polarity question

E

edgebsl

New member
I just got in two alnico 8 magnets.

Unfortunately they did not mark the poles like I asked.

I dont have a tester or compass, is there another way?

I can tell you this....if I lay the magnet on top of the custom between the screws and slugs....in one direction it repels and the other it pulls downward.

WHich one would indicate the magnet is going in the same direction as the one underneath?

Will this tell me the polarity?
 
Re: polarity question

You have to know your own magnets North/South. The magnets will not oppose when you have both north poles at opposite ends. As you often are unable to see the wiring connections on the windings this for me doesn't often work.

If you have a needle voltage meter though, when the neddle climbs you have pos. to pos. of your meter. Other way meter will fall or NOT move at all.
 
Re: polarity question

Save yourself some hassle and just get a polarity tester. Just $7 at Stewmac, plus shipping. Best $7 I ever spent.
 
Re: polarity question

would it be possible to do this, if SWAPPING a magnet.....loosen the bobbins and push the original magnet HALFWAY out....then bring the new magnet alongside the half that is poking out....find the face that REPELS when brought near the original one....mark the 2 faces that repel one another, and then remove the original and install the new one with the mark facing the same way as the one you removed?

This would not tell you which is North or South, but will get the new magnet installed the same way as the one you removed, and assuming the pickup was working properly in the first place, it should continue on in the same way.

I am going to use this technique for a pair of hybrid's i'm about to make if i can't find my **** compass around here very soon. I should get the Stewmac polarity tester but i am in Melbourne Australia and want to get these pickups happening fairly soon and obviously the postage would take a little while.

the reason i suggested pushing the original magnet only halfway out is that should you get confused, you still have the original magnet orientation, and can simply push it back in.......

....just a thought....
 
Re: polarity question

If you can get it to float (like on a piece of balsa in the tub), I would have thought the north pole of the magnet will point to the...er...North pole. You may need a map......

:joke:
 
Re: polarity question

Edge, you can just lay the magnet between two bobbins of another SD or Gibson pickup to determine polarity.

You want the way that repels. That indicates that your north and south poles are aligned.
 
Re: polarity question

That's what I thought. Right now if I lay the magnet on top of the the custom, right between the scrws and slugs...I can find the way that it repels.

Should work. I think.
 
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Re: polarity question

I know exactly where you are! Cool!

Yeah I'm a fan of great men of the World on the whole, and love my politics.
 
Re: polarity question

I heard Roosevelt once "caught" him coming out of Eleanor's room at the White House once and joked: "Now, now, Winston -- I'll have none of that!"

Churchill raised an eyebrow and said "Really?...then neither will I."
 
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