Magnet orientation

[Cohan]

Hello

usually, magnets are pole up underneath the strings of a pickup and the coil is wound around the magnet.

I was thinking that from first principles, a magnet could also be placed in such a way that it is on its side and the coil could be wound around that.

Say a strat magnet, but much longer, like 50 mm to 55 mm could cover the distance spanning the strings using one magnet and the coil can then encompass that single magnet.

That way, one pole would be at the high E and the other one low E.

Thoughts?

[big_teee]

That way, one pole would be at the high E and the other one low E.

That is not correct.
If you wind around a bar magnet?
It would still be oriented either the long edge would be north up, or turn it over and it would be south up.
Look at some of these.
https://www.google.com/search?q=guit...w=1366&bih=587

T
**established pickup designs are hard to improve on, and you can get ready made parts for them.

[Helmholtz]

For best efficiency/performance the field of the magnet(s) should be directed at the strings in a way that each string is equally magnetized lengthwise.

Seems your design would do the opposite.

[J M Fahey]

Hello

usually, magnets are pole up underneath the strings of a pickup and the coil is wound around the magnet.

I was thinking that from first principles, a magnet could also be placed in such a way that it is on its side and the coil could be wound around that.

Say a strat magnet, but much longer, like 50 mm to 55 mm could cover the distance spanning the strings using one magnet and the coil can then encompass that single magnet.

That way, one pole would be at the high E and the other one low E.

Thoughts?

Please show a drawing of your idea.

[epizootics]

I think he is talking about winding around a long rod magnet lengthwise, which poses a few obvious problems.

You'd have to make some kind of bobbin around the rod so that you are not trying to lay wire on a cylinder. Then you'd be stuck with a strange magnetic circuit that will not magnetize much of the strings, especially in the middle where there is close to no magnetic pull at all. You can try this with a regular 16mm alnico rod - bring a small Allen key close to the middle of the rod (perpendicular the the axis of that rod) and you'll see there is a 'blind spot' there where there is no pull at all.

[Cohan]

Yeah the idea was incomplete. The magnetic field in the middle being too low is a deal breaker. Thanks

[Lollar Jason]

Sounds like the op is making something like an epiphone new yorker pickup or the EBO neck mudbucker. The new yorker used bondable wire so no bobbin. Bondable wire is easy to get but not so easy to figure out how to use it and get good results. The new yorker has pole pieces placed on one end of the horizontal assembly to direct either north or south towards the strings and it does work but its alot of extra work and the results are serviceable....

[Helmholtz]

Sounds like the op is making something like an epiphone new yorker pickup or the EBO neck mudbucker. The new yorker used bondable wire so no bobbin. Bondable wire is easy to get but not so easy to figure out how to use it and get good results. The new yorker has pole pieces placed on one end of the horizontal assembly to direct either north or south towards the strings and it does work but its alot of extra work and the results are serviceable....

IIUC, those Epiphone PUs magnetize the strings lengthwise, as usual and preferred.
I understood that the OP proposed a design with opposite magnet poles a high and low E-strings, i.e. a horizontal solenoid with a long rod magnet core.

[Lollar Jason]

Oh I see I missed that about one pole at the high E etc.