Luthier Quick Tip 28 How To Make Guitar Pickups Part 4: Pickup Magnets
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Learn how I shape the tone of an electric guitar by selecting the right magnet.
Where I buy magnets: www.addiction-f...
Same seller on eBay: www.ebay.com/s...
Hey when you introduce the ruler inside the magnet cavity makes me think, is that the reason why covered pickups (in metal covers), sound different than open pickups?? other than the fact that it shields the pickup for external signals and avoids noises.
And also the metal mounting support that goes under the Humbuckers and the P90's, the brass ones sound different than the iron ones.
Never thought about that before.
Thanks Chris!
It's important to keep in mind that pickup covers, regardless of what metal they are advertised to be made of, are actually an alloy of different elements. All of the metal covers available contain iron. Some more than others and the amount of iron will affect the inductance level of the pickup.
This is how I changed an old Duncan Distortion into a JB: Alnico V. If I wanted an "Eclair", Alnico II :) Great series!
How to deGauss a magnetic field which is quite high in my strat pickup? how do i identify the poles from north to south without any instrument? I have ceramic magnets laying around, so can I deGauss the single coil pole pieces with it? using your method of south to south, alnico with ceramic aligning together.
If you can get ahold of a compass, you can place it against the ends of the magnet to detemine polarity. You can try to degauss with ceramic magnets, but they may not be strong enough. You really need a gauss meter to do this.
Thanks!
Very informative! I can't wait for the next episode when you'll explain the effect of the strength of the magnet.
This is so cool. Stuff I've always wanted to know. I've always wanted to know more about AlNiCo III because fender said on their website at one point that the first strat pickups were III and that's why the '54 -'56 strats had the best sounding neck pickups (my Dad's '56 inclines me to agree). Then when developing the George Harrison "Lucy" Les Paul, Gibson discovered it too had AlNiCo III. Whether the brightness of that guitar was because of recording or they used a bright amp settings, I don't know; but you can hear it if you watch the Let It Be film, where George uses it about half the movie.
Thanks for the video. I always thought ceramic pickups were warmer, come to find out that they are the brightest.
That's because ceramic is usually used when the coils are going to be warm and dark to the point of almost muddy.
Genuinely awesome video....!!!
Grazie.
Hey Cristian, thanks!! Greatly appreciated.
Interesting-- I would never had guessed the magnetic field didn't impact the inductance. This must be the mechanism by which the Telecaster bridge baseplate affects its tone.
Looking forward to the next episode!!
Very well explained. Finally I have a clue what‘s goung on … Thank you!
Excellent. Thanks, Chris!
Just discovered this channel , very interesting even though I’m more of a Synthhead !
Thank you. Very instructive
Could you also put a steel nail in a pickup in order to change its sound?
Can you change the magnet's strength in a single coil pickup, after winding them??
Yes, it's called degaussing.
HIGHLINE GUITARS, are you going to make a video lesson about how the vol pot and tone pot values changes the frequency range of the pickup and the tone caps value also changes the frequency range of the pickup. Fender strats in the 50's used .1uf cap that was luxe phone book cap which make the pickups sound very dark.
I don't think a video is necessary.
@@HighlineGuitars thats to bad i wanted to see a video lesson about it by you
When the tone roll 100% - no matter which cap is mounted - it does not participate in the signal chain.
@@HighlineGuitars How do you get the Gauss level to be the same Gauss measurement for the unmagnetized magnetics? when you purchase a bunch of A5 Unmagnetized magnetics and then magnetize them but how do you get the same constant gauss level? so that all the magnetics aren't measuring different gauss levels
@@waynegram8907 With the way I magnetize, you can't. If you want repeatable results, you need a professional magnetizer.
North or South pole of round magnets up under strings
Either.
@@HighlineGuitars also which end of the coil is negative or ground? Thanks you've been extremely helpful. First time winder
Can the base inductance of that humbucker be lowered to be closer to a single-coil reading by some composition of the insert?
Hello i have a question for you and that is if im building a guitar using a 24" neck what is the measurements u need frim the nut to the saddle i know that a 22" neck would be 24" 1/2 so would my 24" guitar neck be 26" 1/2"
Thanks
Do you mean 24 frets? What's the scale?
@@HighlineGuitars yes that is what i mean you see the body that im using had a 22 fret neck on it. And im putting on a 24 fret neck on that bidy but the pickup cavity is cut out where i need to put the bridge at to be at 25 1/2 so is there anything that i can so to fill in a 1 1/2" to put something sid inbthat space so that i can mount the bridge to simething solid there?
Thanks.
This was a big help thank you.
if my bridge pickups have dificulty to capture the high e string but work fine for the other string did it mean my pickup is broken ?
Check the high e string pole piece(s) to see if they are magnetized like the others. Also, check the alignment and distance from the bottom of the high e string to the top of the pole piece(s) to see if there is excessive clearance.
@@HighlineGuitars ok thx a lot man really appreciate
Great video, very informative as usual, any suggestions on where to find Alnico and Ceramic magnets in 7 string lengths? Approx 2 5/8" as I'd love to compare them in my Duncan and Dimarzio pickups for various projects?
I use 2.5” long magnets which work fine and are commonly available. If you want longer (for a multi scale), you’ll likely need to have them custom made. For the multi scale pickups I make, I use Alnico slugs.
@@HighlineGuitars great info, I wasn't sure if 2 .5" was long enough, thank you so much for your help, I'll order some up tonight!
Have you 3d-plotted info on R vs L vs Gauss for your creations?
No. That’s too nerdy for me.
@@HighlineGuitars It would have been good research.
@@ikestoddard2458 I'm not doing research.
@@HighlineGuitars Thank you for very helpful info over all.
Can you tell me what 'flange' is in pickup winding? I'm an amateur and this is the first time I've come across this term
A flange is the top and/or bottom of the bobbin.
@@HighlineGuitars thank you
Thanks Chris! I have been curious about this but it's been difficult to find an explanation as clear as this. Question...is it common practice, or at least a good idea to use a higher magnet "number" for the neck pickup to help with the loss of brightness? Or would that just take away from the contrast between the neck and bridge too much?
It might take away from the contrast, but even if you jumped from an A2 to a C8, the loss of contrast will be minimal. It's also important to keep in mind that the strings contain iron, which will further increase the inductance and thus the darkness of the tone.
Hi Chris, one question, do you buy the pickups parts from the same dealer?
Is this what Charlie Kelly ment when he said his favorite hobby was magnets?
The higher the iron content the lower the magnetic reluctance. This creates a stronger magnetic field. This is the same principal as an electrical transformer
It’s not a transformer - it’s a signal generator. And it works a little bit differently.