Never stick a magnet to a guitar pickup!

[NightTimeConcealmentX91]

deleted

[Searcy]

No need to buy a new pickup. Very easy to fix.

 

[dem00n]

Put it on your computer screen, it makes the image quality better.

[AXE®]

Dangit demo00n!

[Sinner 13]

Put it on your computer screen, it makes the image quality better.

 

you're a d0uchenozzle, but that's why I like you....

[lol]

[surfpup]

Very cool vid, Searcy. Thanks.

[surfpup]

Put it on your computer screen, it makes the image quality better.

 

I used to work for a computer company and we had these business card sized magnets. Well we had to quit giving them out because instead of sticking them on their fridges, the customers would slap them on their CPU cases.

[rocketman]

Great video Searcy. Great tune in the background and a great bass too. I have one and I love it.

 

[ShredAstaire]

Yeah man, i enjoyed that video!! Thanks for posting that!

[dem00n]

I used to work for a computer company and we had these business card sized magnets. Well we had to quit giving them out because instead of sticking them on their fridges, the customers would slap them on their CPU cases.

I had a friend who worked for dell and the most common return of items he said was monitors being repaired/returned for a magnet being put on the screen. Sometimes they would even ship it back with the magnet.

People just never know sometimes.

[FenderGuy1]

thats why i never stick magnets on guitar pickups

[damian]

I take it then that "Grunge" put a magnet to his Tele pickup, and the polarity switched ???

[retrosurfer1959]

Two comments first why the hell would anyone put a magnet on a guitar pickup in the first place?

 

Then secondly I'm not buying it - why would putting a magnetic on a guitar pickup ruin it? a Tele don't have active pickups so you could not have damaged anything electronic so what would it damage? It won't play right with a magnet there that's for dam sure but as soon as you removed the magnets the guitar should play fine again. The only way you could damage the pickup is if you magnetized the metal case by leaving a really strong magnet there long enough to magnetize some metal component and at worse you would have to degauss the pickup. Or if you had a really strong magnet like and electromagnet that could demagnetize the pickups own magnets but that would take a pretty good sized magnet. More likely you magnetized the strings which can happen easily but that's a simple fix change the strings. I know that because if you fool around enough with a ebow or other electronic magnetic toy you magnetize the strings, not ruin the pickup.

 

Ive kept stack's of telecaster pickups in a shoe box stuck together for years and they work just fine. So somebody please explain how they think this could ruin a passive pickup. I was sure enough about this I just stuck a magnet onto my tele and played it as suspect sounded like total crap with the field distorted pulled the magnet off and the guitar was fine no issue at all, somebody need to send this to the Mythbusters TV show. Ive found that unless you try taking them apart of you damage the windings in some way guitar pickups are tough. Ive literally found old ones in luthiers junk drawers covered in all sorts of crap with screws and other stuff stuck all over the megnets and it the cases are in tact pull the stuff off clean em up and they work fine usually when a pickup is damaged it's because somebody was trying to work on it or something like that.

[Bldsnn]

two comments first why would anyone put a magnet on a guitar pickup in the first place?

 

Then secondly I'm not buying it - why would putting a magnetic on a guitar pickup ruin it? a Tele don't have active pickups so you could not have damaged anything electronic so what would it damage ti won't play with a magnet there thats for dam sure but as soon as you removed the magnets the guitar should play fine again. The only way you could damage the pickup is if you magnetized the metal case by leaving a really strong magnet there long enough to magnetize some metal component and at worse you would have to degauss the pickup. More likely you magnetized the strings which can happen easily but that's a simple fix change the strings.

 

Ive kept stack of telecaster pickups in a shoe box stuck together for years and they work fine. So somebody please explain how they think this could ruin a passive pickup. I was sure enough about this I just stuck a magnet onto my tele and played it as suspect sounded like total crap with the field distorted pulled the magnet off and the guitar was fine no issue at all, somebody need to send this to the Mythbusters TV show.

 

This.

 

I have a bunch of pickups in a drawer and they always stick together....

 

Didn't know strings could be magnetized that easily and I wouldn't suspect a regular magnet to permanently magnetize them.

 

 

Physics aside.... Does it have a freaky new sort of sound or is it just dead?

[Searcy]

Two comments first why the hell would anyone put a magnet on a guitar pickup in the first place?

