Never use a striking tool like a hammer for this kind of work, especially when working with brittle material like alnico -- use pliers and cushion the jaws with a rag. Pickup factories use an arbor press, but that's not likely to be in a home workshop -- an 8-10 inch slip-joint or channel-lock plier and rag combined with a socket or similar short piece of metal tubing works fine. A steel striking tool not only risks chipping damage to the alnico, but also can partially discharge its magnetism.
Question: Isn't there a risk you might catch a strand of the coil wire when pushing the new magnets though? I'd be worried about breaking the coil. Maybe the poles are wrapped with tape prior to winding the coil?
Thanks for your question. There is no issue with hurting the coil if you do this on molded plastic bobbins only. Molded plastic bobbins are pretty easy to spot too. Some have metal slugs with two ceramic bar magnets across the bottom. Others may have alnico rod magnets but you can tell they are not fixed by looking at the bottom. You will notice the magnets are not all even across the bottom or there is a bevel in the mold where the magnets get pushed in...
....Obviously you would never perform this procedure on a vintage style bobbin where the wire is wrapped directly around the magnets. You would destroy the pickup by pushing the magnets in or out against the coil. You can identify the vintage style bobbins because the bobbins are usually not plastic (they are mostly fiberboard) and the magnets are fixed and even across the bottom.
can i use, in any way, some hard drive magnets (i think they are neodymium)? I don't really know how they will affect the magnets at the bottom of the pickup and i don't want to risk demagnetizing them.
@infomioveni You can use Neodymium Magnets in a pickup but they to be a lot lower inside the pickup because it will pull on the strings a lot. Research for pickups with Neodymium Magnets in them to see how low.
Hey- Thanks for your question. In our experience neodymium magnets are just too strong for guitar pickups. They will actually pull the guitar strings out of tune.
I think the confusion is where we touch the individual rod magnets to the rare earth magnets on the video. This is because we are not charging the entire assembled bobbin at once. Given the fact that the bobbin was already assembled and wound, we were only swapping the magnets, this was a rare exception to the rule. Had we assembled a bobbin to wind, we would have used a jig or machine. Keep in mind you can only individually charge rod magnets the way we did in the video.
There is one thing that confuses me. On the Mojotone site there's a note that says "You can make a jig using the 2 rare earth magnets approx 1'' apart so that they attract to one another. Slowly pass the pickup/magnets between them 3-4 times (orient preferred polarity North or South), making sure you don't touch the rare earth magnets or scrape across them (this can cause imperfection with the polarity and Gauss levels)."
The method shown here contradicts that advice. Is there a reason?
Never use a striking tool like a hammer for this kind of work, especially when working with brittle material like alnico -- use pliers and cushion the jaws with a rag. Pickup factories use an arbor press, but that's not likely to be in a home workshop -- an 8-10 inch slip-joint or channel-lock plier and rag combined with a socket or similar short piece of metal tubing works fine. A steel striking tool not only risks chipping damage to the alnico, but also can partially discharge its magnetism.
editorjuno 1 year ago
His hands are shaking a lot! :D
Nice vid! Very helpful!
ilovemysr505 1 year ago
Question: Isn't there a risk you might catch a strand of the coil wire when pushing the new magnets though? I'd be worried about breaking the coil. Maybe the poles are wrapped with tape prior to winding the coil?
dwarnerprime 1 year ago
Hey dwarneprime-
Thanks for your question. There is no issue with hurting the coil if you do this on molded plastic bobbins only. Molded plastic bobbins are pretty easy to spot too. Some have metal slugs with two ceramic bar magnets across the bottom. Others may have alnico rod magnets but you can tell they are not fixed by looking at the bottom. You will notice the magnets are not all even across the bottom or there is a bevel in the mold where the magnets get pushed in...
imojotv 1 year ago
....Obviously you would never perform this procedure on a vintage style bobbin where the wire is wrapped directly around the magnets. You would destroy the pickup by pushing the magnets in or out against the coil. You can identify the vintage style bobbins because the bobbins are usually not plastic (they are mostly fiberboard) and the magnets are fixed and even across the bottom.
imojotv 1 year ago
can i use, in any way, some hard drive magnets (i think they are neodymium)? I don't really know how they will affect the magnets at the bottom of the pickup and i don't want to risk demagnetizing them.
infomioveni 1 year ago
@infomioveni You can use Neodymium Magnets in a pickup but they to be a lot lower inside the pickup because it will pull on the strings a lot. Research for pickups with Neodymium Magnets in them to see how low.
LedSabbath2 1 year ago
i have a question......what if you replace the AlNiCo magnets with neudymium magnets ? how will that affect the sound?
Spyke2323 1 year ago
Hey- Thanks for your question. In our experience neodymium magnets are just too strong for guitar pickups. They will actually pull the guitar strings out of tune.
imojotv 1 year ago
@imojotv thanks for the info. i was 2 clicks away from ordering those pole pieces..... :D.
Spyke2323 1 year ago
I think the confusion is where we touch the individual rod magnets to the rare earth magnets on the video. This is because we are not charging the entire assembled bobbin at once. Given the fact that the bobbin was already assembled and wound, we were only swapping the magnets, this was a rare exception to the rule. Had we assembled a bobbin to wind, we would have used a jig or machine. Keep in mind you can only individually charge rod magnets the way we did in the video.
skebrown 2 years ago
There is one thing that confuses me. On the Mojotone site there's a note that says "You can make a jig using the 2 rare earth magnets approx 1'' apart so that they attract to one another. Slowly pass the pickup/magnets between them 3-4 times (orient preferred polarity North or South), making sure you don't touch the rare earth magnets or scrape across them (this can cause imperfection with the polarity and Gauss levels)."
The method shown here contradicts that advice. Is there a reason?
foldedeggs 2 years ago
Yes I know. We selected the wrong shot in editing so the magnets are staggered backwards on the video. Sorry : )
levelfrets413 2 years ago