Can pickups be demagnetized?

Hecubus

Hecubus

New member
I was reading a soldering tutorial and the author seemed pretty adimant that you should NEVER use a soldering iron near a pickup's magnets as it can "demagnitize" the pickup.

Something smells fishy.:bs2:

After all, the wires have to get soldered to the pickup by the manufacturer...somehow.

Anyway does anyone know if a pick up can be demagnitized? Should I not use my screwdrivers that have magnetic elements to adjust pole pieces? OR Is this guy full of it?

Gracias hombres!
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

He may have meant a soldering gun. You know, those big giant 200watt suckers. They may affect the magnets strength.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

ArtieToo said:
He may have meant a soldering gun. You know, those big giant 200watt suckers. They may affect the magnets strength.
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who wires a guitar with a 200 watt gun.. you risk damaging some components that way...
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

ya that doesnt sound very true, and using a 200 watt gun to soder pick up is like using a sludge hammer to drive sheet-rock nails lol.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

A lot of heat might affect the magnet's charge some, but if it does, they can always be recharged. But it would take a lot more than just touching the magnet with your typical 25-40 watt iron.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Do you guys think it's possible to degauss a couple magnets by taping them together when they're opposed to each other? Maybe store them that way for a month, then install them? Just curious.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Gearjoneser said:
Do you guys think it's possible to degauss a couple magnets by taping them together when they're opposed to each other? Maybe store them that way for a month, then install them? Just curious.
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my local guitar tech said Seymour came by his shop once and commented that pickups should be displayed side-by-side instead of stacked, due to the way magnets affect each other
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Curly said:
my local guitar tech said Seymour came by his shop once and commented that pickups should be displayed side-by-side instead of stacked, due to the way magnets affect each other
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:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that a side-by-side display constitutes more advertising space!!
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

LJ King said:
:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:

Couldn't have anything to do with the fact that a side-by-side display constitutes more advertising space!!
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So, do you think that Seymour Duncan has miles and miles of warehouses so that pickups need not be stacked? :laugh2:
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

I think it's true. You can stack them, but I think you have to stack them in a certain way so the magnets don't slightly degauss each other.

It's faster to degauss a magnet using a fully charged Alnico 8. 10 to 30 seconds on a side will do the trick.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

The author was referring to a GUN, not iron. I read this specifically in the instructions last evening, as I'm getting ready to solder my new SH-1 and SH-4s into my project guitar.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Curly said:
my local guitar tech said Seymour came by his shop once and commented that pickups should be displayed side-by-side instead of stacked, due to the way magnets affect each other
Click to expand...

Yeah, I heard Seymour say something to that effect at a clinic. Mostly referring to not putting a bunch of pickups in the same container, so the magnetic fields aren't reacting against each other. If there was anyone I'd listen to, it's him.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Hecubus said:
I was reading a soldering tutorial and the author seemed pretty adimant that you should NEVER use a soldering iron near a pickup's magnets as it can "demagnitize" the pickup.

After all, the wires have to get soldered to the pickup by the manufacturer...somehow.

Anyway does anyone know if a pick up can be demagnitized? Should I not use my screwdrivers that have magnetic elements to adjust pole pieces? OR Is this guy full of it?
Click to expand...

Goodgle Search Check the first two links, they should offer insight.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

On further review, I'm more right than I thought. One of the reasons Alnico is such a popular magnet in general (not just in guitar pickups) is its performance at higher temperatures. You can crank the heat up to 400-500 degrees Celsius or more and the magnet will continue to perform with negligible loss in magnetivity. So a solder iron/gun/cannon won't hurt it.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Perhaps a dumb question, but doesn't the heating element on a soldering gun work like a light bulb filament in that the electrical charge goes through the tip?

If so, that electrical charge could really change a magnet's properties, no?
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

I don't think an electrical charge goes through the tip. I've touched the tip occasionally jut after plugging it in to make sure it's working and I never got a shock. Plus solder irons are used on PC board assemblies in computers and such that have components that are extremely sensitive to electrical charges. Nothing in the tip but heat.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

Zhangliqun said:
I don't think an electrical charge goes through the tip. I've touched the tip occasionally jut after plugging it in to make sure it's working and I never got a shock. Plus solder irons are used on PC board assemblies in computers and such that have components that are extremely sensitive to electrical charges. Nothing in the tip but heat.
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Depends. Not getting a shock doesn't mean there's no coil in the tip. We have heated probes on our aircraft where the wiring is throughout the probe and no shock results when they're on (but they get HOT).

However, usually on the ones I've owned, the heating element is in the handle.
 
Re: Can pickups be demagnetized?

TwinReverb said:
Depends. Not getting a shock doesn't mean there's no coil in the tip. We have heated probes on our aircraft where the wiring is throughout the probe and no shock results when they're on (but they get HOT).

However, usually on the ones I've owned, the heating element is in the handle.
Click to expand...

I've never seen a solder iron with a coil in the tip. They are just solid metal screwed into the...well, whatever the long metal part is called.
 
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