Re: Has anyone ever busted open an Airbucker?
The slug coils are very unique. The slugs are full size until they reach the bottom of the bobbin. Then they get smaller in diameter, same as a screw coil. So you can't do an "air" slug coil unless you get their slugs. You could put air between a magnet and full sized slugs, but then your magnet will likely press against the screw poles on the other side. If you're doing hybrids from two airbuckers, then you'll be fine, because you'll have the modified slugs and screws, so each leftover hybrid will stay "airbuckered" on both coils.
The other thing they do with some Airbuckers is to insert "phantom" pole pieces in the coil between the slug poles. They don't come down into the magnet area, so they don't really get charged in the traditional way. Maybe that dulls/softens the magnetic field from your center strings outward, so the highs and lows are more defined. I don't know.
The actual "airbuckering" is maintained simply with some oversized white nylon tubing that's cut to fit around the outer "E" poles. So the magnet presses against the tubing to maintain it's distance from the pole. You don't really need that. It's just so they can maintain tolerance, and keep the magnet solidly positioned. You could use a strip of plastic too.
