What will happen when I stick a neodymium magnet in my pickup?

[Jack]

Well?, bridge pickup if that matters

[bwanasonic]

Well?, bridge pickup if that matters

There are a lot more variables that would need to be known before someone could give a meaningful response.

Kerry M

[Jack]

I was just after "Don't do it/it'll Destroy the fabric of space/time" sort of stuff
I'm expecting an increase in output from the extra flux and maybe some
more top end. Probably some odd string pull stuff too.
The guitar itself is an early model ibanez jetking, with stock pickups.
The magnets are extras that I picked up for cheap.

[SolderBoy]

http://www.firebottle.com/fireforum/fireBB.cgi?cfg=gt&forum=pmgd&enter=go

try asking over at the pickup makers forum...

[R.G.]

Well, depending on what magnets are in your pickup, you may demagnetize the existing pickup magnets, or reverse their polarity. This will be worst with alnico, least with ceramic, but neo is so strong it will even affect ceramic.

[bwanasonic]

Well, depending on what magnets are in your pickup, you may demagnetize the existing pickup magnets, or reverse their polarity. This will be worst with alnico, least with ceramic, but neo is so strong it will even affect ceramic.

Ah, I see. I was thinking in terms of "I am winding a pickup and was thinking of using Neodymium magnets". The practice of literally *sticking* an extra magnet in a pickup isn't someting I'm familiar with.

Kerry M

[brett]

Hey.
Interesting idea.  While you're at it, pull that coil thing out and put in a Hall-effect sensor.  Should work beaut, but I've never thried it myself.  It seems to me that coils are very old-fashioned technology for detecting magnetic field flux.
Please do this with an old pickup first, not original PAFs.
good luck

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

I suspect that a 'stronger' magnet would give more output, but at the cost of sustain. Though whether damping via eddy currents in a vibrating metal guitar string are anything like  comparable to the mechanical damping forces, I have absolutely 0.00000 idea.

[Mark Hammer]

Alembic used to make/market a set of Strat "helper magnets" which were intended to be placed underneath Strat pickups to increase output.  You can see just how big they caught on.

It IS possible to increase the pull, hence sensitivity, of pickups, but that isn't always a good thing.  IN particular, there is a time and place for neodymiums.  They ARE pretty dang powerful, and may even be several times more powerful than what's already there.  I personally would not place them under a bar magnet, and would not go any bigger than the tiny button type that are about 1/8" in diameter.  Seriously.  Those are powerful little buggers.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Most people would know this, but when you connect two magnets together to make a 'stronger' one, you connect them together 'the way they don't want to go'. Which can be damned difficult. Plus, there is a slight safety thing, when those neo mags get close to a chunk of iron, they can snap ontoit so fast & hard that you can get a nasty pinch. Plus, it is said (I havn't had any experience) that they can chip bits off when they jump onto steel, being brittle.