Demagnetizing pickups?

[Huckleberry]

I read that touching your pickups to a speaker magnet will demagnatize your pickups. Like most pics I've seen of folks' at home setups, I keep my guitars next to my DRRI (in their cases. Closest one is a foot or two from the back of the amp). I just realized that my guitars cases were on a box that contained a Reverend AllTone speaker. I moved the box with speaker in it.

My guitars seem to function as they always have, but should I be concerned? Mostly, I'm curious about this phenomenon.

[Bruce O'Donnell]

You have no reason to be concerned. Direct contact is required, and then in specific ways, in order for one magnet to degauss another. Close proximity doesn't affect two magnets, because after all the earth is giant magnet to begin with. Permanent magnets pass in very close proximity to strong magnetic fields (electromagnets) in motors and generators constantly, and they last for many decades before degaussing enough to effect their performance.

Four things can cause permanent magnets to degauss: Stroking, hammering, heat, and AC current. Stroking a piece of ferrous material with a magnet from one end to the other in the same direction will cause the ferrous material to become magnetized. Conversely, stroking a magnet with another magnet in random directions can degauss the magnet being stroked. I suspect this is what the warning you read is referring to, but I've never heard of a single instance of contact between a speaker magnet and a pickup completely degaussing the pickup. The pickup would have to be dragged across the edge of the of the speaker magnet at a variety of orientations to completely degauss it. I've had pickups get stuck to a speaker magnet once in a junk box, and the pickups worked fine because they naturally orient themselves in the proper polarity. Hammering, heating the magnet above its Currie point, and AC current also can destroy the long-range ordering property of permanent magnets. Long-range ordering is the property that causes magnetism in permanent magnets. Every magnet has a north and south pole. Cut a magnet in half, each piece becomes a magnet with a north and south pole. The degree to which you can continue to cut each piece in half and produce individual magnets is a function of the long-range ordering of the magnet domains that form within a permanent magnet, which is due to the electron spin of groups of atoms within the magnet.

[Dash_Doc]

You have no reason to be concerned. Direct contact is required, and then in specific ways, in order for one magnet to degauss another. Close proximity doesn't affect two magnets, because after all the earth is giant magnet to begin with. Permanent magnets pass in very close proximity to strong magnetic fields (electromagnets) in motors and generators constantly, and they last for many decades before degaussing enough to effect their performance.

Four things can cause permanent magnets to degauss: Stroking, hammering, heat, and AC current. Stroking a piece of ferrous material with a magnet from one end to the other in the same direction will cause the ferrous material to become magnetized. Conversely, stroking a magnet with another magnet in random directions can degauss the magnet being stroked. I suspect this is what the warning you read is referring to, but I've never heard of a single instance of contact between a speaker magnet and a pickup completely degaussing the pickup. The pickup would have to be dragged across the edge of the of the speaker magnet at a variety of orientations to completely degauss it. I've had pickups get stuck to a speaker magnet once in a junk box, and the pickups worked fine because they naturally orient themselves in the proper polarity. Hammering, heating the magnet above its Currie point, and AC current also can destroy the long-range ordering property of permanent magnets. Long-range ordering is the property that causes magnetism in permanent magnets. Every magnet has a north and south pole. Cut a magnet in half, each piece becomes a magnet with a north and south pole. The degree to which you can continue to cut each piece in half and produce individual magnets is a function of the long-range ordering of the magnet domains that form within a permanent magnet, which is due to the electron spin of groups of atoms within the magnet.
That was a really cool post..... I think my head just exploded :D

[Huckleberry]

Yeah, I know. I couldn't even reply to it last night. It sent me from away the Internet, and out into the world with Big Ideas.


But seriously: thanks for sharing that with me (actually, all of us) Bruce.

[Aldwyn]

I know Orkie has been experimenting with magnitizers and degausers on pickups to change their sound... :)

[FrankiePRS]

One time I looked really close at the north pole of an old Strat magnet, and there was a teeny little Santa Claus.