 

Then secondly I'm not buying it - why would putting a magnetic on a guitar pickup ruin it? a Tele don't have active pickups so you could not have damaged anything electronic so what would it damage? It won't play right with a magnet there that's for dam sure but as soon as you removed the magnets the guitar should play fine again. The only way you could damage the pickup is if you magnetized the metal case by leaving a really strong magnet there long enough to magnetize some metal component and at worse you would have to degauss the pickup. Or if you had a really strong magnet like and electromagnet that could demagnetize the pickups own magnets but that would take a pretty good sized magnet. More likely you magnetized the strings which can happen easily but that's a simple fix change the strings. I know that because if you fool around enough with a ebow or other electronic magnetic toy you magnetize the strings, not ruin the pickup.

 

Ive kept stack's of telecaster pickups in a shoe box stuck together for years and they work just fine. So somebody please explain how they think this could ruin a passive pickup. I was sure enough about this I just stuck a magnet onto my tele and played it as suspect sounded like total crap with the field distorted pulled the magnet off and the guitar was fine no issue at all, somebody need to send this to the Mythbusters TV show. Ive found that unless you try taking them apart of you damage the windings in some way guitar pickups are tough. Ive literally found old ones in luthiers junk drawers covered in all sorts of crap with screws and other stuff stuck all over the megnets and it the cases are in tact pull the stuff off clean em up and they work fine usually when a pickup is damaged it's because somebody was trying to work on it or something like that.

 

"Two comments first why the hell would anyone put a magnet on a guitar pickup in the first place?"

 

Stupidity? Ignorance? Curiosity? Accident? It's rare but it happens.

 

"Then secondly I'm not buying it - why would putting a magnetic on a guitar pickup ruin it?"

 

As I said above it wouldn't "ruin" the pickup but placing a pickup with alnico magnets, such as those found in a Tele pickup, near a stronger magnet such as a ceramic or rare earth with an opposing polarity can effect the gauss of the alnico magnet in the pickup.

 

 

 

"a Tele don't have active pickups so you could not have damaged anything electronic so what would it damage? "

 

There are no components used in active pickup preamps that are noticeably effected by magnetism. Same reason we don't make engine block out of butter. The material doesn't suit the application.

 

"The only way you could damage the pickup is if you magnetized the metal case by leaving a really strong magnet there long enough to magnetize some metal component and at worse you would have to degauss the pickup."

 

Pickup covers aren't made of ferrous metals so they can't be magnetized.

 

Or if you had a really strong magnet like and electromagnet that could demagnetize the pickups own magnets but that would take a pretty good sized magnet.

 

Where alnico is concerned only a small neodymium or ceramic magnet would be required to permanently effect its gauss. But as I showed in the video above those effects are easily corrected. That's what makes alnico so fun to mess with.

 

"Ive kept stack's of telecaster pickups in a shoe box stuck together for years and they work just fine. So somebody please explain how they think this could ruin a passive pickup.

"

 

That's a terrible way to store your pickups but the reason you haven't noticed any damage is because the pickups are "stuck together". This means the magnets have attracted themselves to each other as they would naturally like to do, with opposing poles attracting. If you were to force them together when they wanted to repel each other, in other words forcing like poles together, you would likely "permanently" effect the magnets power assuming the magnets were alnico.

 

I was sure enough about this I just stuck a magnet onto my tele and played it as suspect sounded like total crap with the field distorted pulled the magnet off and the guitar was fine no issue at all, somebody need to send this to the Mythbusters TV show.

 

Now I'll point you back to your first question. If you flip that magnet over and force it against your Tele pickup you will permanently effect that pickups magnets and it may end up needing to be re-magnetized.

 

Ive found that unless you try taking them apart of you damage the windings in some way guitar pickups are tough.

 

I agree!

 

Ive literally found old ones in luthiers junk drawers covered in all sorts of crap with screws and other stuff stuck all over the megnets and it the cases are in tact pull the stuff off clean em up and they work fine usually when a pickup is damaged it's because somebody was trying to work on it or something like that.

 

That's true for Gibson style pickups. Most old dead Fender pickups just die on their own when the magnet wire short against the magnets However I have literally had dozens of old pickups sent to me for rewinds that were randomly tossed in a junk drawers. Later the owner finds out his old stock pickup is now a classic and when he check it out to list it on Ebay he finds that it's totally dead. This is especially bad with Fender pickups whose windings are exposed at the ends and easy to cut.

