Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

[DreX]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

BTW, I just got a new set of Texas Specials. They've definitely changed the formula since the early 00's. The new ones have taller staggers, including a tall G whereas the old ones had a shallow G. The new ones are not wound as hot either, the new neck and bridge read lower resistances. I weighed them on a scale to make sure it wasn't just a reading error, there's actually less wire in the new ones.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Itsabass, Drex is right. Alnico, especially the lower grades, is susceptible to demagnetization from other magnets, including from other Alnico magnets. And it doesn't take a big magnet like a speaker magnet to do it. The technical term is coercivity, which is to say, how strong a magnetic field is needed to "coerce" a given fully charged magnet to zero magnetic charge.

Grab, say, an A5 magnet and give it the "fridge test" to see how hard it is to pull off the fridge or some other steel or ferrous object. Then take an A8 magnet and hold both magnets tight together either South to South or North to North for just 3 seconds. Now try the fridge test on the A5. You'll notice it's a lot weaker.

I rest my case.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Itsabass, Drex is right. Alnico, especially the lower grades, is susceptible to demagnetization from other magnets, including from other Alnico magnets. And it doesn't take a big magnet like a speaker magnet to do it. The technical term is coercivity, which is to say, how strong a magnetic field is needed to "coerce" a given fully charged magnet to zero magnetic charge.

Grab, say, an A5 magnet and give it the "fridge test" to see how hard it is to pull off the fridge or some other steel or ferrous object. Then take an A8 magnet and hold both magnets tight together either South to South or North to North for just 3 seconds. Now try the fridge test on the A5. You'll notice it's a lot weaker.

I rest my case.

Perhaps you didn't read the exchange.

I said some stuff. The other guy said that none of it is correct. That is absolutely not true...and even the "sources" that he posted afterward say so. At least two thirds of what I said is true.

What I said about degaussing was that no commonly used pickup magnet will screw up another in practice (i.e. a set of pickups sitting in a box). Not only are the magnets spaced far from each other when sitting in a box, but they are unlikely to end up sitting with the poles forced together in opposition for any length of time. I'll admit that the degaussing part of my initial post was too general. I meant the statement to mean in practice. Sure, some degaussing could occur if magnets were forced together in opposition. But when does that ever happen unless it is done deliberately?

 

[DreX]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Sure, some degaussing could occur if magnets were forced together in opposition. But when does that ever happen unless it is done deliberately?

Alnico is weak enough that the pickups wont "right" themselves. If you place them close together in opposing angles, the pickup itself weighs more than it's magnetic attraction is capable of overcoming, so it's a simple matter to toss them into a tiny box at opposing angle and not realize they're fighting each other's fields.

It's also not necessary for them to be directly opposite facing in order to lose charge, nor for them to be touching. If they are at all close and you don't have them lined up pole wise, they will sap away at each other's charge over time. They can do to each other, given enough time, what a neodymium will do to them instantly.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

You can argue minutia till the cows come home, hoping to distract from the real point I am trying to make here: You arrogantly told me that none of what I initially wrote is true. That is just not the case. Even your own flimsy Internet sources say so (i.e. magnets should be stored attracting)! My point is that it isn't true that none of what I wrote is true, and even a small amount of research using any "real" source (and even cheesy Internet ones) proves that. If I am wrong abut something, and can be proven so, fine. I don't have any problem with that. What I have a problem with is your flatly stating, as if you are some sort of authority, that everything I wrote is wrong, when it clearly is not!

 

[DreX]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Here's what I quoted in that post:

It helps them to store them stuck together.

That said, no pickup magnet is strong enough to degauss any other pickup magnet, so it really doesn't matter.

You didn't say "stuck together" in aligned orientation, and since you then said that one pickup can't degauss another pickup, it's safe to assume you were under the impression that they could be stuck together in any orientation and it would not matter one way or the other, when in fact that's exactly what would cause them to degauss each other.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Here's what I quoted in that post:



You didn't say "stuck together" in aligned orientation, and since you then said that one pickup can't degauss another pickup, it's safe to assume you were under the impression that they could be stuck together in any orientation and it would not matter one way or the other, when in fact that's exactly what would cause them to degauss each other.

