Post Type Archives: SWD

It is a system of two equal and opposite electric charges and have magnetic poles that are separated by a small distance and any molecule can be an induced if exposed to other external fields and they can align a dipole most of the time.

A cobalt magnet is actually a magnet made of 36% cobalt steel as used on the early Gibson ES-150 or commonly called the “Charlie Christian” Guitar and the EH-150 or Electric Hawaiian. Cobalt is also one of the elements used in various grades of Alnico magnets. Al (Aluminum) Ni (Nickel) Co (Cobalt)

Ceramic magnets are also known as sintered ferrites and are composed of barium or strontium ferrites. Some ceramics can be unoriented or oriented and basic ferrites are made into slurry and pressed (sintered) into shape, fired in an oven and forced air dried at 100? C. After the magnets are completed they are cut or…

This mainly refers to the Alnico family of cast magnets. Sand molds are made where the molten magnet material is poured and when cooled the hardened surface takes on the imprint of the sand mold in which it was poured. The fine rough surface is often surface ground to a desired tolerance or surface finish.

This is a process I developed to calibrate various bar and rod magnets to a desired field strength. I artificially age or degauss magnets to obtain a certain tone and output from a pickup. I like winding vintage coils and using very weak magnetic fields. It helps soften the sound of an instrument that may…

A magnet is in a pickup basically to magnetize the string. When the string vibrates, it moves the magnetic field within the coil and generates an alternating current. By removing the magnet in a pickup, there will be little residual or no magnetism needed to magnetize the ferrous string. There would be little or no…

Magnets can be magnetized or re-magnetized with the magnet in or out of a pickup. Some winders magnetize the magnets before winding the bobbins and some magnetize the magnets after the bobbins are wound and assembled. You get a different magnetic field pattern from a bar magnet if you magnetize it out of a pickup…

I’ve seen many Telecaster pickups where the raised D & G poles have been ground down to simulate Fender pickups from the ’50 to ’54 era with flat poles. Grinding magnets with wound coils often becomes so hot it causes the insulation on the magnet wire to melt and eventually fail. If the magnet is…

You will notice less output and at times a pickup can become out-of-phase with another. The pickup will lose its brightness and perhaps output from string to string. You would need a qualified repair shop to properly re-magnetize and calibrate your magnet within your pickup.

It’s the quality and percent of elements combined to make a particular grade of magnet material either in rod, bar or other custom shape. How and the type of magnetizer that is used is very important. Magnetizers can fully saturate or magnets can be calibrated to a desired strength. The type of magnetic path within…