A guitar pickup works without magnets - I have a headache

[justFred]

 

[beaubrummels]

Click-baity. It always requires a magnet, it's just showing it can be separate from the pickup.

 

[ehdwuld]

Just watched that on my feed

 

[justFred]

Click-baity. It always requires a magnet, it's just showing it can be separate from the pickup.

Perception shift for me. Thought the pickup created a magnetic field and the vibrating strings movement within that field created the AC signal in the coils.

That is wrong, the magnet magnetizes the string which becomes the magnetic field itself that generates the AC signal in the coils.

The proposition that magnet type has no real effect on the process is what is troubling. I can defiantly hear a difference between a ceramic and an A2 magnet.

 

[ehdwuld]

Perception shift for me. Thought the pickup created a magnetic field and the vibrating strings movement within that field created the AC signal in the coils.

That is wrong, the magnet magnetizes the string which becomes the magnetic field itself that generates the AC signal in the coils.

The proposition that magnet type has no real effect on the process is what is troubling. I can defiantly hear a difference between a ceramic and an A2 magnet.

I really cant hear much if any difference

In a motor or generator
The magnets are attached to the stator or static side of the armature just for ease of service
It would work either way

What he demonstrated was that the strings moving in the field caused the electrical signal the oscillating strings
He had the pickups close enough together that it didn't matter where the origin of the field was

It he had moved the pickup over the top of the neck you would have seen the magnetized string debunked

But he wanted to make a video

 

[justFred]

I really cant hear much if any difference

In a motor or generator
The magnets are attached to the stator or static side of the armature just for ease of service
It would work either way

What he demonstrated was that the strings moving in the field caused the electrical signal the oscillating strings
He had the pickups close enough together that it didn't matter where the origin of the field was

It he had moved the pickup over the top of the neck you would have seen the magnetized string debunked

But he wanted to make a video

Seth Lover and Physicists say that the string being magnetized is what creates the field that generates AC signals in the coil.

 

[htrd]

How Does a Pickup Really Work? — Lawing Musical Products

In the first couple of installments, I outlined my early efforts at pickup development, up to the point at which the Zexcoil® platform as it currently exists was more or less solidified. Before we continue with the Zexcoil story, let’s set the stage. We’ll back up a bit and re-consider for a second

lawingmusicalproducts.com

 

[freefrog]

Not watched the video but sure, a coil will be sensitive to vibrating strings as soon as they're magnetized.

The proposition that magnet type has no real effect on the process is what is troubling. I can defiantly hear a difference between a ceramic and an A2 magnet.

This "proposition" is generally not true ["generally" meaning: for coils directly paired with magnets. Regarding separate coils, see my afterthought comment in post 10 below].

Ferrite / ceramic magnets won't increase the inductance of coils but are typically very strong. AlNi(Co) magnets (and other alloys including iron) are weaker and increase the inductance while contributing to Foucault currents (eddy currents). These measurable physical realities change the frequency of resonant peaks and their Q factor but also what guitarists perceive as "dynamics": an impulse response of pickup with ceramic mag then with AlNiCo won't be the same and the sound will be affacted accordingly.

There are ways to mimic the effects of AlNi(Co) with ceramic magnets + added components, to some extent. But the difference can't be denied [unless one dissociates coils from magnets].

As a Zexcoil link has been provided above, below is another one, showing changes in the factors evoked above according to the types of magnets used. Graphs show clear differences and they translate what can objectively be heard, since the resonant peak of a pickup defines a lot of its tonal personality (DiMarzio was already stating that more than 40 years ago).

magnetize strings — Lawing Musical Products — Zexcoil Guitar Pickups - Dr. Lawing's Blog

Zexcoil Guitar Pickups - Dr. Lawing's Blog Posts

lawingmusicalproducts.com

Subjective perception is something else: we hear things differently (with variable audiograms susceptible to cause cases of tone deafness for sensorial reasons) and a soft playing with largely neuter some differences, for instance.

EDIT- Just saw the video was from Waylon Mc Pherson. I must say that I appreciate his work and videos, globally. His contributions are a goldmine. My reaction above is only about the idea discussed here in this topic...

 

[ehdwuld]

Seth Lover and Physicists say that the string being magnetized is what creates the field that generates AC signals in the coil.

I watched the video
I saw that

 

[freefrog]

Seth Lover and Physicists say that the string being magnetized is what creates the field that generates AC signals in the coil.

Which doesn't cancel the effects of magnets as explained in my previous post. ;-)

EDIT - That said: increased inductance and eddy currents are there for the pickup hosting the magnet(s)... A separate coil won't have its inductance increased by the magnet(s) of another pickup nor will be affected by Foucault currents. I suppose that's what the video was trying to show...

... but (EDIT 2)... as ceramic and A2 have very different magnetic properties, it would be logical for the coil without magnet(s) to "hear" the strings differently, since they are simultaneously strongly magnetized and potentially dampened in their vibrations when a strong ceramic bar is involved...

Yep, source of headache. ;-)