 

[pippy]

As Surfpup said, very interesting video Searcy!

 

 

P.

[Searcy]

Thanks gents. I'm slowly working my way back into the pickup world.

[Aster1]

So are you all saying I need to remove all my magnetic pup protectors I have stuck on all the electric guitars?

 

Dang it, next I'll hear that I've got to take off all the vinyl covers from my leather furniture too. Where will it all end?

 

Great info & demo Searcy!!!

 

Aster

[stein]

Ooooo...MAGNETS! ELECTRICITY! I love this stuff.

 

Searcy is the MAN! In this case, his knowledge, his EXPLANATION is spot on, and easy to comprehend in a real world application.

 

I am not sure I can add anything usefull, OR make sense or be able to explain scientific complexities in my current state, but I can't resist being part of the conversation due to my electricity fettish.

 

1) Magnetism and electricity are always constantly connected and intertwined. The magnet/coil that makes a speaker work, is the result of an electrical current being resisted by the magnet, making the speaker move. A microphone is the same thing in exact reversr, in that air pressure from sound waves makes the diaphram move and a coil resist it, giving an electrical signal. Extend that to include needles on record players, the heads of analog tape, and a guitar pickup. ALL these things are the result of a magnetic field against an electrical current.

 

2) Dig the fact that where ever an electrical signal exist, there is also a magnetic field present. Metals and materiels that do not hold a charge produces one when electricity passes through. A guitar cable, or an interconnect cable, even though it is only 1/4 in diameter typically has a magnetic field the size of a coffee cup when electricity goes through it. The materiels it is made of, as well as where it is placed, could effect the sound qualities to varying degrees, dependant on how the magnetic field can be bounnced back to influence the electrical signal.

 

3) now consider STATIC eletricity, produced by stray particals being charged. Static electricity can be caused by electrical currents made by the equipment or come from outside sources. It can be stored or dissapated depending on the design of the equipment or the materiels used. It has an effect on the electrical signal, and can effect the quality of sound.

 

Said all that to say that for pre-audio and the audiophile world, de-magnetizing is a way of life. It is a standard proceedure for keeping recording equipment in top form, and regular maitenence for audio playback systems for some. It is basically the process of eliminating stray magnetic build up. MAGNETS or magnetic field producing stuff is one of the most common ways. I have degnatized all kinds of stuff, including my own self after a day of working in puddles of water with drills and getting buzzed by electricity all day. I've also on occasion damaged some stuff in the process, although almost always because I did what I shouldn't have.

 

Anyway, what I am saying is that while you CAN damage a magnet or change it by the USE of a magnetic fiels, exposing it to a magnetic field will not change it in itself. The magnet that has a charge to it has one because it was put there, but it retains it because there are physical properties to the magnet that PRODUCE the magnetic field. It must be forced to change the particals to alter the magnet. Simply exposing it to even a more powerful magnetic field won't change it, but you must USE the magnetic field to manipulate the particals to change the magnet. That is why when SEARCY PASSES the magnets over the field in the vid he made, it changes the magnet. But for the most part, we can all rest assured that simply storing the pups, having then stick together, or even pressing another magnet to it won't alter it. It has to be powerful enough to cause the particals that cause the magnet to work to be forced to change. (passing it over causes more force applied, see?)

 

This is also why magnets hold thier strenth seemingly forever, and even anolog tape can be stored indefinately if you don't expose it to physical damage like moisture and heat.

[stein]

Thanks gents. I'm slowly working my way back into the pickup world.

Transformers too?

[damian]

If I only had al nico for every thread like this one....

[NightTimeConcealmentX91]

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[AXE®]

I'm just sitting here thinking, why in the blue hell would anyone even want to stick a magnet to their pickup?

 

Must have just finished a bowl of paint chips.

[NightTimeConcealmentX91]

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[Brendan1234]

Take it from a certified dumb ***- people do put magnets on pickups sometimes. I just cleaned my frets with 0000 (fine) steel wool. Lots of steel wool fibers stuck to the neck pickup  (magnet). Naturally i grabbed an even stronger ( small but powerful 100 lb force rare earth)  magnet to remove the steel wool  and, in the process, flipped the polarity. **it happens.