones do. This may be due to the alloys or to the way that they were charged. If I am trying to clone a particular pickup, I try to match the gauss level of the magnets to what I measure on the original one if I can get hold of one or get reliable data. I do it by charging them up full on an electric charger, then using a small neo by hand to reduce the charge until it measures the gauss I want. If I take away too much I just charge it again and start over. It is one thing to adjust magnetic charge in single coil pickups with individual magnets, and quite another to do it on pickups with polepieces (humbuckers, P90 etc.) with only a single magnet or maybe a pair of singles. Pretty much no matter what you do to a bar magnet it is going to be stronger at each end than in the middle.

[rhgwynn]

In addition to degaussing them a bit, sometimes they will rub them with an engravers aluminum oxidizer. This will certainly darken their appearance; whether or not it affects the tone...who knows?

-Rob