Are you freakin' serious, man? You are really grasping at straws here. How the hell else would "stuck together" happen unless the magnets were attracting?

...and even assuming my first two points from my initial post were dead wrong (which is not true, but for the sake of argument...), the third one is most certainly correct. Bigger magnets can screw with your pickups over time.

Sorry, but no matter which way you slice it, your comment, "None of this is true," is just dead wrong. What's so hard about admitting that?

 

[DreX]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Are you freakin' serious, man? You are really grasping at straws here. How the hell else would "stuck together" happen unless the magnets were attracting?

Look, if you raise the questions, I'm going to continue to give you the answers. Packing things with spacers is the exception, not the rule. If you stuff pickups in a little box by themselves, they will shift around and touch. If you stick them in a zip lock bag they will fall the bottom and clump together. You have to use those foam spacers that pickup sets come in, and then retain them with the proper sized box if you really want them to sit perfectly beside each other.

...and even assuming my first two points from my initial post were dead wrong (which is not true, but for the sake of argument...), the third one is most certainly correct. Bigger magnets can screw with your pickups over time.

I didn't quote your third point because it wasn't incorrect.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Are you freakin' serious, man? You are really grasping at straws here. How the hell else would "stuck together" happen unless the magnets were attracting?

It can happen. It's enough of a potential problem that Seymour himself insists on dealers storing them whether in the inventory room or in those glass display counters so that they are not opposing. A few minutes or a few days might not be a problem, but weeks and months, maybe so.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

It can happen. It's enough of a potential problem that Seymour himself insists on dealers storing them whether in the inventory room or in those glass display counters so that they are not opposing. A few minutes or a few days might not be a problem, but weeks and months, maybe so.

I understand that, but my question that you quoted was how the admittedly informal phrase "stuck together" could be taken to mean anything but stored with the magnets attracted to each other. Am I to believe that he really thought I meant to tape them or glue them together with opposing magnetic polarity? Please! The guy will obviously say anything to avoid simply admitting that he was wrong.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

I understand that, but my question that you quoted was how the admittedly informal phrase "stuck together" could be taken to mean anything but stored with the magnets attracted to each other. Am I to believe that he really thought I meant to tape them or glue them together with opposing magnetic polarity? Please! The guy will obviously say anything to avoid simply admitting that he was wrong.

He's getting a little chippy but you're getting even chippier. Being able to hide behind a keyboard makes everybody a touchy cyber-bada$$ these days over trivial crap and thus the spirit of the age is "anyone who disagrees with me about anything is Satan and shall be treated accordingly". That has to end. This stuff is just not that big a deal, everybody switch to decaf.

 

[Brian Griffin]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

You can argue minutia till the cows come home, hoping to distract from the real point I am trying to make here: You arrogantly told me that none of what I initially wrote is true. That is just not the case. Even your own flimsy Internet sources say so (i.e. magnets should be stored attracting)! My point is that it isn't true that none of what I wrote is true, and even a small amount of research using any "real" source (and even cheesy Internet ones) proves that. If I am wrong abut something, and can be proven so, fine. I don't have any problem with that. What I have a problem with is your flatly stating, as if you are some sort of authority, that everything I wrote is wrong, when it clearly is not!

i don't know about you, but me, I really don't give a damn if I get vetoed by somebody I don't even know on the internet.

 

[Brian Griffin]

Re: Do pickups hurt when they're stored close together?

Regardless of what, I immediately checked my closet and rearranged the P-rails pair and the Hot Rails-Custom 5 combo for my next project. At least you guys shed some light on the issue I've been curious about but too lazy to research.

Don't forget pickups can be deliberately stucked together, like if they are stock pickups removed and stored for future use.