Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

How does one go about magnetizing or re-magnetizing a set of 'shoes? Would it work to stick a powerful magnet across them for a period of time?

Kira!
There is many ways of gaussing shoes:
Like you said, placing a powerful magnet across the "tines" of the shoe (you can even use a speaker magnet) Work out the polarity first..
Wrap it in wire and zap it with a car battery (turn it into an electro magnet) it works but its fiddily
The most effective way that I've found is to run two rare earth magnets along either side of of the assembled shoe (I leave mine in the bass) have the instrument pluged in, strike the strings and move the magnets in and you will hear the instrument get louder. (if it gets quieter you have the rare earth magnets upside down) Remember to keep the rare earth magnets away from nearby toasters....
There are a bunch of threads about gaussing shoes here, but you have to really sift through the search though...

Eden.

Thanks, Eden!

The RE magnet idea seems like a clever and long-lasting solution. Those little guys are so powerful! Don't get your finger pinched between two of them - I've heard they can give blood blisters!

I have no practical reason for asking at the moment, but will store this away for future reference. One would hope to have one of these pickups sooner than later!

kiramdear wrote:Thanks, Eden!

The RE magnet idea seems like a clever and long-lasting solution. Those little guys are so powerful! Don't get your finger pinched between two of them - I've heard they can give blood blisters!

Oh yeah! I've got some that have something like 300lb pull, and I'll tell you, these things don't give blood blisters, they can remove pieces! I had 2 of them snap together on a corner of the tip of a finger, they weren't stuck to me at all, just the skin that was there was now gone. OUCH! Just a warning, these things can be very dangerous, especially the bigger ones.

Now, a good place to get these wonderful magnets is old computer disk drives. If you have any you are getting rid of, or find old computers being discarded, pull the drives, take them apart and get the magnets out. They are used as part of the read/write head servo motor, all drives made in the last 15 years or so have 'em. Just be careful with them...

weemac wrote:(I leave mine in the bass).

U'mm I leave the Horse in the bass, I dont leave the rare earth magnets in there, I realise that statement could have been written a bit better...

I get about one year of usable life out of the Horse with something close to equal power next to the toaster when I gauss this way, the other methods seem to result in a weaker and more uneven response from the pickup.

Eden.

Kira, this is what I've been doing to regauss my shoes http://www.rickresource.com/phpBB3/view ... 3&t=347319

Eden, your method sounds so much simpler and I'd like to try it but I'm having trouble picturing where on the horseshoes you stick the RE magnets. Are you talking about the tops, or the side edges? Would you be able to post a photo?

Regards,
Steve.

Thanks, Stephen, for the link.

and yes, Eden, a pic or small diagram would be great.

Interesting stuff here.

I'll do that but with pretend magnets (I don't need to gauss it right now) give me a few days....
Eden.

Hah! I forgot about that old thread. My luck has since changed. I now have 4 horsey pickups.

I have used both a speaker as Stephen showed and also the magnets I posted about. Both work well.

weemac wrote:I'll do that but with pretend magnets (I don't need to gauss it right now) give me a few days....
Eden.

Great, thanks Eden