What are SD polepieces made with?

[chill]

I found some 5-40 allen head screws which would work for polepieces at fastener-express.com. They have "alloy steel" and stainless steel. What are Duncan polepieces made with? Any thoughts on whether "alloy" or stainless will be closer to the Duncan polepieces?

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

stainless is virtually Non-magnetic so it wouldnt be that

 

[ErikH]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

stainless is virtually Non-magnetic so it wouldnt be that

For humbuckers, that would be the case. In humbuckers, the magnetic field is created indirectly, by the magnet touching the poles (screws and slugs) rather than directly, such as Strat and Tele pickups where the poles ARE magnets.

In this case, either one would do the job. I'm not sure what Seymour uses specifically.

 

[pinto79]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

Probably best to go with Alloy Steel. Black or plated won't matter depending on the cosmetic desires.

I keep black ones in stock... PM me if you'd like a quote.

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

For humbuckers, that would be the case. In humbuckers, the magnetic field is created indirectly, by the magnet touching the poles (screws and slugs) rather than directly, such as Strat and Tele pickups where the poles ARE magnets.

In this case, either one would do the job. I'm not sure what Seymour uses specifically.

ok how could I transform stainless hexhead screws into polepieces for a strat?

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

DO NOT use stainless steel. You may as well have no poles at all.

 

[Artie]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

FYI: If you go the main Duncan page, under "Support", and then click on Seymour Q & A, (not FAQ), you'll find that exact question and answer. Trouble is, as the questions have grown to over 800, you'll have to go find it yourself.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

ok how could I transform stainless hexhead screws into polepieces for a strat?

You mean alnico rods? You don't want those in a humbucker for the slug poles or the screw poles because they ARE magnets. You don't need magnet poles in humbuckers because of the bar magnet.

By "In this case, either one would do the job.", I meant either the stainless or the alloy, but apparently (thanks Dave for clarifying) you don't want to use stainless anyway.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

stainless is virtually Non-magnetic so it wouldnt be that

Then how do pure stainless steel strings work?

For what it's worth, it's the iron content that is magnetic. According to wiki:

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.02% and 1.7 or 2.04% by weight (C:1000–10,8.67Fe), depending on grade.

Some stainless steels are magnetic, while others are nonmagnetic.[27]

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

You mean alnico rods? You don't want those in a humbucker for the slug poles or the screw poles because they ARE magnets. You don't need magnet poles in humbuckers because of the bar magnet.

By "In this case, either one would do the job.", I meant either the stainless or the alloy, but apparently (thanks Dave for clarifying) you don't want to use stainless anyway.

UGH! that was my point, as I said stainless is virtually non magnetic thats why you dont want to use it for pole pieces ,which was the question asked by Chill...obviously you cannot use stainless pole pieces in any application as it does nothing to transfer string vibration to the coil

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

Then how do pure stainless steel strings work?

For what it's worth, it's the iron content that is magnetic. According to wiki:

How do stainless steel strings work? very poorly thats why no one uses them Why do GHS boomers sound so good? because of their high Iron content(highly magnetic), and the reason they corrode so quickly compared to other brands that use more nickel
for what its worth I have 14 years experience dealing with aerospace and nuclear application hi temp alloys and metals . All stainless steels are alloys made up different amounts of iron, chromium,copper,nickel and many other elements.Some stainless alloys are more magnetic than others due to higher iron content,thats why I said "virtually" non magnetic .There is Iron content ,but not much. What makes Stainless steel stainless is chromium, and there are no pure chromium guitar strings.

 

[ErikH]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

UGH! that was my point, as I said stainless is virtually non magnetic thats why you dont want to use it for pole pieces ,which was the question asked by Chill...obviously you cannot use stainless pole pieces in any application as it does nothing to transfer string vibration to the coil

Yeah, I hear ya. My cutback on coffee is having weird affects, one of which is not thinking clearly...LOL.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

How do stainless steel strings work? very poorly thats why no one uses them Why do GHS boomers sound so good? because of their high Iron content(highly magnetic), and the reason they corrode so quickly compared to other brands that use more nickel
for what its worth I have 14 years experience dealing with aerospace and nuclear application hi temp alloys and metals . All stainless steels are alloys made up different amounts of iron, chromium,copper,nickel and many other elements.Some stainless alloys are more magnetic than others due to higher iron content,thats why I said "virtually" non magnetic .There is Iron content ,but not much. What makes Stainless steel stainless is chromium, and there are no pure chromium guitar strings.

I'm not getting into an argument with you, I'm just pointing out that there are magnetic variants (or "magnetically permeable").

In contrast to the austenitic alloys, ferritic stainless steels such as 409 or 3Cr12/5Cr12 and martensitic stainless steels such as 420, are strongly attracted to a magnet even in the annealed state. The duplex and super-duplex stainless steels will also be strongly attracted because they contain about 50% ferrite in their microstructure.

And obviously we know that iron itself (of which steel is an alloy / restructuring) is highly magnetic. It's used in electromagnet cores. So again, it's basically iron content. "Oh but stainless strings suck!" is a very blatant generalization. Tell me, with so many stainless, nickel-plated stainless strings, and stainless alloy strings getting so high reviews on Musicians Friend and many other music stores, can you honestly say that? For example, I loved Blue Steels, they did an excellent job at brightening up my ESP.

EDIT: for the record, I'd like an alloy of stainless that's as if we're mixing stainless with AlNiCo, or whatever the most magnetic alloy available is, but right now I can't afford $20/pack

EDIT 2: and for the record, i finally found some articles on google. Nickel is indeed more magnetically permeable than steel, but not more than iron. Iron is a 5000 where nickel is 600 and stainless is 100, but obviously one can make them more or less permeable through alloying. This is one reason why I wish I had bought B-52 special alloy strings in bulk instead of nickel plated stainless, but right now I'm on a budget.

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

Edit: Im not gunna try to defend my prior statements anymore, so this is just MY OPINION Stainless steel screws are a poor choice for pole pieces AND stainless strings SUCK!

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

I just thought...all I need now is for Evan to come on and post that SD uses stainless screws :foot:

 

[chill]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

Thanks for the info folks.

The other thread says questions 23 and 702 are the ones dealing with polepieces, and question 55 suggests SD uses low carbon steel for polepieces (I assume so they're more ferrous and magnetic). Hardware store screws may not have the same iron content...

Where do you buy polepieces in bulk, say a box of 100 for $5-10?

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: What are SD polepieces made with?

Thanks for the info folks.

The other thread says questions 23 and 702 are the ones dealing with polepieces, and question 55 suggests SD uses low carbon steel for polepieces (I assume so they're more ferrous and magnetic). Hardware store screws may not have the same iron content...

Where do you buy polepieces in bulk, say a box of 100 for $5-10?

I asked MJ once, custom shop guru. She once told me who their supplier is. I forget who it is now though.